Hershey's Air Delight

Let's try this whole "aerated" chocolate thing again, shall we? A couple of weeks ago I posted about the new Hershey's "Air Delight" Kisses. I wasn't thrilled with them. They seemed too small to get that whole air-n-chocolate experience. Plus, after I ate a few more, I realized that the paper flag kept sticking to the Kiss and I'd have to extract it from my mouth. Not fun.

Since then, I stumbled upon the Hershey's Air Delight bar at Walmart. I wasn't particularly excited, given my disappointment with the Kisses, but I figured, here goes nothing.
Much, much better. If you're going to do air, this is the way to do it. Because the bar was more substantial, you could actually see the bubbles and experience the combination of chocolate with that melty, texture thing that happens from the bubbles. I enjoyed this. However. (You knew there had to be a however.) This is plain old Hershey's chocolate, like you'd get in a regular bar, which weighs 1.55 oz. The aerated version is 1.44 oz. So I'm getting less chocolate because ....? I'm certainly not paying less. Am I the only one who feels like I'm being a bit duped here?

Air Supply

All I have to say is, thank goodness the Sweets & Snacks Expo took place last week, because it has been so dull out there in candy land lately. You know it's bad when I don't even get excited to go into supermarkets in other states because there just hasn't been anything new on the shelves lately. So I present to you:

A big batch of new products! Hooray!
The first thing I ripped into from my show samples was a bag of Hershey Kisses Air Delight "aerated milk chocolate." The bag describes them as, "The Hershey's milk chocolate you love gently blended for a light, airy texture that melts effortlessly in your mouth."

There are several "aerated" chocolates on the market: the British Aero, Bubble Chocolate, and I'm sure there are others. I used to particularly like Nestle Choco'Lite, but that's been gone for a while now.
So how do the Kisses stack up? It's kind of hard to tell, actually. The weather's been really warm here, and so it's difficult to tell if the Kisses are really that much more melty naturally, or if it's just from the heat. They taste good enough. I mean, it's Hershey's chocolate; it's exactly what you'd expect. But I think because they're small, as opposed to a bar, you just don't get that big, airy experience. These are fine. Would I pick them over regular old Hershey Kisses? No. But would I refuse a handful from a candy dish? Of course not!

Baking with Hershey's

I don't know about you, but this crazy winter has made me want to bake like a crazy lady. And I've been whipping up some crazy stuff. I finally turned to Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious cookbook out of desperation with the Sugar Baby's eating habits and started whipping up brownies with spinach and carrots (very yummy), cookies with chickpeas (not bad), muffins with peanut butter and squash (very tasty), black bean brownies (good at first, then pretty gnarly after they cooled down) and chocolate chick pea cake (a hit with the Sugar Baby; not so much with me).
Before I went on this baking frenzy I received a package from Hershey's with their dark chocolate and traditional cocoas. (It was a sign!) Actually, they weren't reading my mind. They were kicking off their "Iconic Recipe Sweepstakes." They're looking for chocolate lovers to vote for the most iconic recipe. What would you pick? Cocoa Crinkle Cookies? Chewy Peanut Butter Blossoms? Chocolate Truffles? Head on over to the website to vote and you may just win a trip to Hershey, Pennsylvania.

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.

What If You Have a Two-Story House With Black Shutters and a Brown Door? Huh? What then?

Every Halloween, my grandparents would buy a mega-sized Hershey bar for each of us kids. We'd go to their house right after school (they lived just around the corner) and collect our prized bars. Then later that evening, all decked out in our costumes, we'd ring their doorbell for the regular booty they were dishing out to the neighborhood kids.
I was sent this big bar because it is a "special Milton Hershey edition." (The only special thing about it is the picture of Milton Hershey on the back.) But apparently Milt and his wife Kitty set up a trust to help children in need and it's still going strong. Every time you buy a Hershey bar, some of the proceeds go toward helping a child break the cycle of poverty. Pretty cool.
I was also sent this info about Halloween:

• This year, for the first time ever, Hershey Kisses will be available in trick-or-treat sized bags
• Reese's will have bags of Snack Size Peanut Butter Cup Pumpkins (Cool! I need to find these.)
• Reese's Fast Break and Cookies 'n Creme will be available in Snack Size packages
  

They also sent along these little factoid gems:

• Houses with black shutters are 77 percent more likely to hand out Kit Kat Wafer Bars and trick-or-treaters have a 37 percent greater chance of scaring up a Kit Kat Wafer Bar from a ranch house.
• Reese's Peanut Butter Cup lovers should forego ranch houses and opt instead to ring the bell of two-story houses where they'll have a 26 percent greater chance of receiving the perfect combination of chocolate and peanut butter.
• Knock on brown doors if seeking Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bars. Trick-or-treaters have a 32 percent greater chance of receiving a Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar from homes with brown doors.
• [All statistics found according to the Opinion Research Corporation Omnibus Survey, December 2008, conducted on behalf of The Hershey Company.]

