Welch's Filled Licorice

When I was in college, I had three wisdom teeth removed. It was a nightmare experience and I always swore I'd never have the last one removed. Then, low and behold, at my last dental cleaning, the hygienist looked at my X-rays and said, "You have a cyst behind your last wisdom tooth. That has to come out." Fantastic. I explained that there was no way in heck I was going to do it, but then the thought occurred to me: Could this be causing my vertigo? Long story short, I had the tooth removed. It was a much better experience than the first time, although it didn't affect the vertigo at all. What does this have to do with candy, you ask?
The day the tooth got pulled, I received some Welch's Filled Licorice samples. What a tease. The Concord Grape and Strawberry licorice sat on my desk for weeks taunting me while I subsisted on a diet of popsicles and rice pudding. The Sugar Baby kept asking about them. I desperately wanted to try them, but my teeth were so sensitive that even the thought of licorice caused me to cringe. Finally, I couldn't wait anymore. I took small nibbles and chewed on the opposite side.

For some reason, I thought the licorice would be filled with a drippy, gooey liquid. It turns out that the inside is more like a jelly (that shouldn't be a surprise, I guess). The flavors are good, classic "candy" grape and strawberry. Gretl von Schokolat tried them and said she was shocked. She thought they'd be sour but they were sweet. Not too sweet, just sweet enough. I'm not sure the filling made much of a difference. The flavors and textures seemed to blend together, but overall, they were pretty yummy and were rather teeth-friendly. Red licorice lovers should find these to be a tasty alternative to the usual.

Trader Joe's Comes Through Again With Candy-Coated Licorice

I was just sitting here thinking, "I wish I had some candy. Why don't I have any candy? What is wrong with me? I should have some candy." And then I remembered: the box of Trader Joe's Candy-Coated Licorice that I bought the other day. Hallelujah! The night is saved.

I love the retro box. How cute is that? I have to admit, I was a bit scared to try them because my past few experiences with "natural" candy haven't been great. Fortunately, this time was different. The candy shells are crisp and the colors are bright. (Candy companies are really doing a good job recently with making all-natural colors. No more dull orange and green.) The licorice is just the way I like it, sharp but sweet. (I'm definitely not a licorice snob; I just can't get into that salty Swedish stuff.)




I've forgotten how much these are, but I think they were $1.99 or something like that. In any case, I'd highly recommend them to Good & Plenty lovers. "Patti says, 'Really rings a bell!'"

It's Spelled 'Liquorice,' Mate!

The children of the world enjoy liquorice from Australia.

Have you noticed that licorice is really hot these days? It seems like everywhere you look, there's another brand of licorice out there to try. Recently I was sent samples from Darrell Lea Soft Eating Liquorice. No, they're not trying to be all fancy-pants with the spelling. This "liquorice" is from Australia, and comes in Original, Strawberry, Green Apple and Mango. The first thing that surprised me about these were the size. I was expecting short little stubs of licorice, but instead found long tubes. One was plenty for a before-bed treat for the Sugar Baby.
The second thing that surprised me was the ingredient list. All of the flavors contain real liquorice extract and there are no artificial ingredients or colors. Huzzah! Our Australian friends know how to do licorice-- or should I say liquorice-- right! The flavors are bright and clean and have a nice balance between sweet and sour (for the fruit flavors) and the black licorice has that faint wheaty taste without too much salt.

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.

Sweet 16 (Plus Another 24)

My birthday cake. That's serious fudge frosting and inside-- cannoli filling. Oh yes.

At this moment, I have more candy and chocolate in the house than is legally permissible. I'm not quite sure how this happened, but every nook, cranny, drawer and secret hiding spot is stuffed to the gills. I've got lots of reviews coming up, so stay tuned. In the meantime, a few more pictures of my birthday bash. The candy buffet included chocolate-covered Oreos, chocolate-dipped pretzels, Red Hots, Pixy Stix, Swedish Fish, Crows, Ghirardelli Luxe Milk Squares, Runts and gumballs. It did not, however, include the 10 pounds of Hershey Kisses I bought and forgot to give to the decorating committee. Doink!

The Mystical Powers of Grape Vines

A couple of months ago I had received a lot of samples of Grape Vines. I mean, a lot. So I asked the moms at the Sugar Baby's school if anyone wanted some. One mom said she definitely did, although "she shouldn't." I thought she was just saying that because, well, that's the sort of stupid thing that we women always say instead of "Heck yeah, I want some!"
A few days later, out of the corner of one ear, I heard her mention something about painting a nursery. "You aren't ... pregnant, are you?" I asked, hesitantly, because, you know, that's another stupid thing we women do. We walk on eggshells, whereas a guy would just say, "Hey, you expecting another one?"
She stretched her arms out. "I'm due next month!" she said.
Seriously, I was flabbergasted. I had no idea. You could barely tell she was pregnant.
She has since had the baby and everyone is doing well. She sent me this note and it cracked me up.
Apparently she was chowing down on Grape Vines when she went into labor, so they had to wait to give her a C-section. I don't think there's any candy worth extending labor over, but apparently it all worked out in the end. Perhaps this is the start of a new baby myth. If you want to go into labor, forget eating spicy food or salad. Get yourself a package of Grape Vines and just wait for those labor pains to start.

