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.

In Praise of Yumsters

One of the biggest reasons I love writing this blog is because I get to "meet" so many interesting people. Look what loyal Yumster Philly created for a friend's birthday. Is that an awesome cupcake or what? I love the little mini cake on top. How about you? What fun things do you do? (It doesn't have to be candy related, although if it is, all the better!)

Oh the Horror! Tricks, Not Treats, Dominate This Year's Halloween Haul

A new Halloween tradition has started around here. It's called, "I can't wait to get the pictures of Alexandra's trick-or-treat haul." As you might remember, last year Alex's son came home with a big bagful of candy and ... a chocolate Easter bunny. I thought she'd get a kick out of our candy cane and nasty expired candy this year, but oh no, she has us beat again. And in a big way. Example Number One: Candy from her older son's bag. Let's see, there's some nice full-size bars there, Oreos, lots of Butterfingers and M&M's. But then, let's take a closer look. To the far left is a holiday foam kit to make a skeleton. Well that's cool. Up top, there's an "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader" toy that appears to be from a Wendy's kids' meal. Okay, a little weird, but within the boundaries of acceptability. There's a Capri Sun. Um, hello? A bag of juice mixed in with all sorts of candy and other wackiness? Seems like a recipe for disaster. Fortunately it didn't explode. And then we have the coupon for one free week of karate (lame) and, in a bold and daring move that makes Charlie Brown's trick-or-treat rocks look almost tempting, we have a postcard from a mortgage broker. It says something about locking in a "Spooktacular" rate on your mortgage. Maybe next year I'll hand out magazine subscription postcards if this is the way things are headed. But wait! Just when you think you've seen it all, let's move over to the younger boy's Halloween haul. He's the same age as the Sugar Baby, which is a terribly cute stage and, according to my research, is likely to get you more candy. So here we have lots of full-sized bars-- nice score! There's a Skippyjon Jones book. Well, nothing wrong with that, I suppose, and a Where's Waldo toy (another kids' meal, perhaps?) There's something to the right that looks like a baby teether and some various other little toys. But, ladies and gentlemen, the piece de resistance, or perhaps more accurately, the coup de grace, the Scooby Doo. Cute, right? A big plastic Scooby Doo toy-- who wouldn't want one? Well, no one would considering it's an EMPTY BUBBLE BATH BOTTLE! Yes, dear Yumsters, you read that right. A used toiletry item.
So let's consider the questions these two candy hauls bring up.
1) Where in the heck is Alexandra trick-or-treating? (I asked her and strangely enough, it was in her parents' neighborhood which is quite lovely and not at all the type of of place you'd expect to find anything worse than a roll of Necco wafers.)
2) Where are people getting this stuff? Do they save all their kids' meal toys and plastic crap all year just to give out at Halloween?
3) Do they think kids are going to be excited to find an empty bubble bath bottle in their bags?
4) How can *I* lock in a Spooktacular rate on my mortgage?
So dear Yumsters, you know I want to hear from you now. What special goodies did your kids get in their bags this year? Don't be shy. We want to know! And if anyone can beat the Scooby Doo bottle, I'll send you a special surprise.

You're Never Too Old for Cupcakes!

A very belated birthday present for my Partner-in-Crime. Yes, her birthday was in August. Yes, I started this painting in July. Yes, she will get it for Christmas.

Was the Trick-or-Treat Record Broken?

Want to know how Father John did this year in the Great Trick-or-Treat Count 2010? Click here for my update. (Spoiler alert: If they only came two-by-two.)

Luxe Milk: It's All Natural, Baby

The folks over at Ghirardelli apparently have been pretty busy. As you may recall, here at Candy Yum Yum we recently gave away four beautiful baskets of Ghirardelli Intense Dark Chocolate, and now the company has released their new line of 100% All Natural Luxe Milk Chocolate. The four flavors are plain milk, almond, hazelnut and toffee.
To me, Ghirardelli has a distinct taste to it. I find that the dark chocolate is less fruity than some other dark chocolate brands, and the milk is more cocoa-y and less creamy. What do you think?
In the past, I've had issues with the size of the almond pieces in chocolate, but I was okay with these. The pieces, while still chopped up and not whole or even halved, seemed substantial enough to me, making for a satisfying little treat.
Now is a great time to try Ghirardelli if you haven't before, because for every package marked with a special pink ribbon, they'll donate $1 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. (All you have to do is enter your package code on their website.) The company is donating $50,000 and will donate up to another $50,000 from the package codes. That's pretty cool and a great way to treat yourself and feel good doing it.

Halloween 2010: WE WERE TRICKED!

