Mmmm, mmm, Mint M&M's

I love mint. I love dark chocolate. I love M&M's. Therefore, I love dark mint M&M's. That's all I have to say.

Minty Mallows and ... Announcing My New Gig!

It's that time of year again ... the time when I can't go to Trader Joe's with an empty sugar tooth because they have all their holiday yummy things out. They have cute snowflakes made out of milk, white and dark chocolate; holiday jelly beans in red, green and white (with no artifical colors or flavors); lots of truffles and fleur de sel caramels, chocolate-covered Joe-Joe's ... it goes on and on. I decided to go for the Dark Chocolate Minty Mallows. Want to know more? You know you do! Check out my new food blog, EatDrinkShopCook! I've accepted a gig as the food writer for a group of local papers, which means my postings here may be a bit sparse for a while, until I get my bearings over there.

John & Kira's Chocolates: A Heavenly Gift

An attractive half-empty box because I couldn't control myself

I love that Father John and I have this Halloween tradition. The Sugar Baby grabs a full-sized Snickers out of the basket (which has mysteriously disappeared; I don't know where it could have gone) and I give Fr. John some of the latest candy that I've found. Then he hands me something super-fantastic, something that blows me out of the water and puts my puny candy to shame. I'll comfort myself by thinking he has divine intervention on his side.
In any case, this is what he gave me this year:
John & Kira's chocolates.
The box contained an assortment of beautifully glossy, thin squares. An accompanying taste guide tells you which piece is which flavor by the design on top. Of course, I didn't realize that until after I had my first piece.
For my second piece, I chose the Drew Elementary Garden Mint. The description: "fresh cream infused with just-picked garden mint from Urban School Garden programs."
Very cool. It turns out these chocolates are made with ingredients from small farms, fair-trade cooperatives and, like the mint, school gardens.
I expected to bite into this and get a big bang of mint, like every other mint chocolate out there. When you have a mint chocolate, you know it.
But this was different. My first thought was, "Oh, I took the wrong chocolate." But then I double-checked and yes, the # on top of the chocolate denoted the mint. So I took another nibble and aha! The mint was there, it was just--get this--subtle! It wasn't "MINT!!!!!" It was *mint*. The main flavor was dark chocolate, but lingering beneath the surface was the taste of real mint, like peppermint tea. Then I tried the raspberry, expecting it to be a big sour burst of fruit. Instead it was just a light, fresh berry taste. These chocolates are a great example of artificial vs. natural flavor. We're so used to artificial "BIG" flavor that it's surprising when we actually experience the real thing.
I used these chocolates as incentive to write my daily 1,667 words for NaNoWriMo. Of course, Mr. Goodbar sniffed them out and had to try them, too. I hate sharing my chocolate, but in the spirit of all this good will, I figured I should just bite my tongue and let him have a taste.

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.

Chocolates for Gods and Divas

I was trying to think of a snarky name for Godiva since their employees are so uppity, when I realized that the name itself says it all : God/diva. Apparently you have to be one or the other to shop there. In any case, despite the snob factor (can you tell this just irked me or what?), I purchased a candy bar for the Sugar Baby at his insistence. It was a Mint Chocolate Chip and Dark Chocolate Truffle Bar. The aroma is a good, solid mint with the fruity undertones of the chocolate. The chocolate is snappy and the filling is a soft, green cream. My first thought was, "Wow. This is yummy!" My second thought was, "This tastes a lot like Andes Candies." It was definitely tasty, but at $2 a bar, you'd be better off buying a package of Andes (or going to your favorite restaurant where they hand them out with the check).

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.

Stride Shift: It's Fruity! No Wait, It's Minty!

You know that scene in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" where Violet Beauregarde snags a piece of the three-course dinner bubblegum that's still in testing mode? She starts chewing and tastes tomato soup, roast beef and then finally blueberry pie, before she, herself, turns into a giant blueberry.
You have to wonder how long real gum companies have been working on creating a taste-changing gum. Well, now Cadbury has apparently achieved that with their new Stride Shift, "the first-ever flavor changing gum." The two flavors are Berry-to-Mint and Citrus-to-Mint. I definitely had my doubts about this. I figured it was like so many other fruit-mint products that combine the two different flavor profiles, usually resulting in something awful.
Well, I have to admit, they did succeed with this challenge. The gum starts off with a berry (or citrusy) taste and then evolves into mint. I'm sure this was much more exciting to the focused taste testers than it is to the general public, who don't pay quite as much attention to what they're chewing. The fruity flavor seemed to be strong during the first ten or so chews, and then the mint started to kick in. I suspect some of this flavor technology has to do with the little gritty bits in the gum (not unlike the scrubby stuff in apricot facial cleansers). Over time the texture gets softer and the flavor turns into a sweet, not-too-strong mint. It's pretty good stuff. I'll be curious to see where they take this technology. You know what I think would be cool? A triple-mint gum: peppermint, spearmint and wintergreen. Now that would impress me.