Happy National Licorice Day!

Lordy, I don't know how things are where you live, but around here, the National Licorice Day festivities seem to still be carrying on. A parade just went by my house and the fireworks have just started. King Licorice 2010 has just been crowned and the world's largest black jelly bean has been unveiled.
Well, maybe that's a bit hyperbolic. Let's just say that I celebrated today by trying some Grapevines Purple Grape Twists in honor of this most important holiday. The cats over at American Licorice Company kindly sent me some samples of their grape-flavored twists. I have to admit, I wasn't too gung-ho on trying these, given the agitated state that Rainbow Twizzlers put me in a few years ago. I was afraid these would be another hot candy mess.The first thing I noticed when I opened the package was the aroma: big, juicy grape, like Bubble Yum. They get an A in the aroma category. As for taste, well, it's kind of baffling. Once you bite into a piece, it seems that the BIG taste isn't there. It's grapey, just not GRAPEY!
I think the biggest difference between Twizzlers and Red Vines (or in this case, Grapevines), is texture. While Twizzlers tend to be dense and chewy (at least the red and black kind), the Vines are more doughy. They're also more hollow, which created for me a very interesting situation. I found myself puffing into a piece and then drawing back in, almost as if it were a cigarette. It was kind of hypnotic; definitely a one-of-a-kind mouth-feel experience. I just don't know where to place these on the licorice continuum. I mean, if you're a purist, then these don't belong anywhere on the licorice charts. They'd be a candy all their own. But if you're more lax, and you like grape, then these could very well be a cult favorite. As a side note, Red Vines are holding a pretty cool contest where you can design their new label. You can check it out here.

Lemonheads and Licorice

Have you missed me? I've missed you. It's been non-stop action since Halloween. I'm happy to report that the last of the Halloween candy (as far as the Sugar Baby knows) was eaten today. The rest is stashed in a drawer for No-Nuts.
I got kind of sugared out after Halloween, but I think I've got my appetite back, so let's catch up, shall we? I was very excited to come across these Tropical Chewy Lemon-Head & Friends at the Christmas Tree Shop. You may recall that it was only recently when I tried the traditional Lemonhead & Friends and loved them. Good texture and perfect sour taste.
These, however, were a disappointment. The box says, "Two Flavors in Every Piece!" and they are: Kiwi-Strawberry, Peach-Mango, Berry-Banana, Cherry-Watermelon and Pink Lemonade-Lemonade. (That last one is a cheat, if you ask me.)
The Kiwi-Strawberry was way too sweet; it lacked a sour punch. The Berry-Banana was just weird and fake tasting. Cherry-Watermelon was actually pretty good. The initial taste was cherry and the finish was watermelon. I hate peach-flavored candies, and these were no exception. The best out of the lot were the redundant Pink Lemonade-Lemonade.
Next up, we have this oddity: Walgreens Candy Classics Australian Traditional Black Liquorice Smothered in real milk chocolate. Now that's a mouthful, eh? This is a thick stick of solid licorice. It has a nice aroma to it. The same spicy, piquant smell you get when you first open a bag of black licorice. But the thing is, chocolate just doesn't go well with licorice. I found the combination to be just plain odd. Kind of like when Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley were together. They just don't do anything for each other.

Red-Ets

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have an answer to our reader's question on the red licorice from the '70s. Here, direct from the Red Vines licorice site, is the explanation:



Introduced in the 1960s, Family Mix assorted candies is a collection of our most popular bites consisting of red and black candies. Replacing the original product mix of Whips, Red-Ets and Lic-Ris-Ets (ALC's first line of licorice candy), each bag now contains Original Red TwistsT, Black Licorice TwistsT, Red Vine Whips, Super Ropes® and Licorice Ropes® candies.


Many, many thanks to Philly for answering this mystery!

Name That Candy!

Hey Yumsters,
Can you help a fellow candy-lover? He's sent in this query:

I remember buying boxes of red licorice candy from machines, back in the 70's. The name was "Redettes" or something. Can you help me with the correct name. I don't think they were strawberry flavored, but more like cherry.

Anyone?

