Dear Readers, Forgive My Ignorance

I'm trying to figure out how to write this post without totally offending a certain candy company while giving a left-handed compliment to another. There's no easy way around it. I'm just going to have to dive in and suffer the consequences.

There are some confections in the candy world that get mocked. Often, it's because they're made of "mockolate," or fake chocolate. These greasy, oily chocolates are often very inexpensive and holiday themed. I avoid these like the plague.


So when I recently received a large box full of samples from what I thought was the offending company, they sat around for longer than usual before I actually tried them. Then, one night, desperate for something sweet, I popped open a box of Palmer's Peanut Butter Crispy Yums.
I was shocked. They were tasty! They weren't at all the mouth-coating, flavorless chocolates I feared. I looked at the ingredients. Real milk chocolate. Real peanut butter. Real molasses. (And yes, admittedly, some partially hydrogenated bad stuff, too.) But the taste was there. The little pillows were filled with smooth peanut butter studded with little crispy bits. I was impressed. This company seemed to be taking a step in the right direction.
But then I looked at the logo. It didn't seem right. No, something was amiss. I did some Googling.
Holy cats.
After all these years, I've been confusing two candy companies. There's Palmer's Candies, out of Sioux City, Iowa, and R.M. Palmer out of Reading, Pennsylvania.
Oh my.
So, here it is, folks, my admission of guilt and my apologies for any negative "Palmer" references. Please tell me I'm not the only person in the candy universe who's made this mistake. On the bright side, there are two other types of candies waiting to be sampled. I hope they're as good as the Crispy Yums.

Sweet, sweet Friday

I had a banner day on Friday. 1) I was writing a nostalgia piece about a bakery from my youth-- a bakery that made the best doughnuts and giant chocolate chip cookies ever. They closed four years ago. By some sprinkling of magic fairy dust, I discovered that the bakery had re-opened just two months ago. I am pleased to report that the cinnamon doughnuts and the cookies are even better than I remembered and I'm now able to pass this tradition on to the Sugar Baby who ate such a huge cookie that he had a stomach ache. And 2) I came home to find a giant box of all sorts of candy on my doorstep. The National Confectioners Association will be hosting their Sweets & Snacks Expo in Chicago next week, but unfortunately, I won't be able to attend due to No-Nuts' college graduation. But the good news is, I now have 25 pounds of all sorts of new and exciting candy to share with you all thanks to the kind folks at the NCA. So between the new/old bakery and the candy extravaganza, my diet is pretty much shot. Luckily the Reese's Kid and the Carry On Candy Girl will be here for a week to help me taste test.
In the meantime, I couldn't wait to try the Reese's Minis. I suppose I should've saved them for the Reese's Kid, but I only have so much willpower. The package says, "Conveniently Unwrapped Mini Cups." These are ideal for the Sugar Baby, who often forgets that Reese's have a cup wrapper and doesn't remember until he realizes he's chewing paper.
For contrast, I decided to compare them to Palmer Peanut Butter Cups. Now, in the past I've been known to comment on the fact that Palmer "chocolates" don't really contain any chocolate. This, again, is the case. The ingredients are: sugar, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, peanut butter, whey, lactose, cocoa, peanut flour, skim milk, salt emulsifiers and vanillin. Compare that with the Reese's which contain: milk chocolate, peanuts, sugar, dextrose, cocoa butter, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, salt, PGPR (an emulsifier) and TBHQ (a preservative).
Hmmm. It's safe to say that neither is a health food. Both contain partially hydrogenated oil, or as I like to call it, the devil's fat. Just because Reese's contains milk chocolate doesn't mean I should go getting all snotty about the Palmer peanut butter cups.
So here's the breakdown: the little Reese's Minis were cute and would be great for cookies. As for just plain eating, though, I prefer the larger cups. It's strictly a textural thing. I like the thick rim of chocolate on the normal sized cups.
The Palmer cups were actually not bad, especially considering the fact that I expected them to be gritty and nasty. Would I take them over the Reese's? No. But it would be interesting to a more in-depth blind taste test at some point. I'll put that on my list of things to do. In the meantime, here's a little teaser of just some of the candies I'll be talking about this week:

• Mike and Ike Bubblegum
• Wonka Whipped Wingers Gummies
• Necco Wafers Chocolate
• Starburst Summer Fun Fruits
• Ferrara Chocolate Milk Chocolate Strawberry
• Goetze's Double Chocolate Bullseyes ...
• and much, much more!