ZOMG, Candy!

In my first year of college, I dropped hints to my parents about how my roommates were getting great care packages from home, with things like homemade cookies and knitted hats and other fun treats.

Eventually, my hints worked – sort of. I got a package from my parents that was full of cough drops and a note: “Rosa, Do not have too much fun. Dad.”

Recently, I received a similar package, but this time, I was expecting it: a box full of Luden’s throat drops that were free samples from the manufacturer.

They’re throat drops, not cough drops, which means they have no medication in them. Their new orange flavor, however, is also a Vitamin C supplement.

I got four flavors: wild cherry, orange, honey lemon, and honey licorice. They came in single-flavored bags of individually wrapped drops. All were oval hard candies stamped with “Luden’s”, and all had perfectly smooth melts.

Wild cherry had a deep red sweetness. There was no tartness or brightness to the flavor, but there was also no medicinal tinge, which sometimes plagues cherry-flavored candies. Red candy flavors have never been my thing, but these were nice enough.

Orange is the new addition to their lineup and boasts real orange juice and your daily dose of Vitamin C. It started with a light undertone of orange zest with just an edge of pithy bitterness.

It did get a bit tarter as I held it in my mouth, but I prefer my orange candies brighter and tangier.

Honey lemon was the most familiar cough-droppy tasting one. Its initial quick lemon citrus hit became immediately displaced by a strong menthol sensation.

The menthol was not too intense – it didn’t reach my sinuses, but it did cool my mouth every time I inhaled. The acid lemon flavor was light, as was the sweetness of the honey, though the lemon did get a bit tarter as time went on.

Honey licorice had bitey, herbal, grassy notes of classic licorice. I really hate licorice, so these were definitely not my thing, and I had to spit them out. I am a terrible licorice reviewer.

I wouldn’t buy these as a candy replacement, but they’re good for their candy-as-medicine class. I’ll happily keep the rest of my samples handy for my next cough or sore throat. Actually, based on how people have been sounding around campus, I should bring them to lab with me and hand them out.

I give Os to the wild cherry, orange, and honey lemon. In the honey licorice case, I abstain.

These Trader Joe’s Fleur de Sel Caramels were an expensive (I think ~$7?) impulse candy buy from my last Trader Joe’s run. They came in a round plywood tub with a lid, sort of like a hatbox.

The tub described them as “buttery, soft chewy caramels with imported French sea salt.” It had two sealed pouches of individually cellophane-wrapped caramels.

Be prepared for some serious teeth picking if you decide to chew these up. They’re incredibly sticky and impossible to eat in polite company.

When held on my tongue, they were buttery and smooth, though constant vigilance was still required to keep them from adhering to the backs of my teeth. When eaten this way, they left a greasy feeling on my lips.

They tasted lightly sweet and mostly of butter with a hint of butterscotch flavor. There was a slightly salty hit at the end that brought just the tiniest edge of sourness.

For me, they were too one-dimensional and way too sticky/chewy. The salt just wasn’t pronounced enough, and I wish the caramel was deeper and more complex.

They were a fine treat, but there are better caramels out there. An O. Cybele liked them more than I did, so your mileage may vary.

Happy Friday the 13th! Great time to wrap up a week of See’s reviews (see Monday and Wednesday for previous reviews this See’s week).

I got today’s candies the best possible way: the mall See’s stand had a little basket of individually wrapped candies by the register, and the owner told me to help myself to as many as I wanted. I nabbed a Cafe Latte Krispy and Mint Krispy, along with a Butterscotch Square and Dark Butterchew.

Both pieces were squares of flavored toffee covered with a thin layer of chocolate. The Cafe Latte Krispy was a golden brown coffee toffee hidden in milk chocolate.

The toffee chip cleaved into shards with a great crunch. It had a bit of a tendency to gather as grit in my molars but mostly melted on my tongue.

The thin milk chocolate coating melted thickly and tasted of malt and caramel. The toffee had a nice coffee flavor without any bitterness. Combined with the chocolate, it had a nice mocha frappucino effect.

The toffee crispness kept the whole treat feeling light. It was a nice mix of texture and flavor and OM-worthy.

The Mint Krispy was a white mint toffee covered in dark chocolate. The texture of the mint toffee was the same as that of the Cafe Latte: light and crisp.