Candy Tidbits: A Little of This, A Little of That

(First, sorry for the craziness with the font size. I'm having issues...)

The Sugar Baby got a little Russell Stover heart from his grandma for Valentine's Day. Inside was a chocolate fudge, caramel and a coconut cup. This led me to think: why doesn't Russell Stover make a box of just coconut cups? Everyone always goes for those first. So then I went to the Russell Stover website and voila!
They also had other cool things, like boxes that you can personalize with a photo and bags of candy-covered chocolate pieces in custom colors. Who knew?

We have a missive from the field. Alexandra has found a new fave candy bar. Here's what she had to say:


"Walgreens has them for 3/$1 - so I thought, why not? OMG! They are about the size of Twix bars, the chocolate is pretty - it's almost as if there's a design in it on the bottom of the bars. The inside of the bars is like merengue or freeze dried texture. It's not a messy candy bar. It's described as "Whipped-up truffle on a crisp layer enrobed in real milk chocolate. Each bar is 85 calories and every time, I say just have one, but they're like potato chips - you can't eat just one! But you really should, because halfway through the second one, it gets to be a little sicky sweet. I'm thinking of freezing one to see what happens... (I have a liitle supply of these).

More news on the Mr. Candy front: The Sugar Baby and I were driving along and he just randomly said, "There was a gummy fish on the ground. It was in the dirt." It took me a few minutes to realize that he was talking about the Swedish Fish he saw at his school a gajillion weeks ago. So I said, "Oh yeah! The Swedish Fish that Mr. Candy put there." But then he corrected me. "No," he said. "I don't think it was Mr. Candy. It was Miss Gail." So the mystery continues. Is Mr. Candy somehow related to his teacher Miss Gail? Are they partners in crime? Or is Mr. Candy Miss Gail's alter ego? Stay tuned. I'm sure there will be more adventures. I'm not sure when I had my first chocolate-covered pretzel, but I'm pretty sure it was a life-changing experience. When done properly, with the perfect ratio of chocolate to pretzel, there's nothing better. Except maybe adding some peanut butter to it. That's what Snyder's of Hanover figured out. They make a whole line of chocolate-covered pretzels and peanut butter-filled pretzel sandwiches. I had no idea! When they offered to send me some samples, I said, "Heck yeah!" They use Hershey's chocolate and these babies are sweet... sweet enough so that one or two fulfills a chocolate craving.I took the Sugar Baby to the Yale Peabody Museum last week to see the dinosaurs. I think the concept is still a little lost on him, although his friend (who shares the same name as the Sugar Baby) loves dinos as much as *someone* loves candy and mushrooms. We stopped in the gift shop afterwards and I found these:
KSCHOKOLAT Dark Chocolate Mintettes. I thought these were going to be flat mint squares, so I was quite surprised to see they were little balls. (I would've known that had I read the package which says, "Mini nuggets of natural mint fondant encased in rich dark chocolate.") Here's the thing with these: they're really tasty, but at $2.95 for 1.23 ounces, you have to really savor them. These are the type of candies that should come in a big bag so you can eat them by the fistful.

Aren't these beautiful? I sat and stared at these Oliver Kita chocolates for a long time before trying them. They taste as good as they look.

And Speaking of Mint and Dark Chocolate...

When I named Q.bel as the best candy of 2009, I had no idea that they were releasing two new flavors this month. I was psyched when I found out that one of the flavors was mint. When a box of samples arrived, I put on a Curious George video to distract the Sugar Baby and I tore into the mint.
Like all the other Q.bel products, these are all natural with no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives, no high fructose corn syrup and no hydrogenated oils.
The mint wafer bars are covered in dark chocolate, and as far as I can tell, the mint flavor is infused into the chocolate, not the cream as I would have guessed. The wafers have a sort of slight coffee-ish taste to them. I liked these, but I didn't love them. I would've liked more of a mint zing. But I had some friends try the mint bars and they all gave them a big YUM. The other new flavor is 70% Cacao Double Dark wafer bars. Mr. Goodbar went straight for these. The bars are vegan and have a rich, cocoa aroma. Instead of a white cream filling, these are filled with chocolate. Now these, I totally dig. Who knew something vegan could taste so good? Mr. Goodbar said he wanted the whole box to bring to work with him for his afternoon snack. I don't think so.

