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.

Wonka Fruit Marvels and Fruit Jellies: a professional review from unprofessional testers

This weekend I had a reunion with all my taste tester buddies. They're a wild bunch. I suppose I could blame our trained palates as a reason that we all like to get sauced enjoy fine foods and beverages, as well as each others' company. As luck would have it, I received a box of samples from Wonka earlier in the day, so I thought, hey, why not have the Buds (as we were called) do the taste testing? I put out a notepad for comments since I knew I'd be lucky if I even remembered being there.
I put out three products: Wonka Exceptionals Fruit Marvels in Clementine Orange and Pomegranate flavors, and Wonka Exceptionals Fruit Jellies in Grapefruit.
Here's what the notes say:

• Pomegranate-- yummy!
• Surprise! The Marvel is soft inside.
• Orange: has a soft center. Pleasant surprise! Great!
• Reminiscent of early winter citrus with a hint of cooked orange, candy orange and fresh orange. (Okay, I made that last one up. But it certainly would've come up had the wine not started flowing.)

Here is Taste Tester Ginger with a Pomegranate Marvel in her hand. She took it out of her mouth because she suddenly remembered she gave up candy for Lent. Taste Tester Dawnie told her she could finish it if she said ten Novenas.

So here's the deal: the Marvels are "Hard candies with soft centers, delicately sugar dusted." I have to say, these are a unique candy. I can't think of anything to compare them to, except they're kind of like those little strawberry candies that are hard on the outside and soft on the inside. They're very tasty.
The Fruit Jellies are "Fantastically flavorful soft jellies dusted with sugar." In other words, top-shelf gumdrops in a cube shape.
I really like these products and here's why.
1) I like the packaging. This is how I always envisioned Wonka candies should look like, rather than the goofy Oompas packaging with the cartoon Willy Wonka. These definitely feel like something you could actually get at the Willy Wonka Factory Store, if he had one.
2) The flavors. They could've done plain old orange, but instead they did Clementine. I was thrilled to see they had grapefruit jellies, an under-utilized candy flavor. And of course, there's the sophistication factor of pomegranate and Goji berry. With flavors like these, Wonka/Nestle is obviously trying to appeal to candy lovers of a certain age.
3) They're made with natural ingredients. Yes, there's sugar and corn syrup and modified corn starch in these, so the whole "natural" label is kind of shifty. This ain't health food, folks. But the good news is, there's no artificial colors, which can be a big deal to some parents. The candies are colored with carmine and cochineal. It's probably best not to tell the kiddies that these colors come from ground-up beetles. (So if you're vegan, take note of that. No jellies or Marvels for you.)

Yummy Earth: Organic Candy That Tastes Good

One of the moms at the Sugar Baby's new school found out I had a blog. Not only does she have a 3-year-old, but she also just gave birth to a brand new baby just a few weeks ago. I figured if anyone needed a special treat, it was her. So I shared some of the candy love that was sent to me from Yummy Earth. I like this company, because it was created by two dads who wanted their kids to have a natural candy that tasted good. All of their products are USDA and EU Certified Organic and are gluten-free, peanut-free and tree-nut free and don't contain any type of corn syrup. And yet amazingly, their candy still tastes really, really good. Honestly!
While the gummy bears and worms may not be as bright and colorful as traditional brands, they taste really good. The other mom commented on how juicy they were. Yep, they have a nice, fresh fruit flavor with a good sweet/sour balance. What I particularly like is that these have the same dense chew as a regular gummy. Oftentimes, gummy products can be too soft or gumdrop-like. These were definitely chewy.
As for their hard candies, I tried the Roadside Root Beer drops which were just as tasty as an old-fashioned root beer barrel, only drop-shaped, which I like better since it didn't slice up my tongue. I plan on giving out their Organic Lollipops for Halloween, so if you're in the neighborhood, stop by!
I tip my hat to this company because I know a lot of parents out there who are concerned about artificial colors and flavors. These prove that you can make a great tasting candy from nature's own delicious sources.

Help me out folks!

There's this really funky town nearby where there are cute little stores, upscale restaurants and groovy coffee shops all along the main road. For as long as I can remember, there's been a store there called "A Taste of Holland" or something like that, and they always had wooden shoes and knick knacks in the window. I never went in and never would've thought to if Alexandra and Sue (MKAFGGF) hadn't alerted me to their candy selection. A few weeks ago, I finally went in and whoa! What a Dutch candy paradise! All along the wall were wooden bins filled with different candies. Of course, there were tons of that gnarly Dutch licorice, but there were also gummies and hard candies and chocolates. I bought a cellophane cone filled with a colorful gum drop and nonpareil mixture that I thought would be great to do paintings of. (A picture is forthcoming; please stand by as I'm having camera difficulties.) They also had Stroop Waffels! I bought a package of mini ones called Stroopies. I have yet to inform the von Schokolats that I have these in my possession.

I also got a roll of Rang! candy. These are hard, circular candies in assorted fruit flavors. They're very tasty but what I really love about them is that each is individually wrapped in wax paper. This instantly brought back memories of some kind of hard candy I ate as a kid that had the same kind of wax wrapping, but I just can't place it. I'm thinking it might be Tootsie Pop Drops, but I'm not sure? Can you help me out?