The minty center was powerful in flavor and scent. It tasted strongly of peppermint oil and was nearly spicy in how it set my mouth a-tingling, with just a hint of bitterness to the finish.

The strength of that mintiness overpowered the dark chocolate, which came through as just a hint of cocoa flavor undertone. I enjoyed the treat but it was too minty. An O.

See’s has long been one of my favorite confectioners for good reason. They make delicious treats at reasonable price points, and they may be enough impetus to get me back to the mall more than once every six months.

I once had the terrible misfortune of once trying a Choward’s Violet Mint. Do you like eating soap? I don’t either. The violet mint was like eating a mouthful of crumbly, flower-scented soap.

When I saw a guava version, however, I decided to give Choward’s another try. After all, the little pack was just $0.99 at Cost Plus World Market.

To start off with the most positive aspect, they were much more palatable than the violet version. As in, they were palatable, period.

The candies came in small pink tiles. They were made of compressed sugar but felt moist and crumbled instead of disintegrating.

I actually don’t know what guavas are supposed to taste like. These tasted like peach with a mango seediness to the finish. They had a bright flash of tartness at the end that was quite nice.

While I really enjoyed the flavor, the texture was meh at best. I’d prefer them in hard candy form. An O.

On Wednesday, I reviewed my free sample Harbor Sweets‘s Sand Castle Dark Chocolate and Caramel Bar. Today, I’m reviewing their Perennial Sweets, another free sample that I received.

The Perennial Sweets was a box of “dark chocolates inspired by the garden.” My box of 16 contained 4 Nantucket Baskets, 4 Topiary Toffees, and 8 Sweet Irises, each individually wrapped in gold foil.

The chocolates themselves reminded me of cameo jewelry due to their oval shapes and raised (really molded) decorations. As with the Sand Castle bar, I was impressed by the detail captured by the molding, as well as the lack of air bubbles in the chocolate.

The Nantucket Basket was a “rich, dark chocolate with dry roasted almonds” with a pretty basket of plants as its molding. The thick oval of chocolate was snappy with a smooth melt.

The chocolate carried a hint of cherry sweetness and was studded with whole almonds. While the almonds were nutty with a nice roasted flavor, they got bitter at their gritty end. I thought they were a tad too tannic.

Topiary Toffee had a potted tree decoration and was described as “rich, dark chocolate with almond butter crunch.”

It was also thick with a solid snap, and though the dark chocolate looked identical to that of the Nantucket Basket, I thought it tasted just a hair sweeter and had a thicker melt.

I expected the almond butter crunch to be dispersed throughout the treat as little nuggets. Instead, there was a big triangular slab of almond butter toffee hidden inside.

The toffee was simply lovely and paired well with the dusky, thick chocolate. It had the just-shy-of-burnt sugar taste that I love with just a hint of nuttiness. It cleaved cleanly, shattering into shards of deliciousness when bitten into.

Sweet Iris, “rich, dark chocolate with raspberry crunch,” was markedly thinner than the other two. Each Sweet Iris well held two chocolates while the Nantucket Basket and Topiary Toffee were one per well.

The Sweet Iris smelled extremely fruity. There was a light grit to the chocolate that I thought maybe came from raspberry seeds or bits of dehydrated raspberry but actually were bits of “lemon crunch,” according to the ingredients list.

The dark chocolate had a nice cocoa duskiness from the chocolate and a brightly sweet fruitiness. It was nice but a bit too artificially fruity sweet for my taste.

The Topiary Toffee was my favorite of the bunch and gets an OMG, while the other two get Os. They get high marks for prettiness, though. If I owned a bed and breakfast, I’d leave these on the pillows.

Harbor Sweets is a Massachusetts based handmade chocolatier that makes cute molded chocolates, sometimes with various add-ins. They claim to “[celebrate] outdoor living [and] embrace the coast, gardening, and equestrian-sports”, hence the existence of a chocolate called the Tallyho!

I got a free sample 16-piece box of their dark chocolate Perennial Sweets, which I’ll review on Friday, and this Sand Castle Dark Chocolate and Caramel Bar.

The hefty bar of dark chocolate was prettily molded into an epic example of a sand castle. I was impressed by the level of detail to the molding. I could make out the castle’s stonework.

