January 29, 2010
January 11, 2010
Candy Review: Dandies Vegan Marshmallows
As far as I’m concerned, marshmallows have four practical applications:
- Direct snacking (good)
- Hot chocolate (better)
- S’mores (best)
- Rice Krispies Treats (sublime, to be sure, but labor-intensive and, as such, ignored here)
Armed with this intimate understanding of what I like to think of as little sugar pillows, I embarked on a three-part sampling of Dandies Vegan Marshmallows to give you, the Candy Addict reader, the most comprehensive look possible at this exciting product.
Straight Marshmallows
These vanilla-flavored Dandies Marshmallows are air-puffed and both vegan and gluten-free, for all of you with the relevant dietary restrictions and/or preferences. They offer a faint vanilla aroma and are noticeably lacking in that chemically stomach churning scent that I associate with… um… other brands. Size-wise, they fall somewhere between a jumbo and mini marshmallow (making them, perhaps, a regular?) and are more dense/less airy than aforementioned others. They are comparable in stretchability and chalky exterior, but I found the Dandies’ interior to be much stickier. And they taste great. Their delightful chew offers a nice creaminess at the end and the flavor, while not especially vanilla-y, is also not especially chemically, which leads me to believe that I could eat far more of them before feeling utterly sick to my stomach.
In Hot Chocolate
I tend more towards the mini variety of marshmallows for my hot chocolate needs, so I had to cut these up for sampling part two. Quartering them worked well for me. As promised on the Dandies website, these melted in that oozy way that marshmallows do in cocoa (but, happily, not too fast) and provided a sweet, slightly spongy element to my hot chocolate. No complaints here.
S’mores (aka “God’s food”)
Much to my delight, these marshmallows toasted very quickly. And while they browned nicely, I would be remiss not to mention that their surface bubbled maniacally (strictly cosmetic) and they were quick to catch fire (potentially troublesome in a campfire situation, less so over the burner of my gas stove. Bonus Addict tip: chopsticks make for a good at-home marshmallow-toasting tool.). And in a sampling moment that nearly made me weep with joy, the Dandies Marshmallows melted to perfection, coaxing their accompanying chocolate squares with them (yes, there were multiple), whilst never reaching that sticky, stringy, taffy-like state that makes standard s’mores generally unruly. Mmm. S’mores are genius. GENIUS.
As are Dandies Marshmallows.
While I was admittedly too lazy to launch the all-important fourth phase of this sampling, I have it on good authority (namely the Dandies website) that these also “make Rice Krispies Treats just like the real ones,” and I’m inclined to believe it. As a Candy Addict (as well as self-professed almost-vegan), these marshmallows exceeded any hopes I may have had for them and I proclaim that you all should go forth, be vegan, and eat (Dandies) marshmallows!
Editor’s Note: I let my Mom try these marshmallows, and she immediately proclaimed “They taste like marshmallows used to taste!” She then proceeded to tell a long, nostalgic story of how campfire marshmallows used to come packaged in little cardboard boxes with cellophane over the top… well, you get the idea. Needless to say, she was quite taken with these yummy little gems. So if you’re looking for marshmallows that taste “like they used to taste,” definitely give these a shot.
Candy Addict received this product as a sample from the manufacturer. No payment was received for this review and all opinions represent an unbiased view of the product.
December 30, 2009
Candy Review: El Rey Chocolates
Let’s say you return home from the market with a big Yukon Gold potato to go with your steak. You’re ready to bake the potato when you notice some fine print on a small sticker. It reads: “Contains salt, milk substitutes, artificial sour cream, onion, bacon and cheddar cheese flavor; 7% real potato.” Although you might like the sound of those add-ons, you certainly wouldn’t think you were holding a potato in your hand, would you? Of course not. A potato is 100% potato. Those other things might go great on your spud, but you want to start with an actual potato, don’t you? Of course.
And yet, this potato scenario exactly mirrors what happens when you buy any mass produced chocolate bar. All of them have around 7% cocoa and cocoa butter, and fill in the other 93% with sugar, milk substitutes, vegetable oils, soy lecithin and fake vanilla (called “vanillan”). Yes, you read correctly. Ninety percent or more of your supposed chocolate bar has nothing to do with chocolate, and yet it’s called chocolate!
