ZOMG, Candy!

Nestle‘s Cranberry Raisinets have been making the rounds in the candy review blogosphere lately (check out Candy Blog and Candy Addict). A PR rep sent me some free samples, three 100-calorie packs, to be precise, along with an offer that I think you, dear readers, will appreciate. But we’ll get into that in a bit.

Calling them Cranberry Raisinets seems almost nonsensical, but I can think of linked two reasons why they’re named what they are. Calling them Craisinets would probably lead to all kinds of naming rights battles with Ocean Spray (makers of Craisins), and calling them anything else would lose the brand recognition that Raisinets brings.

That’s why we get so many variations on a theme in the candy world (and the marketing world, really); it’s far more difficult and expensive to launch a new product than it is to tag it onto an existing brand.

Still, I’m not sure exactly how much cachet the Raisinets name brings. I see Raisinets as kind of innocuous candy. Instead of being a love/hate thing, they’re more of a love/would rather eat something else thing.

I remember being a kid and trying to pick around the chocolate-covered raisins in bridge mix and feeling vaguely duped each time I mistook one for a chocolate covered peanut. For me, standard Rasinets are something I don’t buy for myself but that I don’t refuse when offered to me. I also feel the same way about raisins, by the way.

Each 100 calorie pack holds a respectably substantial amount of candy (i.e. much more than is shown in the above photo), and each Cranberry Raisinet has a relatively substantial layer of milk chocolate. It’s super thick and tongue coatingly heavy, which is pleasant, though the chocolate itself is rather one note. I thought it had a lightly sweet berry finish, but that may have been the cranberry rubbing off.

As for the cranberry inside, they were sweetly sour, which makes sense, as they’re sweetened dried cranberries. I would’ve preferred an unsweetened cranberry, as I bet a tarter tang would stand out against the heavy chocolate more (I had the same issue with Emily’s dark chocolate covered cranberries), but that would probably have less mass market appeal.

All in all, I find these an improvement on the Raisinet, thanks to their barely perceptible hint of sour. I prefer Emily’s because they use dark chocolate, but Emily’s is harder to find.

I’m torn whether to give these an O or an OM. While I wouldn’t buy them for candy savoring, I think these would really hit the spot at the movies as a decent, not too bad for you, munchable treat. But I never buy candy at the movies (too overpriced), so an O it is. But a good one!

And now, dear readers, the fun reward part for making it through the review. Nestle’s PR peeps have offered to run a giveaway through ZOMG, Candy! Five randomly selected winners will receive their own Cranberry Raisinet samples. To enter, leave a comment with a working email address and your thoughts on Raisinets or movie theater candy by noon EST on Wednesday, August 5th. U.S. readers only, please, as international shipping is pricey!

Good luck!

When I was a kid, I didn’t play with Barbies much. It wasn’t because my parents were afraid that she’d give me body image issues or anything like that (though if I had a daughter of my own, I probably wouldn’t give her Barbies for that reason) – it’s because we were too po’. My parents immigrated from China just before I was born. When I was young, we lived off my father’s tiny grad student stipend, which left little room in the family budget for Barbies. Now that we’re financially comfortable (though that financial comfort will disappear once I graduate from college and attempt to be financially independent), I’m too old for Barbies.

Or so I thought. When Mattel approached me about doing a giveaway of their new limited/collectors’ edition Hershey’s Barbie Doll, my first thought was, “I want one!” And because Mattel is so nice, I got one!

She’s “adorned with a fun and flirtatious cocktail dress in a rich milk chocolate brown, accented with twinkles of silver,” just as the press release promised. And killer shoes, which weren’t touted in the fact sheet that I got. Yes, I’ll never be able to walk en point in heels, and I’ll never have Barbie’s impossible figure, but I’m old enough to accept that and enjoy my Hershey’s Barbie for what she is – a neat collaboration between two old and beloved American institutions.

And, thanks to Mattel, I’m running a giveaway for a second doll, so that one of you can have one to enjoy as well! One randomly selected reader (U.S. only, please, unless you’re willing to pay your own shipping) will win a Hershey’s Barbie. To enter, leave a Barbie or Hershey’s related comment on this post with a valid email address by midnight on Friday, April 17th.

Good luck! And if you don’t win, you can still buy your own at Toys R Us, Hershey’s stores, select U.S. retailers, and at BarbieCollector.com .

NOTE: This contest has now closed. Winners posted here!

Via a random number generator, commenters 36, 28, and 19 have been selected as the winners of my M&Ms giveaway! Congrats to Nancy, Chelsea, and Jennifer B., who will be receiving Easter themed M&Ms courtesy of Mars.

And if you didn’t win this time, I will host more giveaways…

Like right now! Leave a comment about your favorite Tootsie Roll treat (here’s a list of their products), and one randomly selected U.S. winner will receive an Easter or Child’s Play pack courtesy of Tootsie Roll, who are trying to make amends for their Junior Fruit Cremes. Contest closes at midnight on Friday, April 3rd. Good luck!

Isn’t it frightening how soon holiday themed candy goes out on the shelves? The Easter stuff started trickling out before Valentine’s Day before they fully burst onto the shelves on February 15, two full months before Easter. M&Ms has special pastel colored M&Ms, some of which are egg shaped, which I appreciate. Unlike some candy bars that just change the packaging on their minis, M&Ms went above and beyond to make their holiday goods special.

Now’s your chance to get some of those holiday goods for free! Three randomly selected readers can each win a giant bag of pastel M&Ms, courtesy of Mars and via me. To enter, just leave a comment about your favorite Easter candy with a valid email address (only I can see them, and I’ll only use them to notify the winners) on this post by midnight EST on Tuesday. Sorry – U.S. readers only, please.

