Down South Candy Review: Taffy, Lollipops and Caribbean Jerk Chocolate

I'm not a big fan of taffy. It's one of those candies that I can easily resist, along with caramel Bulls-eyes and red licorice. But when we stopped at Smoky Mountain Candy Makers, I felt like it was my duty to at least sample some of their homemade taffy. I bought four pieces: Banana, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Butterscotch and Teaberry.
We cut them up into little pieces for everyone to try, but as is usually the case with the von Schokolats, we'd had a few beverages beforehand and my notes are minimal and cryptic. Someone thought the chocolate peanut butter tasted like a Tootsie Roll. The teaberry was compared to Icebreakers and Pepto Bismol. To me, it was less wintergreeny than Pepto and I found it to be very tasty. I thought the banana had a nice, mellow taste and the butterscotch tasted like caramel. The thing is, I really liked this taffy. It wasn't the usual waxy, overly sweet Salt Water Taffy that we have here in New England. This stuff had much more flavor and a decent chew.
I had also bought a cherry lollipop for the Sugar Baby, but in our drunken state of munchiness state of curiosity, we decided that Shirley needed to take a hammer to that bad boy so we could all taste it. It was very yummy. I have to give props to these Smoky Mountain Candy people. They really did make a homemade candy that tasted good.On the way back from dulcimer-buying and lunch at Grandma's Kitchen (where I had country-fried steak, mashed potatoes and collard greens-- oh yes, I did!), we stopped at the Beef Jerky Outlet because really, you can't not stop there. I bought some kangaroo jerky for The Baron (I seem to remember him inhaling it, but I don't know if he liked it) and some Caribbean Jerk Dark Chocolate made by the Dillsboro Chocolate Factory. Now, of course, I'm not big on the whole "let's be clever and put savory spices in our chocolate" thing, so I went into the tasting with a bad attitude. I also forgot to take a picture before the vultures got to it. The chocolate itself was actually pretty good; smooth and bitter. But the spice thing-- ick. Shirley said, "It tastes like Baker's Chocolate, only not as good," and someone else said that it tasted like Hot Cheetos/chili powder/fish. Or was that our shopping list? I don't remember. In any case, The Baron and Mr. Goodbar devoured the thing in two seconds flat. They liked it. There's a candy out there for everyone. I think there was something crazy in that chocolate, though, because before you knew it, hijinx ensued. It's always a party when there's candy involved.