Come on, now. Really? What do you think? I'm going to do my own research this year and let you know my findings. I'm trying to remember what color shutters I have. I don't think they're black. And my house has three stories and a red door, so I have no idea where that puts me on this survey. What about you? Do you fit the mold?

Zero Bars: No, I Didn't Imagine How Sucky They Taste

When I think of Zero bars, here's what comes to mind: a vague, fuzzy memory of standing in the neighbor's backyard. I'm probably, I don't know-- 5? 6? 7 years old? I've somehow procured a Zero bar, which I've never had before. I unwrap it and am shocked to see that it is white. I've never seen a white candy bar before. I take a bite. It is disgusting.

Flash forward to 2009. I haven't had a Zero bar since then. I see one at the drug store and read the description on the wrapper: Caramel, Peanut and Almond Nougat covered with White Fudge. Now frankly, that sounds pretty tasty to me. How can that be bad?

So I buy one. It's King Sized. And I try it. Guess what? It still is yucky. The inside is like a stiff 3 Musketeers, or maybe more like Play Doh. There is no defining taste. It's just a mish-mash of overly sweet, kind of nutty, ickiness.

Please tell me who eats these. I've never seen anyone eat one. They've been around since the 1930s, so apparently someone is eating them. Do you like these? Do you know someone who does? Let me know, because I have some questions.

Lamar Odom and No-Nuts: Candy Soulmates?

They say there's no such thing as coincidence, so what, dear Yumsters, does this mean?

The Ice Cube Queen sent me an article from some Florida newspaper about Lamar Odom's favorite candy. (In case you don't know--because I certainly didn't--he's a player for the Lakers.) Apparently he's a candy fiend and he's quoted as saying, "It's funny because the games I played well were the games where I ate candy for breakfast." Nice!

But here's the thing: his favorite candies are listed as Twizzlers, Gummi Bears, Hershey's Cookies & Cream, Life Savers and-- as he called them, "Peachy sugar-coated rings," (otherwise known as Peach O's). So, onto the freaky part:

Madame Yum Yum: "Hey No-Nuts, what's your favorite candy bar?"

No-Nuts: "Cookies & Cream."

MYY: "What's your favorite candy?"

No-Nuts: "Peach O's. Or Gummi Bears. And I like Twizzlers, too."

Dun-Dun-Dah! What could this mean? Does this mean that No-Nuts is really meant to be a professional basketball player? Or does it mean that Lamar Odom would make a successful college student majoring in math? What do you think?

Hershey's Thingamajig: I Waited 40 Days and 40 Nights for This?

As you may remember, I've had this Hershey's Thingamajig sitting on my desk for several weeks now, waiting for the candy bar fast to be over. I'll admit: I had high hopes for it, as I loved the original Whatchamacallit.

This version was described as having "cocoa crisps and peanut butter." When I opened it, the first whiff immediately reminded me of something, but I couldn't place it. (I've been having that experience a lot lately. Kinda scary, this getting old thing.)

My first bite was disappointing. The crunchies seemed ever-so-slightly stale, although now that I think about it, Cocoa Pebbles always tasted stale, too. But it was the peanut butter that was baffling. What did it taste like? And then it hit me: this candy bar tasted like a Girl Scout Tagalong cookie (or at least the way I remember them tasting.) The chocolate, the peanut butter-- all had a kind of fakeness to them. So overall, I was unimpressed. They're not the worst candy bars in the world, but hardly the kind of thing I should've broken the fast over. What do you think?

Hershey's Thingamajig!

Here it is folks-- the Hershey's Thingamajig. Let me tell you, I scouted all over the place for this baby. I wanted to get it while No-Nuts was here because I was under the mistaken impression that there wasn't any peanut butter in it, so I figured she could be my guinea pig because of the self-imposed candy fast. Wrong.
As the wrapper says, it's "Chocolate, Cocoa Crispies and Peanut Butter."

