Putting the Choco Treasure Egg to the Test

I had to do it, folks. I had to find out about the Easter Choco Treasure first hand. I shelled out the buck and put the egg in my purse so as to hide it from the Sugar Baby. Of course, what did he see when he was getting out of the car? There was no way I was going to give it to him, so I told him it was his special surprise for afterschool. Then I swapped it with a Cadbury Caramel Egg (made in Canada).
So here's what I found.
Upon uncrinkling the foil wrapper, it gives the recommendation for children 3+. Too bad you can't see that more readily. Once you tear off the foil, the chocolate egg immediately separates into two halves and a pretty heavy-duty yellow egg capsule is exposed. This is the secret to getting FDA compliance, I'm sure. Because the chocolate breaks away, you know what part you're supposed to eat and which part you're not supposed to ingest. My egg contained a strip of stickers.
Now for the real test. The taste test. Frankly, it wasn't too bad. I expected the absolute worst, but this was decent enough. If I was a kid on Easter morning, I'd definitely chow this down.
But my kid will not be chomping on one of these. I'm back on my "no-chocolate-from-China" horse. Not only do we need to keep jobs here in this great country, but we also need to make sure we do our best to know what goes into our kids' mouths. When it comes to candy that's shipped from the other side of the world in a country with no regulations, it just ain't happening in this house.

Easter in the U.S.A.

This is the time of year when people start stocking up on Easter candy, thinking that by some miracle they'll be able to resist the sweet siren call of that bag of black jelly beans squirreled away in the closet. Good luck with that. In the meantime, I've been scouting out the aisles, looking for new candy and candy that's made in the U.S.A.-- not as easy to find as you'd think. There's Peep's, everyone's favorite marshmallowy delight, including (apparently) Justin Bieber, who was doused with hundreds of them on Conan recently.Russell Stover eggs are "Proudly Made in the U.S." according to the caramel egg package.
There are Lindt bunnies and ladybugs, some of which are made in Stratham, N.H. (where my wonderful friend formerly known as KrisFromFlorida, now KrisFromNewHampshire, just got a job; BOOYAH!). Pez are made in Connecticut and the store shelves are stocked with bags of little mini Easter Pez. Yes, there is candy out there that is made in the U.S.; you just have to hunt for it.Having said all that, I was pretty surprised to find these on the shelves: Easter Choco' Treasure. These are chocolate eggs that have a plastic capsule inside that contains a toy. As anyone who's ever traveled to Canada or Europe knows, there is a similar product (made in Italy) called Kinder Surprise. These are chocolate eggs (and really yummy chocolate, I might add) that contain a capsule with usually a very clever little toy inside. In January, a woman was stopped at the border between Canada and U.S. and found herself in a bit of hot water because she was found to be carrying in a contraband Kinder Surprise. Yes, the eggs are banned by the FDA because they pose a choking hazard. Hmmm. So how did the Easter Choco' Treasure (made in China) make it onto the shelves?
I've done a little searching, but still have yet to come up with an answer. I'm not the only one. The Surfing Pizza has asked the very same question (although he was brave enough to actually buy a bunch). As one might expect, he wasn't enamored with the chocolate, and was even more disappointed by the toy.