Okay, first of all, Halloween on a Sunday: bad idea. There was just something wrong, something off about the whole evening.
Here's how it went down for us. In the afternoon, I took the Sugar Baby to the local farm where they were supposedly having some sort of Halloween celebration. "Bring a canned good for the local food bank!" it said in the paper. I went into my pantry and oddly, had nary a canned good, so I packed up the ten thousand individual packets of Annie's Cheddar Bunny crackers I had that the Sugar Baby won't eat. It was the best I could. We got to the farm and basically it was a "buy a raffle ticket to win a pumpkin" and "listen to loud, annoying spooky music" festival. Boo.
We started off trick-or-treating in my parents' neighborhood. It was oddly quiet. It seemed as if more people had their lights off than on. And, a new thing this year, quite a few houses actually left out buckets of candy. This was my dream when I was little. I'd heard of people doing it, but never experienced it. Well, this year, the Sugar Baby got plenty of opportunities to paw through bowls of candy.
After doing that circuit, we went to see Fr. John who was rocking Halloween. Then, onto our neighborhood. Again, fewer houses were giving out candy. What gives?
In any case, here's the haul: one full-sized Snickers and Skittles. Lots of mini Milky Ways, Snickers, Twizzlers, Sweettarts, etc. But enough of that. Let's look at the freaks.
Example one: a mini candy cane. You cannot fool me, Candy Cane person. I know this is leftover from last year's Christmas.
Example two: A Clark Teaberry Gum Ball. Where did this even come from? I've never seen these and who on earth would buy them. (I mean, I totally would, but that's just me.)
Example three: Butterfinger Snackerz. I couldn't wait to try these bad boys. They were strange. The first taste was really good. They're just like Butterfingers, except they're small squares and the center is hollow so they're not as dense. But then they got this weird butteriness to them that I wasn't sure I liked. Although to be fair, my teeth are not in great shape these days and I found crunching to be difficult.
And then, dear Yumsters, I give you our two tricks.
For tonight's after-dinner treat, the Sugar Baby chose the Cow Tail. "Good choice," I said. "You'll like that." I opened it for him and found that it was broken. I gave him the first piece, then the second, then I said, "Wait a minute. These aren't supposed to break. These are supposed to be chewy." I looked at the wrapper. It had expired in 2009! So gross.
I suggested the Sugar Baby take something similar, like perhaps that Chick-o-Stick. I unwrapped it, he took a bite and then this cloud came over his face. I knew that cloud. I had experienced it myself this summer when I bit into a cracker from 2000. I grabbed the Chick-o-Stick wrapper and wouldn't you know it? Expired in 2008. Someone's trying to poison us! Naturally I then put it in my mouth to see if it truly was bad. O.M.G. The Sugar Baby took it all with aplomb (and cleansed his taste buds with Dots), but I can still taste the bitter sawdust in my mouth. A pox upon those who distribute expired candy! Raisins and pennies are one thing, but bad candy is a whole 'nother ball game.

Happy Halloween Yumsters!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

May your night be full of scary sweetness!
How much candy do you think "The World" will be able to cull in an evening? Our plan is to start out early and finish late.
In the meantime, on this Halloween morn, you can read my article about Father John and the full-sized candy bars here.
Be safe everyone, and be sure to send me a note with any unusual, exciting or strange candy that you get this year!

Candy in the News

My friend Kristina got engaged last week in Italy! Hooray! What does this have to do with candy? Well, she was in town visiting family this weekend, so I went over to check out the rock offer her my best wishes. After 500 vacation photos and a whole lotta wine, I had to visit the restroom. It was there that I found the most recent issue of "Highlights" magazine, which had a fun article called "Candy Secrets." I had enough presence of mind to take a picture of the magazine and the bar of Schogetten she brought me back, but failed to get a picture of the rock. Go figure. (Why I was reading Highlights is a whole 'nother question. It was either that or an American Girl catalog.)
In this month's Parents, there is a blurb on "Tricks with Leftover Treats." They show how to make a Skittles rainbow by dissolving the candies and then pouring the colored liquid in layers. It's just one of many fun experiments at Loralee Leavitt's website, candyexperiments.com.
And then there's this great article in The New York Times about Dr. Samira Kawash, a.k.a. Candy Professor, intriguingly titled, "Is Candy Evil or Just Misunderstood?"
There will probably be more sweet articles over the next few days (perhaps one by your truly! Hint, hint ...) so keep an eye out. It's one of the few times of the year that candy doesn't get a bad rap.