Why is that, you ask? You won’t be surprised to learn that it’s due to history, greed and a disregard for quality. The cocoa in a nominal chocolate bar is by far the costliest ingredient, so makers want as little of it as possible. And we’ve called this food chocolate for so long that we associate the name with something very far from the cocoa bean.
Enter good chocolate, which has only been around since 1987, when chocolatiers figured out a way to bring out the distinct flavors of the cocoa bean in high percentage formulas without the high acidity and bitterness overwhelming the taste. (Why you don’t want any more than 70-75% cocoa; sugar, cocoa butter and vanilla round out the cocoa bean flavor best.) These artisan chocolates have a concern for quality and flavor. You’ve seen all those dark chocolate bars with percentages on the front, right? That comes from wishing to trumpet the fact that these bars have more cocoa credibility, and it’s a great trend. Except for one thing.
There’s more to a good chocolate bar then cocoa percentage. Most crucial is the bean you use. To cut to the chase, inferior chocolate uses inferior beans (”Forastero”) because they’re easiest and cheapest to grow. This lousy bean accounts for well over 90% of all cocoa grown, and its bought by all the mass producers. And the good stuff? “Criollo” and “Trinitario.”
Like fine wine, these beans have distinct, complex flavors that reflect the soil and climate of where they’re grown. Artisan chocolate of amazing flavor is exclusively made from these beans. (Mass produced, high percentage cocoa bars like Lindt Dark Chocolate contain Forastero beans, so they taste nowhere as good as the chocolate I’m talking about now. Hence, a merely high percentage of cocoa does not guarantee anything in the flavor department.)
El Rey chocolates use only Venezuelan Criolo and Trinitario beans. Let’s taste three of their bars from a very attractive metal tin of 5g squares.
The El Rey Cariaco Dark Chocolate “Rio Caribe” bar is 60.5% cocoa, a single bean (that is, unblended) cocoa variety of Venezuelan origin. It’s a Trinitario bean from the famed north eastern growing region of the country.
It has a great snap and earthy flavor, mildly fruity, but a bit too much vanilla flavor for my taste. If you’re new to real chocolate, however, this bar is a really good one to try because all of us normally associate vanilla with chocolate, so this makes for a good transition. This bar also has a well-rounded flavor with a few high distinct notes.
The 70% version of this El Rey bar shows more clearly why beans matter. Now that there’s less sugar and vanilla, I can taste the nice flavor of this delicious chocolate. The earthiness has some subtle peat or chalkiness to it, and the dark berry notes are more prominent. Wow, this is good. With this bar you really begin to taste chocolate as the complex plant that it is.
And now, the El Rey “Apamate” 73.5% Dark Chocolate bar. Made from the Carenero variety of Trinitario beans, this chocolate is amazing. Although I wouldn’t recommend that you go from Hershey’s to this chocolate (just like you can’t go from diet Coke to well-rounded Bordeaux and compare them very well), it’s great to start tasting real chocolate so you can see what’s going on with this bar.
First, it has a strong rich chocolate flavor that’s earthy and deep. Second, and unlike the Rio Caribe, this bar presents a more harmonious combination of flavors, including berry and an almost spicy taste. There’s also a hint of nuttiness and, most impressively, a long sustaining flavor of them all together that lingers on the tongue well after the chocolate is gone. This chocolate has its own personality. You may like artisan bars with a different character, but that’s what’s great about real chocolate: there are genuine differences to notice and enjoy.
So, all three of these El Rey chocolates have great mouth feel and rich, distinct flavors. These are great chocolates, made to the high standards that great cocoa beans deserve and reward. Although I prefer Amano single-bean chocolate (which I hope to review here in future), El Rey has a real winner here, especially with the Apamate. This Venezuelan company knows what it’s doing.
It’s been twenty minutes since I had a piece of Apamate and I can still feel its presence on my palate. Wow. Go buy this excellent chocolate if you already know about real chocolate. If you don’t, try these three bars in order and enjoy a journey of taste discovery.