Let's Talk About Mint, Baby

I love mint and chocolate. Doesn't matter about the mint or the chocolate. It's the perfect combination. Well, maybe it's a tie with peanut butter but wait-- I just had a revelation. Mint goes best with dark chocolate and peanut butter goes best with milk. So they can both be my favorites, right?
I thought I'd share this experience with mint from last weekend.
When we got to Vermont and stopped for gas at the local grocery store, Mr. Goodbar wanted a bottle of water. Having only .26 cents on me, I had to use my credit card, which meant candy aisle, here I come!
So this is what I got. A Divine Mint Dark Chocolate bar and a Haviland Chocolate Covered Wintergreen Patty, which had a tag in front of it that said "Item Being Discontinued."
First, the Divine. Obviously, if I found this in a backwoods grocery store in Vermont, you know it's Fair Trade, non-GMO and over $3.00. The aroma is driving me crazy; I can't place what it compares to except to say that its fresh mint.* The chocolate is just the perfect percentage. The package doesn't say what it is, but it's right on that fine line between bittersweet and just plain bitter. The mint part is actually a mint crunch-- little bits of hard, crunchy candy cane-like nibblets. This is good chocolate, perfect for a special treat with a glass of Malbec. (Oh wait, here's one right here!)
And then there's the wintergreen patty. I bought one of these during one of the summer trips to Vermont, but I put it in my pocket and it melted into an irretrievable mess. This time I made sure that I tried it before it had a chance to melt (although there was hardly a chance of that considering we had 2 feet of snow). Let me say for the record, I had high hopes for this, considering 1) I really liked the Haviland Orange Thin Mints and 2) I really like wintergreen. But my goodness. Gracious.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a contender for next year's Worst of 2010.
I'm actually going to try this again right now, so I can give you a live report. The patty looks just like a York, maybe a little thinner. The scent is medicinal. The inside cream is smoother than a York and it is BRIGHT PINK (my camera couldn't do it justice). Here goes the nibble: OMG. Seriously, this brings me back to high school when I'd chomp on Pepto-Bismol tablets for my stomach aches. Vile. I need to know: who eats these things? Have you ever had one? Is there anyone, ANYONE out there who likes these? Probably not, considering they're being discontinued. But if you're out there, send me a note. We need to talk.

*It just came to me. The aroma is that of peppermint tea.

Halloween '09: What Dressing Like a Fly Agaric Mushroom Will Net You

It took me a whole day to recover, but I think it's safe to say that I survived Halloween '09. First stop: Father John's for the difficult decision of which full-size bar to take. (It just occurs to me that Father John looks a lot like Ricky Gervais.)
Actually, the Sugar Baby had no trouble deciding. He went straight for the Almond Joy, which was the same one he picked last year, despite the fact that he has no idea what it is.
I brought Father John a box of Chocorooms; I felt like he needed to experience the sheer bliss of these little delights. I hope he likes them as much as everyone else did.
But check out what he gave me: a box of melt-in-your-mouth truffles from Hauser Chocolatier in Bethel, CT. I mean, seriously, it gets no better than this.
We trick-or-treated around my parents' neighborhood for about an hour (Bazooka Betsy and Uncle Crabby joined us in the fun). I was surprised at how many people offered full-sized bars this year. At first the Sugar Baby was all hesitant to pick a piece of candy, but by the end of the night he was going for the one-two grab.
We've spent the past two days sorting through all the candy, lining them up, mixing and matching. So far he's loved everything he's had. But the most exciting piece to him was the Starlight Mint. "I got a peppermint!" he yelled. This most precious of candies remains uneaten. He simply looks at it.
More details to follow.

More on Lindt and King Leo

Listen up, people. We have got a LOT of ground to cover. Not only are we smack in the middle of the best candy month in the year, but I also have some serious reporting to do of my recent Candy Extravaganza in New York. But first, let's tie up a few loose ends.

More feedback on the Lindt Excellence Touch of Sea Salt bar: Mr. Goodbar said, "That is the best chocolate I've ever had." Go Lindt!

And more on the King Leo's candy: I gave some Soft Peppermint Sticks and Soft Pomegranate Puffs to Sue MKAFFGGF and she wrote me an e-mail stating the following:

King Leo's soft peppermint sticks are my new favorite food! They are so delicious and they have a really awesome texture. They are exactly like larger versions of those soft pastel after-dinner mints that restaurants used to put in bowls to take on your way out ... only no one does that anymore because they discovered how terribly unsanitary it was. So now, even if I see that style of mint, I never take one because all I can think of is everybody's unwashed hands all over them. Anyway, those peppermint sticks are awesome. No one seemed to like the Pomegranate Puffs. They were just strange.... The thing I don't get is that on the package it says something like "King Leo's Pomegranate Puffs are soft, right out of the package." Previously did you have to leave them on the counter, or cook them in the microwave until they reached the desired softness? Why would their soft quality be a good thing?