Good luck!

A couple of weeks ago, the folks at Gud Fud emailed me asking me if I’d like some free samples of their stuffed marshmallows to review. Having already read about their marshmallows on CandyBlog and CandyAddict, I eagerly said yes to my chance to give them a shot, expecting a dozen or so marshmallows to show up in the mail. Instead, I ended up with 1600 marshmallows, 800 of their chocolate stuffed and 800 of their fruit jelly stuffed.

Clearly Gud Fud and I have differing definitions on what constitutes a “sample.” 800 of them were left in my residential college master’s office, and the rest I am slowly parceling out to friends. More on that later. But for now, I’m sure you’re all wondering how they taste. The answer is, it depends. If you like marshmallows, you’ll like these. If you don’t, you won’t.

No matter where you stand on marshmallows, you have to admit that the packaging on these guys is adorable, if a bit confusing: English letters, German umlauts, and Japanese characters make them a worldly looking product. If you think too hard about the cartoons, they get a little zombie creepy (why are there holes in their heads that allow their innards to seep out?), but overall, cute.

The marshmallows are pretty standard. The immediate outside is a bit dry and dusty, like what would happen to a regular jet-puffed marshmallow if you left it outside the bag for a while, but the insides are soft and squishy. They just taste like your average store-bought marshmallows. The chocolate insides aren’t strongly chocolatey – the flavor is more Tootsie Roll than chocolate bar – and it has a frosting-like taste and texture.

The fruit jelly stuffed marshmallows have similarly cute zombie-fied characters on their packaging and come in three flavors: grape, strawberry, and orange. Unlike the icing of the chocolate stuffed Gud Fud marshmallows, the fruit fillings in these are sweet, gooey, translucent gels.

The fruit jellies alone were great – bright, sweet, and true to their monikers. I just don’t know about the combination of the fruit and the marshmallow. There’s a reason why we eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, not marshmallow fluff and jelly sandwiches. I didn’t actively dislike them (though some people who I shared these with did), but I didn’t especially enjoy them either.

Overall, the Gud Fud guys get an O from me. I like marshmallows – whenever I have the chance to make s’mores over an actual flame, I’ll eat marshmallow after marshmallow, both toasted and untoasted, until I feel sick to my stomach – so I liked these too, but I didn’t love them. I wish I liked them more, as I have so many of them, but at least I don’t dislike them. They’re pretty nice in hot cocoa, and I’d love to try them toasted someday.

If you want to check these out for yourself, Gud Fud offers “free” samples on their website that’ll cost ya $2.95 in shipping and handling for 10. Or, reader-friends, I can parcel some out to you as well. Leave a comment here with your email address. I’ll give you a mailing address for me, and if you send me a self-addressed and stamped envelope, I’ll mail you one of each flavor and hope that they don’t count as bulky objects that require additional postage. And I’ll do a proper giveaway at some point too, so stay tuned!

Edit: All marshmallows have been given away, mailed off, or eaten by myself and friends, so my mailing offer is now closed. Hope those who got them enjoyed them!

M&Ms just sent me a huge package of their special all green M&Ms for Valentine’s Day. I guess the logic comes from Ms. Green being the only female M&M, so she makes a good jumping off point to brand green the color of love?

Anyways, M&M is running a contest on their website to win a trip to Paris. That contest ends on February 12.

In the meantime, I’m going to run an M&Ms contest as well. I can’t afford to send y’all to Paris, but I will giveaway three 7 oz bags of M&Ms Green Love Message M&Ms, all green M&Ms with the M on one side and conversation heart-style messages on the back, to three lucky readers.

To enter, leave a comment telling me what your favorite conversation heart/M&Ms “love message” is. Contest closes at midnight this Friday, February 6th, so that I can mail the winners their candy ASAP in hopes that it’ll arrive in time for Valentine’s Day. Sorry to my international readers; U.S. addresses only please. And make sure you leave a real email address – only I can see it, and I’ll only use it to contact the winners.

Good luck!

Congratulations to….. Emily! (what a coincidence), the winner of my Emily’s Chocolates giveaway, courtesy of Emily’s Chocolates in honor of National Candy Month. She will be receiving a bunch of their goodies, and I will be jealous and bury my sorrows in tea and a scone, or something.

If you’re curious, I used an online random number generator to select the winning comment number.

Don’t forget, y’all have until 5pm EST on Monday, June 9th to enter my Emily’s Chocolates giveaway, courtesy of Emily’s Chocolates. Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win. US readers only please (sorry to my international readers. I’m getting a taste of your frustration, as I can’t receive US samples while I’m in the UK).

The folks at Emily’s Chocolates wanted me to remind you that June is National Candy Month. As if I needed such an excuse to eat candy. They also wanted to mail me samples of their chocolates to review, but since I’m abroad, I won’t be able to receive any of them. Fortunately for you, dear readers, they’ve agreed to mail the free chocolates to one of you instead. Hooray!

I got to try their berry and nut holiday mixes and their decadent chocolate-covered sandwich cookies back in December and greatly enjoyed them. Leave a comment with a real email address (just for me to contact you if you win; I have no spam lists to add you to) by 5pm EST next Monday, June 9 for a chance to win their chocolate covered blueberries, strawberries, and cherries (products can be seen on this page; the cherries were my personal favorite). I’ll randomly select one commenter For The Win.

Good luck! And we’ll be back to your regularly scheduled reviews on Wednesday.

Thanks to everyone who entered. I love running these little contests, since who doesn’t like giving stuff away? The two winners of my Junior Mint Giveaway are (drumroll please)….

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