So much for my brilliant ideas. I haven't been this excited about a candy bar in a long time, because I used to LOVE Whatchamacallits before they went and messed them up with caramel. So now I have this baby sitting on my desk, haunting me. Easter can't get here fast enough. But you tell me: have you tried one? Whaddya think?

UPDATE: Several of you have asked where I found it. I looked at lots of places and finally found it at one Walgreen's (after visiting other ones). It was at the checkout counter.

March Madness Winners!

Thanks to all the Yumsters who wrote about their favorite orange things. What great answers you all gave! I wish I could send something to each and every one of you. But since I can't, the randomly-picked recipients of the Hershey's March Madness giveaway are:
Kate and Virga!
Congratulations!
Don't be disappointed if you weren't picked this time. I have some more giveaways coming soon!

Score Some March Madness Candy!

Woohoo! It's time for March Madness! I actually don't know anything about basketball, but the Sugar Baby's recent interest in it makes me think that I might be an expert before I know it. In the meantime, Hershey's is launching a March Madness giveaway consisting of a mini basketball net and ball (perfect for your cube at work!) and lots of yummy Hershey candy bars.
Here's all you need to do to enter into the giveaway: leave a comment here telling me what your favorite orange-colored thing is. It could be anything. Be creative!
Now for the deets: you must live in the U.S. and be at least 18 years of age. Make sure you leave a way for me to get in touch with you so if your name is picked, we'll know where to send it! (In other words, don't sign in as Anonymous, because that guarantees your name won't get picked!) I'll pick two winners on March 17 at noon, EST. Good luck!
And be sure to visit www.hersheys.com/marchmadness to learn more and to create a bracket.

Chocolate vs. Vegetable Oil: the Smackdown!

I tip my hat to Cybele of Candy Blog for her appearance on the Today Show where she exposed Hershey's little dark secret: the fact that they've replaced real milk chocolate in some of their products with inferior, vegetable oil-based "chocolateyness." I've had several readers contact me about this travesty. What can I say? It's a doggone shame, but not surprising, is it? This is just all the more reason to check out organic chocolate, which has been booming in the past few years. It used to be that you'd go to a health food store and find all sorts of wacky chocolate stand-ins: carob, date-nut rolls, etc., etc. But now, go down the candy aisle (yes, a whole aisle!) and you'll find everything from peanut butter cups to chai tea chocolate bars-- all made with REAL chocolate.
Stay tuned during the next few weeks for lots of fun looks at all the organic goodies that are available. (Yes, fine, maybe I am tag-teaming this with an article for the magazine. But that just means you'll get the inside scoop on the latest happenings in the organic confections world.)

And thanks to everyone for their well wishes. The House of Yum is still under the weather, so keep sending that feel-good juju.

Song of the South

I live in New England. Let me explain what this means.

It means, when I go into a store, I don't expect anyone to offer to help me, let alone go out of their way to talk to me. And that's fine.

It also means, when I walk into some place I've never been, I can be assured that no one there cares and they'll ignore me. And I like it that way.

Which is why I find the South to be one scary-ass place.

No offense to those of you who live below the Mason-Dixon line, really. I just get a little antsy when strangers try to talk to me.

In any case, the chatty nature of the lady working at the K-Mart meant that I had lots of time to peruse the checkout aisle candy and I was totally psyched to discover a Limited Edition Take 5. Instead of pretzels, this one had a chocolate cookie base. Sounds good, right? Wrong. It totally sucked. After trying a bite, I tried to pawn it off on the Baron, but even he didn't like it. He didn't find it as offensive as say, Rainbow Twizzlers, but he wasn't exactly devouring the candy bar either. I was very sad, because it was looking like Dixie was going to be a total bust in the candy department.

But then suddenly ...

Da-Da-Da!

The tides turned. The candy gods smiled down upon me. I have so much to write about. Stay tuned to learn all about:

Memaw's Chocolate Plant!

Cherry M&Ms!

T-Bone and Sallie's Lollipops!

And the mother of all Dollar Stores! Trust me, you won't want to miss it.

What's in a name?

When someone from Hershey's offered to send me some samples of their new Bliss, I said sure, although to be honest, I hadn't even heard about it.

This is their new line of bite-sized chocolates that I'm guessing is their way of competing with Dove. It comes in three varieties: milk, dark and milk chocolate meltaway. To be perfectly frank, I didn't really have any expectations for it. I figured it's Hershey's, it's chocolate, it'll be good. Dependable. End of story.