Exactly what I said, Sue MKAFFGGF. (Apparently she missed that post. We'll forgive her.)

Special Edition Thin Mints and Green Necco Wafers

During my most recent visit to the Von Schokolats', we went to Big Ass Wal Mart where we had to do some shopping as well as hunting for scavenger hunt items. (We had to find a Wal Mart employee with the same name as someone on our team; unfortunately, the only person who had a matching name was fired the day before.)
In any case, as I was cruising through the food aisles, I spotted these: Haviland Thin Mints in special edition flavors of orange and raspberry.
Haviland Mints are made by NECCO (speaking of which, I'm still waiting, Mr. Krause) and they're a staple in my family's house at Thanksgiving. Seriously, I think the regular Thin Mints are as much a part of the holiday as the turkey. No mints, no Thanksgiving.
I bought a package of the orange ones, although I didn't really have any big expectations, considering the box was less than $2. It might've even been $1.
Well surprise, surprise. These mints are really good! They remind me of Munson's orange creams. There's a faint mint taste, but not overwhelming. Mostly it's just sweet and tangy orange with the rather decent dark chocolate. Kudos to you, Haviland mints!
In other news, I went to the NECCO site to grab the photo (I'm too lazy to take a picture of the ones I still have left) and found this weirdness:
Green Necco wafers for weddings. Only green. Not white. Not pink. You can only get green. That's fine if you're the Jolly Green Giant, or your bridesmaids are wearing mint green (not a good idea) or you're having your reception at the Gaelic-American Club (ahem), but otherwise ... Is there some mythological green Necco wafer story I don't know about?

Creme de Yuck!

I've come upon a startling revelation about myself: I don't like Creme de Menthe. This is very shocking, because I love mint, particularly peppermint and spearmint. So I figured that I'd naturally love CdM.
A few months ago, I was psyched to try the Altoids Creme de Menthe, but all it took was one little disc to make my stomach go all wonky.
Then yesterday, I decided to splurge because my day was made bothersome by a world full of incompetent hacks who ... oh never mind. Suffice it to say that I needed chocolate. So I bought a bag of Hershey's Bliss in the new Creme de Menthe flavor, fully expecting that I'd love them and devour the whole bag in one sitting. Well guess what? I didn't. There was just something off about them, like a soapy undertaste beneath the mint. What is that? What makes Creme de Menthe so different from other mints? I'd love to know.
So here I am today, still dealing with the clueless masses and have no chocolate to soothe my weary mind. It's going to be a long day, dear Yumsters.

Attack of the Giant Peppermint Stick

Here's a cool website for that person who has everything: Great Big Stuff. Check out the 3-pound peppermint stick. I'm not so sure about the kid, though. "Hey kid, 1976 called. It wants your hair back."

They also have a 2-pound Chupa Chup lollipop and, for the person who truly, truly has everything: a monster loaf of raisin bread (plastic, not real). Be sure to put that on your list!

You got your 3 Musketeers in my York Peppermint Pattie!

I really, really wanted to like the new 3 Musketeers Mint. I somehow feel an allegiance to the mint/chocolate combination, maybe because I grew up with an appreciation for York Peppermint Patties, my mom's favorite. It's just one of those ideal flavor pairs, like chocolate and peanut butter or raspberry. But you can see where this is heading already...

The bar is thinner than a regular 3 Musketeers and it's actually two separate bars. Visually pretty appealing, but you can't help but feel like you're being ripped off since this special edition is smaller than the regular thing. The wrapper, which goes from the traditional silver into a minty-green bleed says, "Fluffy Chocolate-on-Mint Taste." Wha?? What the heck is that supposed to mean? What marketing guru thought that gem up?

The bar itself looks really yummy. It's dark chocolate and the inside is a bright fluffy white. Kudos for presentation. But the first whiff of it is disappointing. It smells like those cheapy peppermint patties you see at Thanksgiving and Christmas. And then there's the taste.

"It's like a big York Peppermint Pattie," said Brian.

That was my first thought, too. But it's not as minty and then there's the aftertaste ... a sort of malty, grainy flavor (not texture, just taste). I guess that's what makes it a 3 Musketeers.

Like I said, I really wanted to like this bar for some reason. But the aftertaste just stuck with me. I don't think I'll ever be a 3 Musketeers fan.