Bark From the Doghouse

It seems that The Connection is in the doghouse.
See if you can relate:
Spouse looks up at you sheepishly, bearing a gift of some sort.
"Look!" Spouse says. "I bought you a gift! For no reason! Just because I love you!"
Suddenly, somewhere, far off in the land, alarm bells start ringing. Brrrring! Brrrrring! Whooot! Whoooot!
You know something's up.
This was the scene a few nights ago at the Connection household. Apparently, the Connection put a few Ebay bids on expensive camera lenses, not thinking he'd really win them.
HAHAHA!
Okay, ladies, raise your hand if you HAVEN'T been in this situation. Let's see, I believe the Baron's big "oops" was for an antique coin. For Mr. Goodbar, it was a car. (Oh, my bad. Make that several cars.)
In any case, Mrs. Connection benefitted from this eensy-weensy mistake-- she got a nice box of Li-Lac Chocolates.*
(This is the point in the universal conversation where Partner #1 says, "You spent money buying me something to cover up for the fact that you spent a fortune on yourself?!")
Anyhow, Mrs. Connection, being the embodiment of pure kindness and selflessness, actually saved a piece of this extreme deliciousness for me!
Now, I've heard of Li-Lac chocolates, and you have to understand-- I live a mere hour from New York City-- but I've never had any of their chocolates. Where have I been? Check out their website; you'll be drooling in no time. I particularly love this:

Li-Lac's Continental Assortment: Continental at Li-Lac
refers to our exotic selection of chocolate-covered pecans, walnuts, pistachios, filberts, almonds, cashews and macadamia nuts. Unique in the way they are made, using antique molds, the nuts are visible through the chocolate, leaving no surprises. Available in either milk or dark chocolate.

Doesn't that sound like the ultimate chocolate/nut experience?!
Back to the bark. It was good. I mean, reeeaallllllly good. Toasted almonds, dark, fragrant chocolate. Fantastic. If I gave ratings, this one would've been a 10. Or an A+. Or a Golden Pegasus with a rainbow and a peace sign and an American flag and Obama.
Kudos to Mr. Connection for knowing how to work it.
And kudos to Mrs. Connection for sharing.

*She explained that this is the gift of choice in the Connection household. "Wouldn't you much rather get a box of these chocolates than a dozen roses?" she asked me.
Well, yes, Mrs. Connection. But some of us have had to settle for smaller things, such as, oh, I don't know, a single piece of lint-encrusted licorice which, turns out, is full of lead goodness.

Not-So-Lucky Licorice

This just in:
Lucky Country Inc. of Lincolnton, NC is recalling all of its natural black licorice products from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, and Washington State due to elevated levels of lead.

Free Candy! Young & Smylie Licorice

A few months ago, the kind folks at Hershey's sent me an e-mail saying they'd shipped me some of their new Young & Smylie licorice to try. (Gotta love that name. It makes me think of a toothless old man sitting out front on a rocking chair saying, "When I was a kid, we were all young and smiley. Now you whippersnappers are all moody and sullen with your e-Pods and your fancy phones with keyboards.") Anyhow, I was excited and I waited ... and I waited ... And then I kind of forgot about it, until I started seeing reviews of it on some of the other candy blogs. I sent back an e-mail and said, just FYI, I never received the licorice.

Hmmm, they said. We did send it. To this address: Candy Yum Yum's old residence.

Holy cow! Could that be the reason there was a party going on in my old house the night I drove by? (Not stalking. Really.) Were the new owners sitting back laughing devilishly as they plowed through MY licorice? Even though I told them that I sometimes get lots of strange candy-related packages and to call me if they ever receive any by accident? A pox upon them!

The kind Hershey folks sent out another package, though, and this time I received it. They've launched their new line of licorice: traditional black, strawberry and peach mango. The label says it's "Old fashioned soft-eating licorice." They weren't kidding. This is the softest licorice I've ever had. It has a really nice flavor to it-- deep and herby and sweet. Even No-Nuts liked it.

Next we tried the strawberry. I'm not big on strawberry or flavored licorice, so I wasn't particularly wowed by this. It was definitely in-your-face strawberry.

The last bag, peach mango, will be going to a randomly-chosen Candy Yum Yum reader. All you have to do is tell me about your fantasy licorice flavor in the comments. If you could invent a licorice flavor, what would it be? I'll stop taking comments on Friday, Sept. 5 at high noon, EST.

A Present?! For Me?!

Some men bring their wives flowers. Last night, Mr. Goodbar brought me home a piece of licorice. In his pocket. With nothing to protect it from the atmospheric gnarl that one tends to accumulate in his jacket pocket. Fortunately, his pockets are much cleaner than say, mine, which are littered with raisins, receipts, stickers, leaves and a domino.

The licorice in question was procured from his boss, who has a keen taste for Australian licorice. I had been warned that this wasn't the freshest piece (pocket gnarl not withstanding), so I was to judge it with that in mind.