Let me just say: the chocolate meltaway is so deliciously yummy in a "I'll-just-have-one-more" kind of way. So fabulously addictive that you're like, "Wait a minute. I could NOT have eaten that whole bag." Ladies, this is the ultimate P.M.S. chocolate. Gentlemen, if you know what's good for you, you won't touch the bag of Bliss your girlfriend/wife/roommate/coworker bought at the store.

I couldn't stop eating these so I had to get them out of the house. I gave some to a friend to try, and she wrote me an e-mail later that day. "I had the chocolates with some iced coffee. It was perfect! Who makes Bliss?"

Hmmm. Funny, I didn't realize that it doesn't say Hershey's on the wrappers. I wonder why? Because they really should be proud. This is some yum yummy chocolate.

As for the other flavors, I haven't tried the milk yet, and the dark was very, very good but, oh that chocolate meltaway. Blissful. (And no, I'm not kissing butt. If they weren't good, I'd tell you. But oh man, they're good.)

P.S. In an effort to launch this new product, they're doing this thing called a "House Party." Maybe you all know about these and I'm just hopelessly behind the times, but I'd never heard of it. Anyhow, you go to this website and sign up and if you're chosen, you invite a bunch of your friends over for a chocolate party. They provide the goodies, you give the feedback. At least I think that's how it works. I totally want to do this.

Sister On Strike

I'm officially on strike as a sister. I got home yesterday to find that both my brother and sister had called during the day-- a very a strange phenomenon-- but there weren't any messages because the Sugar Baby had turned the answering machine off. As I was pondering this, the phone rang; it was Bazooka Betsy.

BB: "Did you get my message to call Andy?"
Me: (Panic striken) "What's going on?"
BB: "Rich had a stroke."

Holy crap. This is my brother's best friend.

BB: "You have to find out what's going on."

Wait a minute. Me? Why me? Why am I always the go-to person when there's a crisis? Why am I always the one who has to make the phone call/pay the visit/ bake the cake/ schedule the shrink appointment/ bail the nieces and nephews out of jail?

Well, I got on the phone and did my civic duty. Thank goodness Rich is all right and I filled Andy in on the details when he got back from T-ball practice. But that's it, man. No more. I'm done. On strike. I have candy to blog about!

Which brings me to ... here. I just got a package of Hershey Bliss in the mail, and it's too early to review, but I will say this... it keeps calling to me. Smooth, melty chocolate--- mmmm! Stay tuned for the full report.

New York Cheesecake Kisses

Back in early January I commented on how I found New York Cheesecake Kisses at evil Walmart, but decided not to buy them because the bags weren't on sale. Yes, I'll pay $3 for a tiny individual piece of chocolate at some hoity-toity chocolatier, but I won't dish out $3 for an entire bag of Kisses. What can I say? I'm penny wise, pound foolish. Well, I found the candy bar-sized packet at Target for 99 cents, so I jumped on it.
Hello, YUMMY! Usually I don't like chocolate and cheesecake mixed together. I find that the chocolate overpowers the cheese, which is a delightful enough taste in itself. But these are darned tasty. Good thing I didn't get the bag, because I'd surely eat the whole thing.
I haven't been to evil Walmart in a while, so I don't know what their Valentine selection is like, but Target's was pretty good. They had a nice variety of bulk candy, hearts, and molded chocolates. They had a plastic champagne bottle filled with Champagne Hershey Kisses, which I'd love to try, but I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that they'll be around for the after Valentine's Day sale.
And just as a side note: it's ValentiNe's Day, not ValentiMe's. Ooooh, that's like nails on a chalk board when I hear people say that.

Candy Corn Kisses!

Like I said in a previous post, I was running dangerously low on candy supplies, so this weekend when I had to make a dreaded Target stop, I decided to see what they had. They were just starting to put the Halloween candy aisles together, so there were only a few things stocked. Nothing exciting. But as I was walking to the checkout, there was a display of Hershey Kisses on sale, including these: Candy Corn Flavored Hershey Kisses. I thought for sure these would be beyond gross, but I had to try them.

The wrapping is really cute: silver, orange and yellow swirly stripes. When you open the bag, you definitely get a very distinct aroma. Maybe some people will think "candy corn," but I instantly thought "Butter Rum Life Savers." Interesting, because I really like BR Life Savers. The kisses themselves are really cute: a layer of yellow, then orange, then white. How do they taste? Very sweet, very buttery. Unlike a regular Hershey Kiss, you wouldn't want to eat a whole handful of these. But I liked them more than I thought I would. These would be fabulous as the decoration on cupcakes or chocolate cookies, which is what I plan on doing with them!