You might even want to start with the Caoba 41% Dark Milk chocolate bar (delicious!) and work your way up the flavor ladder. All of these bars and an excellent white chocolate can be had in a great sampler. I highly recommend this gift for you and anyone else you like. Now that’s a present worth unwrapping.
And hey, take that 7% potato back to the store for a real one.
Candy Addict received this product as a sample from the manufacturer. No payment was received for this review and all opinions represent an unbiased view of the product.
December 21, 2009
Candy Review: Edward Marc Gourmet Chocolates and Pretzels
Looking for a gorgeous chocolate gift? Whether you’re treating yourself or someone else, Edward Marc has some lovely goodies to share with you. I recently received of a box of Edward Marc gourmet assorted chocolates and a box of chocolate peanut butter pretzels to review.
The first thing I noticed was the packaging. It’s very classy and elegant, without being stuffy. My immediate thought was “Ooh, this would make a nice gift!” When I opened the box of chocolates, I was delighted to see that the inside was even prettier than the outside.
Looks are all well and good, but what about the taste? I can tell you that Edward doesn’t skimp on flavor or texture. There’s a mix of solid chocolates and filled chocolates. The white, dark, and milk chocolate shells were consistently rich and creamy, so no matter what filling you got, the chocolate was always great. Plus, there’s a nice variety in the fillings, including fruit, nuts, and creams, so there’s something for just about everyone. I really liked the Golden Raisin Cluster – think uber upscale Raisinet. But hands down, my favorite thing in the box was the Dark Chocolate Salt Caramel. OMG! These people have taken caramels to a new level. The caramel is incredibly buttery, just the right amount of chewy, and not too sweet. With the rich dark chocolate and then the salt – who knew salt could add such a wow factor? – I was in heaven. It’s a good thing I didn’t get a whole box of just the caramels or might have had to propose to someone at the Edward Marc factory.
The only misses for me had to do with personal taste rather than shortcomings on Edward Marc’s part. Personally, I’m not that into orange peel, so the white chocolate with the orange peel didn’t light my fire. And, I’m not really into the meltaways, but if light, creamy, melt-in-your-mouth fillings are your thing, these will make you swoon. I did, however, really enjoy the roasted coffee beans on top of some of the meltaways. They added crunch and a surprising amount of flavor that really complimented the chocolates.
I also tried the peanut butter pretzels. I don’t know what Edward Marc has been feeding their pretzels, but these pretzels are huge!
While the pretzels were good, I can’t say I got the same wow that I got from the chocolates. I think this is, again, a matter of personal taste. First, I love salt, and I felt like the pretzels really need salt. Second, the peanut butter had more of the whipped consistency, like the filling in the meltaways which, again, is not my personal preference. I prefer a more solid, less sweet consistency. That said, I still enjoyed the pretzels. The chocolate was rich, the portion was extremely generous, and the pretzels were nice and crunchy.
Overall, Edward Marc makes a lovely mixed box of chocolates, in variety, in presentation, and in taste. They also make a good box of ginormous chocolate peanut butter pretzels, with good chocolate and texture. In both cases, Edward Marc doesn’t skimp on ingredients or portions. I can see either or both of these making good gifts.
Candy Addict received this product as a sample from the manufacturer. No payment was received for this review and all opinions represent an unbiased view of the product.
December 17, 2009
Candy Review: Chocomize
Make-your-own-combination chocolate bars must be the next big thing – or at least some people hope they are. As soon as I posted my review of Chocri, what should we get but an offer of samples from another website that offers the same sort of product.
Chocomize is American (although they use Belgian chocolate) and offers a different range of additions, although they also say that ten billion combinations are possible. They offer some pre-made combinations, which doesn’t seem to be in the spirit of the thing, but as someone who previously lamented that I didn’t really want to pick from among ten billion choices, I guess I shouldn’t throw stones, right?
I ordered a dark chocolate bar with pecan and sour cherries, same as from Chocri, and then threw in some candied rose petals for the heck of it, since I’d thought they’d be better with dark chocolate than the milk I’d had them with before.