Let me just say, it was a darn good piece o' licorice. Like a sophisticated Twizzler. Thankfully, very unlike Finnish licorice. It was sweet and chewy with just the right amount of bite to it. I haven't delved very deeply into the world of licorice, but this inspired me. Stay tuned for more!

Happy Licorice Day!

Whew, it's been an exhausting day. First we had the licorice hunt, then we opened the licorice presents and then of course there was the great licorice lunch. Well, maybe not, but hopefully you're all enjoying your own version of National Licorice Day. I meant to post the name of the lucky reader who gets the Red Vine box o' deliciousness yesterday, but I was so busy planning today's festivities that I didn't get a chance. Anyhow, the random winner is: Moonlitstorm! Hooray! Thanks to everyone who submitted their comments about red vs. black licorice. Clearly it's a sensitive subject. Just for the record, I like black the best!

And the Next Holiday Is ...

... National Licorice Day! Mark your calendars, folks. April 12 just happens to be the day when we take a moment to reflect and give thanks for all the twists, nibs, bites, coins, cats, pigs and all the other delicious licoricey yumminess in our lives. To celebrate, I'll be giving away a Red Vines box o' goodies to one lucky reader. Here's all you need to do: leave me a comment saying which you prefer, red or black, and I'll pick a candy lover at random. (Sorry, U.S. and Canada residents only. I don't have time to wait in line at the post office.) I'll announce the winner on April 11.

Orange tic tacs

Best Christmas present ever: My mother watched the Sugarbaby today (his new Candy Yum Yum name) while Mr. Goodbar and I went out for sushi and to the movies. BLISS! Seriously. If you have a kid, you know what I'm talking about. Anyhow, we saw "Juno," which was very fabulous indeed. Before we went into the theater, the woman taking tickets said, "This is a great movie for teenagers. It'll teach them something." That it will, but I won't give away the story. But I do have to tell you that it had two significant candy moments:
1) Juno buys a giant rope of red licorice, which, in a fit of sarcastic desperation tries to hang herself with, only to chew through it.
2) The boy has only one vice: Orange tic tacs.

They're a special breed, indeed, those orange tic tacs. Remember back in the '70s when they used to come with two flavors in a pack with a divider down the middle?! It was the orange and grape that were teamed up together. That's not really a great combination, as evidenced by the fact that they're no longer around. I don't think orange tic tacs do much to freshen your breath, but they are mighty tasty.

J is for Jujyfruits!

Here's the latest in my series of Candy ABC mini paintings. (Once again, the photo is crappy; these actually have more detail in real life.) I thought Jujy Fruits would be relatively easy to sketch out because they're such defined shapes, but they were actually really tricky. There's lots of stuff going on in them thar candies. If you check out the website for Heide (the company that makes them), you'll find this awesome little bit of candy trivia that you can use to impress your friends and family:

"The shapes of the Jujyfruits® include Pineapple, Tomato, Raspberry, Banana, Grape Bundle, Asparagus, and Pea Pod. The banana shape is stamped with 'HEIDE.'"

So apparently what you're looking at are two tomatoes (which I always thought looked like green peppers) and a peapod. Strange, isn't it, to have candy shaped like veggies? (This is where, if you're an obnoxious kid, you say, 'Look, Mom! I'm eating my veggies!' as you scarf a box of Jujyfruits.) (Here's a question: why are they Jujy FRUITS and not JujyVeggies?)

Anyhow, I had great fun doing these and in the process I developed a new love for Jujyfruits. They actually seemed smaller than I remembered (perhaps they are?) and softer, too. But I dig the flavors, especially the black licorice ones. After all that horrid European licorice, it was nice to chew on some good ol' American licorice.

What's next? Black pepper gummie bears?

These, my friends, are salted licorice fish or, as I suppose the translation would be, "salted herring."

They're gross.

Not as gross as the licorice that Betsy brought me back from Amsterdam, but definitely not my kind of candy.

The Baron liked them, just a few at a time, but he said my Amsterdam licorice offered more of a surprise because the salt was incorporated into the licorice rather than dusted on. In either case, I'm just not digging it. Hats off to people who can eat this stuff. I'll stick with Twizzlers.

Has anyone seen my insulin?

I'm finally starting to come down off the sugar-high I've been experiencing for the past four days. The von Schokolats arrived on Thursday and true to their word, had a gianormous bag full of German candy for me. I mean, the thing must've weighed ten pounds. I've never had that much candy in the house at one time. I have so much to write about (including our grand New York chocolate adventure) but I can't seem to concentrate on anything right now. My blood sugar is dipping and I'm ready to go to bed for the night, even though it's only 6 p.m. But stay tuned for fabulous tales of salted licorice, chocolate sandwiches, the world's most sour gum and more! (And here's a picture of the Baron dipping into a fabulous Haribo mix. Details to come!)