Differences in Reese's: A Scientific Review

Welcome to the Candy Yum Yum! sensory lab where today we'll be comparing "Fresh From the Factory" Reese's to fresh from the vending machine Reese's.

As I noted in a previous post, Hershey's is offering some of their products fresh from the factory to your door in less than 96 hours. Yesterday I got a tub of Reese's. My first inclination was to just dive into it and have a PB & chocolate love fest. But I gathered my wits and set up this highly scientific test. Check it out:

Purpose: To determine if there is a difference between "Factory Fresh" Reese's (FFR) and a Reese's candy bar of unknown shelf-life that was procured from a vending machine (R).

Methods: Brian cut up three sets of Reese's. Each set had one piece of FFR and one piece of R. Using traditional sensory methods (appearance, smell, taste), the tester tried to determine which piece was which.

Results: 1oo percent accuracy. The tester was able to discern the FFR from the R.

Conclusions: We heartily recommend the Factory Fresh Reese's for candy lovers.

So how was I able to tell the difference? The peanut butter in the FFR was softer, not as crumbly and had a fresher peanut taste (although the aroma was more earthy than the R, which had a definite peanut aroma.) The chocolate had a nice snap to it, especially around the edges. This is not to say that I wouldn't eat a non-FFR, because frankly, almost any Reese's is a good thing. But, the FFR is just a little tastier, a little more special. A little more YUM.

Can I just say, I love sensory evaluation? In my next life, I want to be a food scientist. Fun stuff. You should try a test for yourself. Invite some friends over. Pop open the wine. Eat some candy!

As a sidenote, I really like this as a gift for candy lovers. The jar sells for $20-- great price!-- and it's just a fun thing to give.

Yumtastic news!

I seriously have about ten thousand things I should be doing right now, but I had to stop and let you know about this new thing that Hershey's is doing because it sounds so yummy fantastic. You can order Reese's, Twizzlers, Good & Plenty and Pay Days hot off the factory conveyor belt. (Well, not hot because then you'd have melted candy, but you know what I mean.) They'll ship you a box of these goodies within 96 hours of them being made. This just gives the taste-tester in me goose bumps. How would super-fresh Reese's compare with a pack you buy at the grocery store? I'll let you know as soon as I find out. In the meantime, you can get more info at their website, www.hersheygifts.com.

Milk Chocolate with Antioxidant Goodness

The kind folks over at Hershey's sent a package of their latest products for review: All Natural Extra Dark, Natural Flavanol Antioxidant Milk Chocolate and Whole Bean Chocolate. To be absolutely completely honest, I didn't really read the labels closely before opening them. My immediate thought was, "This is Hershey's chocolate with a label that says its good for you" and to be quite frank, that idea turned me off. It seems like most people know that dark chocolate is good for you, so why take the fun out of it? It wasn't until I read the press release that I realized that two of the products were milk chocolate because apparently-- hold onto your hats-- there are some people out there who don't like dark chocolate. How sad for them. But in any case, now they can get their antioxidants from chocolate, too, thanks to these goodies.

I tried the Whole Bean chocolate first. The package says it has 40 percent less sugar than the leading milk chocolate and 7 grams of fiber per serving. (That equates to 1 Weight Watchers point per chocolate. Hooray!) Let me say, I was very pleasantly surprised by these. The aroma is deliciously milky and the taste reminds me of how Kisses used to taste to me, creamy and chocolatey. These are darn good chocolates. The problem is, you want to stuff your face with them rather than daintily eat one or two after dinner.

I'd had the Extra Dark before, and they're good, but the thing with dark chocolate for me is that I either want a basic bar of Special Dark or some really top-quality stuff. These little squares are good, but they don't make me want to pig out on them like the Whole Bean.

Lastly I tried the Antioxidant. They were milky, too, but the texture felt a little grainier than the Whole Bean.

Overall, I'd say I really like these chocolates. My only complaint is that they're taking something totally fun and indulgent and making it just a smidge too nutraceutical-looking. This is chocolate, it's supposed to be yummy and exciting and fun to eat with the added bonus of being good for you. I fear that these will appear in people's kitchens on the same shelf as the vitamins.