Smackdown! Turkish Raisin Sausage vs. Chinese Traditional Food Fruit Candy

On the way home from Tennessee, we realized that our dear friends The Professor and Maryanne The Painter lived just an hour out of our way, so we stopped in to spend the night.
The Professor has always understood me on a very primal level. He gets my passion for all things candy-related, so I was ecstatic when he said he brought me back a little something from his recent trip to Turkey.
I won't keep you in suspense. Here it is, folks. One genuine Raisin Sausage with Walnut.*Now, first off, it looks like a giant turd. There's just no way around it. But I kept an open mind. The ingredients were simple enough: sugar, walnut, wheat starch, grape molasses and citric acid. What's so wrong with that, right?
I'll tell you what's wrong. This stuff was like biting into plastic tubing stuffed with walnuts. The resistance on your teeth made it feel like you were eating something from Home Depot, not the grocery store. It's like you could find it in the aisle between the PVC piping and the bathtub caulk. Truly foul. Had this been from anyone else, I would've thought they were either trying to mock me or challenge my devotion to candy. But I know in The Professor's mind, this was more than just candy; it was an experience. That's why he "gets" me. Fortunately, he made up for his transgressions by allowing me to taste some of the chocolate-covered Seafoam he'd gotten from McDonald's Homemade Candies in Michigan. Now this was some tasty stuff. Little chunks of airy, brown-sugary seafoam with a thick coating of dark chocolate. Mmmmm!It all went to hell, however, once the "Chinese Traditional Food" Fruit Candy was pulled out. I can't even remember what was in it, but it was more disgusting than I thought it would be. Match it up against the Raisin Sausage with Walnut and I don't know who'd win.
He had some other crazy-ass candy from Turkey and it was all right, but the true winner of the visit came from The Professor's daughter, Chocolate E-Clare. She generously gave me one of the Kinder Bueno bars she had hoarded from their trip to England. Isn't that the sweetest thing ever?! She said it was her favorite candy bar, and it's easy to see why. Creamy chocolate, crispy wafers, hazelnut filling ... now that's a candy I can love.
Being a good guest, I brought The Professor my own contribution to this extravaganza of sweetness: half a box of Mint Moon Pie Chocolate Cookie Sandwiches. When I bought them, I thought they were mint-flavored Moon Pies-- the soft cake with marshmallow filling. Only after I opened them did I realize that they were cookies. These were pretty yummy, very similar to Girl Scout Thin Mints, only with a cream filling.We had a lovely visit. We see them far too less than we'd like, but distance and busy lives get in the way. The Raisin Sausage *almost* makes up for the distance. Almost.
*In the upper corner of the sausage package, it says "Aphrodisiac." Believe me, nothing says love like a Raisin Sausage.

The 411 on Candy Corn

The Mommy Candy Corn and the Baby Candy Corn were both made in the U.S.

The other day I was zipping through the grocery store, just trying to grab a few things, when I saw a display of Disney-branded fruit crisps. I looked at the ingredients: dried apples and dried pineapple. Hooray! I was excited; something new for the Sugar Baby to try that is pure fruit but in a fun Mickey Mouse bag.
I bought two.
Only after he was scarfing the bag of apple crisps when I noticed on the back: Product Made in China.
GAH!
Those of you who are regular readers know my feelings about food made in China. (More info here.) I don't particularly care to have my child eat something that comes from a country where there are no food regulations. Anyhow, the reason I'm saying this is because I further investigated a reader's question about Halloween candy. To be precise, she wanted to know if there is candy corn made in the U.S.
Happily, the answer is yes. The most common brand, however, (Brach's) is made in Mexico. (Same with their Melocremes). Mayfair candy corn and Mellowcreme Harvest Mix (pumpkins, corns, skull-and-crossbones and cats) is made in Pakistan.

But if you're jonesing for some Made-in-the-USA candy corn, check out these brands:

Jelly Belly: they have standard candy corn, as well as giant-sized candy corn in vanilla, chocolate and cinnamon. They also have a Fall Festival Mix of mellocremes: lemon corn cobs, orange pumpkins, maple walnuts (which I think look more like brains), and Giant Corn. These are pricier than the big bags of candy corn you see all over the place at Halloween, but you can usually find them cheaper at places like Marshall's and Home Goods.

Zachary Confections: they make candy corn and mellocreme pumpkins. (Note: they sell their products at Christmas Tree Shops). It's also interesting to note that Zachary makes the Target brand candy corn: see this article.

This is hardly a comprehensive list, but hopefully it will be a good starting point for all you candy corn lovers out there!

Made in China

No-Nuts has a friend who traveled to China this summer, so I was the lucky recipient of some Chinese candy. We did a taste test before we left for vacation last week and guess what? I have no idea what I did with my notes. Dang!
Well, suffice it to say, I won't be running to my local Asian grocer to try and find any of these. The long yellow one had a picture of a shrimp on it. No wait, I think it was more of a big, antennaed prawn. Wow! Couldn't wait to try that one. Fortunately, it tasted more like a Butterfinger and less like shellfish. The brown one and the rectangular green one also tasted similar. The stripey one on the bottom tasted kind of like those chocolate-filled straws you see at Christmas, and the two squares to the left were chocolate, possibly with a hazelnut filling. Given my fear of Chinese foodstuffs, I'm happy to say that it's been over a week and I'm still alive and kicking.

Hey China! Cut the Crap!

Okay, seriously, it was bad enough when China started adding I.Q.-decreasing lead to kids' toys. But now, melamine in candy?! Come on! As a mother, I find this infuriating. As a candy aficinado, I find this completely unacceptable. You can check out the National Confectioners Association's statement on the situation here.