I also asked for a sample of the milk and white chocolate for comparison, and actually they sent me two more whole bars with surprise additions. Which – again speaking as someone who didn’t really want to pick from among ten billion choices – was kind of a relief actually.
The milk chocolate bar had blueberries, honey roasted soybeans, and crystallized violet petals – perhaps they overestimated my degree of interest in eating candied flowers. The white chocolate had only dried strawberries, and the simplicity was a nice change from the other two.
Again, I think my personal opinion of the combinations is kind of beside the point. I mean, to start, I think that three things added to a chocolate bar is too much, actually. And you probably know whether or not you like honey roasted soybeans or not. (If you don’t, though, try them. They are surprisingly good, like peanuts but less greasy.) Basically, I am sure you are all grownup responsible chocolate eaters who can be trusted to combine these things for yourselves. You don’t need my opinion.
How about the chocolate, though? Like I said in my Chocri review, I come to this with a prejudice that Americans have a tendency to pile on the toppings (pizza, sandwiches, etc.) with the apparent assumption that if there’s enough stuff on top, it doesn’t matter that the underlying product isn’t of very good quality.
Well, OK, I apologize for my prejudice. This chocolate is less to my personal taste than the Chocri, but neither is it a cheap junk that they’re hoping you won’t notice under a load of gummy bears, wasabi peas and gold flakes.
I was most suspicious of the white chocolate, on general principles, because there is so much bad stuff going under the guise of white chocolate. It didn’t help much that the big, dark, wrinkled lumps of dried strawberries looked on first glance like – um, let’s just say it was something not edible, and maybe only my mind would jump to that idea because I’ve spent a lot of time in my life cleaning up after a wide range of animals.
But the white chocolate is good. It is sweeter than the Chocri, but quite acceptable. And the strawberries are a good addition in the way that strawberries go well with white creamy things.
The dark chocolate is also not bad. Also a hair too sweet – but I like very bitter dark chocolate. The cherries and pecans are good. And so is the rose petal, with a very strong rose flavor, but I wanted to pick it off and eat it separately (which was unfortunately impossible). OK, I give up – candied flower petals on chocolate are a bad idea. I tried something new, now can I please just stick to nuts and crispy rice? Thanks.
The milk chocolate was my least favorite but I am a tough customer for milk chocolate, I prefer it to be basically dark chocolate over which someone has more or less waved a carton of milk. I think it’s fair to assume that someone whose favorite kind of chocolate is milk chocolate is going to like this better than I did.
I don’t care for the ‘big chunks scattered on top’ approach that both of these companies take. I’d rather have smaller pieces more evenly distributed. They’re obviously going for the visual effect, with similar packaging with clear plastic windows displaying the top of the bar. (Which as noted in the case of the strawberries was not such a hot idea.)
Overall I think these bars are – not surprisingly – more pitched to American tastes as far as sweetness level. If you are the sort of person who often complains that things are too sweet, I suspect you would prefer the Chocri. If that is not one of your recurring problems, you are likely going to be OK with the Chocomize. But you would not be embarrassed giving either as a gift, and since they have different toppings, your choice might come down to either the choice of additions and/or the price, which I can’t speak to, having not paid for either one.
So, if this sounds like fun to you, go wild. Personally, now I am going to go eat some PLAIN chocolate for a change of pace. And please, if there is really anyone out who is tempted to order a chocolate bar with Sour Patch Kids on it, I would rather not know about it, OK?
Candy Addict received this product as a sample from the manufacturer. No payment was received for this review and all opinions represent an unbiased view of the product.
November 23, 2009
Candy review: Derry Church Artisan Chocolates
Another box of filled chocolates to sample! You guys have no idea how hard I work for you. Derry Church Artisan Chocolates have a schtick which is kind of cute, where each one is named after a city and is flavored with stuff that at least sort of has something to do with the place they are named after. They also have some flavors that I can pretty much guarantee you have never encountered, which is sometimes a good thing and sometimes very much not so good at all.
San Fran – black mission figs. Good dark chocolate. Just a hint of figs really but it’s enough. It’s a good combination.
