Cut rock candy from Florida

A few months ago, I wrote about some wonderful cut rock candy that my friend Samantha had brought back from Singapore. (You can read about it here.) I mentioned that I was sad that this kind of candy isn't made in the U.S. and that we're stuck with just plain old dumb hard candies.
Well, turns out I was wrong. I was contacted by Raley's Confectionary of Tallahassee, Florida and they told me that, yes, indeed, beautiful cut rock candy can be found in the good old U. S. of A. They make traditional flavors like cherry and lemon, but also really fun flavors like Red Wine, Pumpkin Spice and Cappuccino. Each of the pieces has a little picture on them, too, like these "Emoticons" with smiley faces and characters.

Some of the flavors I tried are pictured here: watermelon, peach, menorah (oh wait, I think it's blueberry), wintergreen and kiwi. Here's what I love about these candies: they taste super bright and fresh, and they're made with all natural colors, flavors and Fair Trade sugar. Prices start at $5. For more info, visit their website at www.raleysconfectionary.com.

Hot chocolate

This heatwave we're experiencing is not exactly the best weather for chocolate (or me, for that matter). The kind folks at Alter Eco Foods contacted me a month or so ago and asked if I'd like to try their chocolate. I said yes, and they sent me a few bars. The full-on heatwave hadn't yet started when the bars arrived, so I was surprised when I opened them and found they had clearly reached a molten state at some point during their travels. I don't usually mind trying chocolate that's bloomed or melted, but these had suffered pretty badly. The foil wrapper had melted into the chocolate, so I didn't even try to sample them. When I told the company the sad news, they said they'd ship out another package, which they did. Guess what? It arrived on my doorstep on a 90 degree day. This time, though, I ran the package straight to the fridge with the hopes I could save it.

The good news is, I was able to salvage the chocolate bars. The better news is that it was fantastic. Usually a nibble or two of plain dark chocolate is satisfying enough, but this was so perfectly balanced that I kept wanting more. Even Mr. Goodbar said it was the best chocolate he'd had in a long, long time. I love the descriptions of the chocolate. The Dark Noir is "fruity and malty, smooth and rich with a firm snap, a strong bite and a hint of licorice." The Dark Velvet, with a "touch of milk," is "melty smooth, with a subtle flowery bouquet and honey finish." I love a good chocolate that has a nice snap to it, and I prefer my dark chocolate on the fruity, rather than bitter, side. These bars were so, so good. They have other flavors, including Dark Twist with crystallized orange peel and Dark Quinoa with nutty toasted quinoa. I've got to try those. The Dark Coconut Toffee was incredible. Little bits of crunchy toffee combined with real toasted coconut. Good stuff. They're available at different health food stores and Whole Foods.

Gummy Madness!!

It's hot and it's summer so that can only mean one thing: Extreme Gummy Invasion! I received lots of gummy samples lately, so No-Nuts and I got down to business. I'd like to say beforehand that I really do appreciate that more and more companies are trying to make better-for-you candy, particularly in the area of colors and flavors. Less artificial junk, more real stuff. That's a good thing. We took that into account when we taste-tested these gummies and gave extra points for healthiness, but flavor was definitely important.
On a side-note, I took the Sugar Baby to a little seaside candy shack a few weeks ago. I figured I'd let him pick out a few little pieces of candy. Holy cannoli, what a scam. The cheapest thing in the place was a regular-sized Hershey bar with Almonds for $1.50. The lady tried to sell me on a tiny bag of gummy worms for $4.95. She kept telling me they were made with 30% fruit juice. Apparently she didn't know who she was dealing with. Anyhow, enough of that. Onto the gummies.

Goody Good Stuff Tropical Gummies:
No picture available because we ate them without thinking. The gummies came in cute shapes, including a bunch of bananas and a palm tree. 

No-Nuts:

"The first one I tried was banana-flavored and good, especially because I don't like banana-flavored things
Raspberry/strawberry-flavored: Okay, but definitely not my first gummy choice
Palm tree: I don't know what flavor it was but I didn't like it. Too much tropical, but with no specific fruit flavor. Probably palm tree flavor."

Me:
"I was impressed with the banana ones, as banana is a difficult flavor to do well. I have to agree with No-Nuts about the Palm Tree. I'm thinking it was probably papaya or some other stinky tropical flavor like that." (Addendum: we finally figured out it was supposed to be coconut.)

Conclusion: These gummies are all-natural, dairy-free, gluten-free, gelatin-free and fat free. In addition, No-Nuts would only buy them if they were free.


Goody Good Stuff Sour Fruit Salad

These are fruit-shaped gummies with a sour citric acid dusting.

No-Nuts: "They reminded me of Peach-O's, but not anywhere near as good.
The pear flavor was different, and I liked it but ... you know."

Me: "The grapefruit was good, but I like grapefruit flavor in general. The thing with these is I was waiting to be hit with "SOUR," but they were really just like fruit slices that you'd buy at CVS for 2 for $1."

Conclusion: I was ready to give major points to these for their natural ingredients, in particular the spinach. The first ingredient is corn syrup, but it's candy for cryin' out loud. A little corn syrup never hurt anyone.
Overall, three stars out of five.

Surf Sweets Sour Berry Bears

These are little gummy bears, all red and orange. They're all-natural, made with organic fruit juice, no corn syrup, gluten-free, vegan. That covers a lot of bases.

No-Nuts: "They were pretty good."

Me: "I really liked these. They had the sour punch I was looking for."
Overall, four out of five stars.



Welch's Tangy Fruits
These are jam-packed with artificial colors, flavors and other suspicious ingredients.
No-Nuts: "I love these. Four stars."
Me: "I hate these. One star."










 Gimbal's Sour Lovers

A giant, 11-ounce bag of cute heart-shaped gummies in 12 (TWELVE!) flavors that are thoughtfully listed on the back.
No-Nuts:
    " Fuji apple :)
     Blueberry: very sour
     Watermelon: +++"
Me: These were yummy.
Four out of five stars. Would've been five out of five, but the artificial colors drop it down a notch.

Natural Vines: A Healthy Twist on Licorice

All-natural candy has perhaps been the biggest trend in candy over the last few years and it's come a long way, baby. It used to be that you'd walk into a health food store and find some sort of date/fig/nut ball concoction that was trying to pass for "candy." Not any more, thankfully. With more and more people (read: concerned parents) looking to eliminate artificial colors and flavors out of their diets, candy makers have had to step up their game and get innovative. I've written about different products before (including the wildly successful Qbel bars, which I just saw for sale in Stop & Shop) and now there's another one to add to the list.
American Licorice Company, famous for Red Vines, has come out with a new product: Natural Vines. They come in black and strawberry and here's what you get:

Black Licorice twists: Molasses, wheat flour, sugar, brown rice syrup, cane syrup, caramel color, licorice extract, palm oil, natural anise flavor, salt.

Strawberry Licorice twists: Wheat flour, cane syrup, sugar, brown rice syrup, palm oil, malic acid, natural strawberry flavor, beet juice (a natural color), glycerin, licorice extract.

Pretty cool, huh? I received some samples from the company, but it was right before Halloween and I was inundated with candy. (As you might recall, I had candy stuffed into every nook and cranny in the house. Funny, most of it seems to have disappeared.) So I thought I'd have some fun and have the licorice experts-- my parents-- do the tasting.
They loved the packaging. Whoever designed it should get an award, because it truly is outstanding. As for the candy, they liked it, but said it didn't really taste like "licorice," which is surprising since, unlike many other licorices, these actually contain licorice extract.
Have you tried Natural Vines? Let me know what you think.