Do the Hokey Pokey

A friend brought me back some New Zealand candies, one being the the Cadbury Crunchie. It boasts of “Golden hokey pokey honeycomb” in its description. Turns out hokey pokey is a term to describe sponge toffee- hard toffee with an additional baking soda/vinegar reaction that results in lots of tiny air pockets. This air-infused toffee thus has a honeycomb pattern and results in a surprisingly light and crispy bite that melts quickly in your mouth. One can easily finish this large bar without realizing it because it feels like eating a chocolate covered cracker. The Crunchie’s airy nature reminds me of a few bars that are currently trying to expand into lighter textures and crispier consistencies- such as the Butterfinger Crisp, or the Three Musketeers Truffle Crisp. But, Cadbury had this one early, from the 1920’s in fact. Too bad it’s taken almost a century to see this texture come out in candy bars again, but better late than never!

Chocomize my Chocolates

What are the new fad flavors in chocolate you ask? Your own! I checked out www.Chocomize.com where one can customize their own chocolate bar by adding whatever toppings, spices, and extras they want. The website is simple and you choose a base chocolate and then add on up to five toppings (which range from hot curry powder to gummy bears.) I tried two versions, one with dark chocolate with roasted pistachios, corn nuts, seat salt and toffee. Amazing! The various crunchy textures with the salty and sweet combo made each bite a new adventure. The chocolate base is a little thick (over quarter inch) and I was hesitant to break the chocolate because the toppings might fall off. (They are added just to the top.) My second choice of goji berries, hot curry powder, mango dices and roasted soybeans did not fair as well. I could not taste the curry, and the fruits all blended together with the abundance of chocolate. I recommend going with the nut and unique toppings over the fruit choices. They also have some pre-made favorites like Smores and Spicy bar to choose from. Next time!

A piece of work

From back when when ET chose Reese's Pieces, there was already a battle brewing between MMs and Hershey’s peanut counterpart. Hershey’s new “Pieces” line are colorful button-shaped candies that so closely resemble MMs you’ll be wondering where the “m” is. The new line includes: Almond Joy, Hershey’s Special Dark, and York. At least the special dark chocolate puts Hershey’s a shade off from a one-to-one comparison to the milk chocolate MMs. The Almond Joy Pieces have a coconut chocolate mix inside which makes for oddly shaped candies...that only a coconut fanatic would love. The York mint pieces were pretty good yet I was somehow expecting peppermint, not mint chocolate inside. Also, in general, the color and texture of these new line additions are not up to par with the Reeses Pieces.

So, my take:
Stick with original MMs instead of the Special Dark, try the York ones, and Reeses Pieces are still the best of all.

Mini Fun Bite Size

As Halloween rolls around the corner, I thought I’d look into what the holiday essential comes in; the treat-size package. There are lots of naming conventions on the bulk bags of these little and not so little morsels; fun-size, snack size, treat-size, mini… How do they all differ? Even Nestle is confused, as their Crunch bars have two types of packaging nomenclature; Fun Size AND Miniatures. Upon further research, Masterfoods (M&M Mars, etc) actually trademarked the name “fun size” and just started licensing it to Nestle this year. I wish I could license “fun” too. Much better than “100 Calorie Pack.” This then led me to look and compare the top 12 treat-size candies in calories, fat, and sugar. Nestle averages lower weight (Crunch, Baby Ruth and Butterfinger) at around 10 g a piece and the Reeses cup, Milky Way and Almond Joy treat-size are the heavyweights at 17g a piece and most calories. Eh, but who’s counting? It’s a mini-snack-fun-treat!

Kids and Candy

There’s a lot to say about kids and candy, and in general, we can say that kids usually favor sour, gummy, and “uncommonly flavored” candy. Although some adults favor these as well, one type has consistently remained a kids candy- “lollipops” and lick-able candies. Why? Kids like to possess their own things, and no one wants to share a once-licked candy. Plus, there are usually elements of “toy” associated to them, i.e. Push Pop, Ring Pop, Bottle Pop. Most of the lick-able candies involve dipping into sugar, and adults wouldn’t want the mess. These candies are vulnerable after licking, and thus are easy to get dirty (and stick to things!). Few companies have mastered a “container” for these pops. Even the new Push Pop Sliderz seemingly innovative packaging has bad tolerances which lead to accidently touching the “pop” when closing. Eew! I’m sticking to tic tacs.

A Chocolate Break

I happened across the 100% Chocolate Café in downtown Tokyo. This one-off café feels like a chocolate-making kitchen with its clean décor and clean packaging on the 56 varieties of chocolate that it sells. In addition to chocolate bars, they serve a variety of foods and drinks boasting unique flavor combinations like Chocolate cheese muffin and Chocolate squash banana lime mint. One wall features glass encasements showcasing the 56 varieties as if they were made fresh right there. Another chocolate innovation (maybe this isn’t innovation- trying to think of other word) are the Lotte Dreamy Chocolate containers. The small chocolate cubes hardly ever melt together. With its robust re-closable container, portable chocolate has never been easier.

Shanghai (hot) nights

Shanghai is unbearably hot in the summers and temperatures can average in the 90s with over 70% humidity. With this hot weather comes a most refreshing snack on almost every corner- Ice Cream! With prices ranging from 15 cents to the luxury Magnums at 60 cents, it is a thrifty and tasty way to stay cool. Going to the local shop down the street, I picked up 20 different types for under $5. One clever treat was corn-flavored ice cream with a cake cone sleeve. Others included mochi on a stick, and green and red bean popsicles. A banana pop was especially intriguing as it had a crispy banana flavored coating. There were also various forms of just plain vanilla ice cream- on a stick, in a box-shape (similar to a “naked” Klondike Bar) and in various size cups. Young and old eat ice cream, and I think it’s one of the best deals in China.