London – butter toffee and crushed almonds. I picked this up and said to my assistant “I don’t like toffee, you can have this one,” and took a little bite. And then finished the whole piece. (Don’t worry, there were two, he got the other.) Nice and buttery and not the kind that sticks in your teeth. They need to make a whole big bar of this.
Savannah – peaches in white chocolate ganache with oat crumble. I give them credit for this idea. There are lots of chocolate companies making flavors you’ve never heard of, but most of them are European or Asian types of flavors. Here’s a solidly American idea. But… the peach filling is not bad, but I just can’t do the oat crumble with chocolate. A for imagination, but I would not eat this again.
Cairo – date and balsamic vinegar, with a topping of jaggery (brown sugar and molasses). Eating the parts separately, you can taste the balsamic vinegar in the filling but surprisingly, this is not awful like it probably sounds. The little topping bit tastes extremely of molasses and has a nice sandy texture, and is something I could use more of in my life. Eating it all at once it comes together into its own indescribable but mostly fruity-tasting thing.
Burlington – maple syrup and pecan. I hate to be un-American but this is another one that doesn’t do it for me. I don’t really taste any maple syrup. I don’t want maple syrup on my chocolate anyway though, come to think of it. Another A for patriotism, otherwise, not for me.
Winter Haven – orange and white chocolate. This tastes totally like white chocolate and yet also has the flavor of orange juice. Kind of confusing really but in a good way.
Dublin – Irish whiskey cream liqueur and coffee. My assistant, who is a whiskey fan, said this didn’t taste much like whiskey. Which was fine with me, but I still didn’t like this one. Somehow it just gave the impression of not very good milk chocolate – I think the additions weakened the chocolate flavor without adding enough of their own flavor.
Derry Church – bigger than the others, milk chocolate with what they call “dulce de leche caramel,” which basically seems to mean that rather than the usual stiff chewy caramel you get inside a chocolate, this is soft and flowing, and it’s wonderful. It’s that really good caramel flavor that seems to hit every single taste bud in your whole mouth – nice and rich and full. I am not crazy about the milk chocolate in these chocolates, which is not intense enough for me, but never mind the chocolate, in this one you could just eat the filling off a spoon.
Plymouth – the description of this filled me with dread: chocolate with pumpkin pie spice? But it was excellent – the problem is, they’ve named it wrong. It tastes just like one of those chocolate covered gingerbread Lebkuchen cookies, and obviously should be named after a city in Germany instead.
Mumbai – curry. Of this, the less said, the better.
County Kildare – oatmeal. Before you say “yuck,” it might be worth reading the description that says “remarkably similar taste and texture to freshly baked oatmeal cookies.” But you might, like me, still say “yuck” after you taste it.
Rome – cappuccino flavored, and cute, topped with what looks like foam dusted with cinnamon. It’s OK, it doesn’t bowl me over, but what a relief after curry and oatmeal. Sometimes there’s a reason that certain combinations are traditional and certain combinations are unheard-of.
Paris – strawberry jam and white chocolate. This really is strawberry jam, and tasting it makes me realize that jam really does have its own flavor – it’s not just strawberry and it’s not like what fruit flavor chocolate fillings are usually like. And I am not sure I would have thought it was going to be a good idea if I’d known this in advance. But, I like this one.
To sum up, some of these are too off the wall but more to the point they are not really my style, so they are not going to knock Burdick or Theo out of the top rank as my favorite artisan chocolate. But enough of the flavors are good that I am left with a curiosity about the remaining ones that I didn’t get to try. (Hmm, Edinburgh butterscotch sauce?) So I should also point out that you can buy these chocolates packaged in a pretty little Japanese bento box, fancy chopsticks included and wrapped in cloth in the Japanese way, and Christmas is coming, and don’t leave out the London and Plymouth, OK?
November 21, 2009
Official PopSugar New Moon Movie Review!
Official PopSugar New Moon Movie Review! To wrap up New Moon Watch ‘09, find out how much Robert Pattinson you’ll be getting in the movie, hear about Chris Weitz’s surprise ending, and learn that there’s a lot more to be seen than what’s been shown in all the sneak peeks in our official movie review! And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook for all the latest celebrity gossip!