Marathon Training for Halloween

It's the big countdown to Halloween! Just six more days until I stuff the Sugar Baby full of carbs so we can cover as much trick-or-treating territory as possible. Have I told you about his costume? He's going as "The World" and he's pretty much made it himself. We'll see how this all pans out. It will be hard to beat last year's Fly Agaric Mushroom.
In any case, I have a lot of stuff to clean off of my desktop in preparation for The Big Day, so here we go.
Last weekend, we took the Sugar Baby into New York City. I planned on it being a simple trip ... take him to Times Square, let him look at the buildings, have lunch and that's that. He, however, had different ideas. We stopped at the hellish Toys R Us that is three or four floors of pure overindulgent child madness. There's a Candy Land area and a Wonka area that, had it not been so crowded, might have interested the Sugar Baby. But, not unlike Dylan's Candy Bar, it was just too much of a scene. He couldn't be bothered with the vats of gummy bears and giant lollipops. We splurged on a ride on the giant Ferris wheel, and, although we got stuck riding in the Barbie car, it was actually well worth the $4. We were on that thing for a long time, and I got to listen to two spoiled brats lovely little girls extol the virtues of Wonka candy over all others.
We got out of that madness and then headed over to M&M World, which was just as insanely crowded and ridiculous. Two floors of M&M-themed everything, but where were the actual M&M's? Strangely enough, they were hidden on a third floor that you had to take a secret Narnia door to. The M&M's were divided by color, and were $12.95 a pound. (Or, you could just go to your local warehouse store and buy a 4-lb. bag for less than $20.)
After all that insanity, we finally acquiesced to the Sugar Baby's only real desire, and that was to see the Flat Iron Building. Go figure. Then, for some reason, all of the uptown trains weren't working, which meant we had to walk the 20 or so blocks back up to Grand Central Station. The Sugar Baby did great, and so I kind of look at it as training for Halloween. If he can walk 20+ blocks, he can handle a couple of neighborhoods and maybe even a party or two.

Guest Review from Liesl von Schokolat:: Extra Dessert Delights

Today's guest review is from Liesl von Schokolat, who has found a new gum that she likes.

I was in French the other day when the class was asked "Would any one like to try a piece of Strawberry Shortcake or Mint Choclate Chip Ice Cream gum?" I was like woah, woah, woah wait, there is an ice cream flavored gum? That is so cool!! So being the chocoholic that I am, I tried the Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Gum. I thought it was really good. It surprisingly tasted like ice cream. Later that weekend my mum, The Baroness, and I were walking through WalMart and I saw the gum. It is an Extra gum and get this, it is sugar free. Ironic isn't it? None the less, I bought a pack because it was so good, but now my purse smells like Mint Chocolate Chip.

Happy Wombat Day! Wine Gums for Everyone!

Damn! I forgot to look at the calendar again. Happy Wombat Day everyone! Hopefully you're all enjoying your Wombat cakes and Wine Gums. What? You're unfamiliar with Wombat Day? Check it out, here. And here. And can someone please remind me next year? Thanks.

Get Ready for Christmas Baking With Hershey's!

Oh my, we're quickly descending into holiday season, aren't we? Here's something cool that Hershey's is offering. From now until Nov. 15, you can visit www.HersheysCookies.com to apply for a chance to host a Hershey's Cookie Exchange Party. If you're chosen, you'll get a big box of baking goodies, like Kisses, Hershey's Cocoa, Baking Chips, Toffee Bits and more. Even better, when you visit the site you can enter the Bake Share and Win promotion, where one lucky grand prize winner will get a kitchen makeover for themselves and a friend. Man, I'd love that. I think they'd first have to bring in an exorcist to rid my kitchen of its evil karma, though, and I'm not sure that's part of the package.

Um, I Hope the Cab Drivers Know About This

In candy news today, the following may be of interest to tourists in New York (because you know that no one catching a cab in Times Square is a New Yorker):

To support the launch of Trident Layers' Cool Mint + Melon Fresco flavor, the brand will run a one-day promotion in which people who grab taxis from a special stand in Manhattan's Times Square can pay for their rides with packs of Trident Layers. Read the full story here at MediaPost.

Ritter Sport Milk Chocolate with Strawberry Creme: Somebody Say 'Amen!'

I wear my heart on my sleeve when it comes to Ritter Sport. I love, love, love them, particularly the Corn Flake variety. So when I was asked if I'd be interested in sampling their newest flavor, Milk Chocolate with Strawberry Creme, I was like, hell yeah! Not only did they send the new flavor, but some classics, as well.
I was excited to see the Yogurt bar. I've tried the Strawberry Yogurt variety and loved it. This one was just as good. Tangy white yogurt contrasted with creamy milk chocolate. I actually put off trying the Strawberry Creme for a while because strawberry isn't one of my favorite flavors and the package said, "With strawberry pieces from select fruit." That didn't sound particularly appetizing. But man, this is one tasty bar. The chocolate, as usual, is creamy. The filling is tangy and the strawberry pieces are actually little crunchy bits that give the bar an added dimension. It's fantastic. Even better, Ritter is donating $100,000 to the Leslie Simon Breast Cancer and Cytodiagnosis Center.
In keeping consistent with my other Ritter reviews, I say run-- don't walk-- to get yourself one of these bars. And let me know what you think.