The chocolate was snappy with a thick, mouth-coating melt that left a slightly fatty/greasy feel after it melted away. It had a nice duskiness and a nice, light touch of sweetness, which is exactly how I like my dark chocolate.

The caramel was not oozy at all. As you can see, when the bar was broken in half, it stayed right where it was. It was thick and sticky when chewed and gave my jaw a nice workout, but it also had a nice smoothness to its texture.

While the caramel had a light butteriness when I carved out a chunk to taste in isolation, that flavor was so subtle that it was overwhelmed when mixed with the chocolate.

I appreciated the quality of the dark chocolate and caramel, though I wish the caramel had more intensity and complexity to it. Still, it was a tasty treat.

Based on flavor alone, I’d give it an OM. I have to take into account, however, that the bar costs $5.95, which is on the steep side for a 2.3 oz bar, so an O with the expense factor. I don’t think it’s something I would splurge on for myself, but the beautiful visual detail would make it a nice gift.

For me, Trader Joe’s is a mecca for impulse shopping. These Brandy Beans, or “brandy filled chocolates”,  were the result of my most recent pilgrimage.

The back of the box had the following wordy description: “From master confectioners in Germany, we bring you an aristocratic treat with a bourgeois bent. Here’s a candy that’s sure to delight both chocolate and brandy connoisseurs alike. Our Trader Joe’s Brandy Beans are a harmonious pairing of creamy bittersweet chocolate and the soothing warmth of brandy. Serve slightly chilled for maximum enjoyment.”

While I was intrigued by the mix of brandy and chocolate, I somehow doubt that true brandy connoisseurs would be happy with the booze inside these beans. The booze is real, by the way; you have to be of age to buy it.

The long, slim rectangle of a box contained 24 bean-shaped chocolates. Each was about the size of the first two joints of my index finger.

The beans contained a lightly amber colored ooze of booze. I tried them at room temperature, so the smooth liquid was pretty flowy, only slightly more viscous than water.

The chocolate shell had a thick base and thin upper shell. It was slightly grainy when first bitten into, but its melt thickened if I held it on my tongue.

I thought it rather sweet for dark chocolate, but perhaps that was to counter the alcoholic’s slight bitterness. Beyond that, it was hard to get a feel for its flavor profile through the brandy.

That brandy packed a solid hit of alcoholic flavor and feel, but it lacked the throat searing burn of true brandy. Definitely the easiest I’ve ever had brandy go down.

This was a solid cut above the generic bottle-shaped chocolates filled with liquor that have been my previous experience with booze and chocolate, mostly due to the palatable quality of the chocolate and brandy.

While neither would be exceptional in its own category, they stand out from the pack in combination. That being said, I think I prefer my chocolate and brandy in isolation (or sidecars, for the latter). I enjoyed this for the novelty factor, but I wouldn’t buy them again. An O.

Today I’m reviewing the rest of my free samples of sweetriot‘s new riotBar line: the pure 70% and pure 85% dark chocolate bars. I covered the 60% dark chocolate with crunchy cacao nibs on Wednesday.

Like the 60%, both of these bars were too lightly scored to be useful for clean snapping. The 70% (top) had a sharp initial snap but softened as it was chewed.

The melt was smooth and matte. It started off lightly sweet before developing a hint of bitterness, then finishing with a brighter, fruitier sweetness than the start.

There was a bit of astringency to the end that made me want a drink of water afterwards, but it was mild enough to not be off-putting. An OM.

The 85% was even snappier. The melt wasn’t much fun, as it was very dry and astringent.

The flavor profile began with a sharply bright fruitiness that was quite vibrant. The finish, however, was quite astringent and left a lingering bitterness that I didn’t care for. An O for the strong start, at least.

I’ve seen Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Edamame on their shelves for a while but had never been brave enough to give them a try. Chocolate and edamame just didn’t sound like a good combination to me.

I finally picked up a tub over the weekend. Something about the bright green tub that made it hard to resist, I guess.

The chocolate was thin and sharply snappy on its own. It had a nice cocoa depth to it, with a dusky finish. I think it’s the same dark chocolate that goes into their other chocolate-covered things in tubs.

The edamame was lightly salted. It still had its thin, papery shell, which I thought should have been removed. After all, they don’t leave the peanut skin on their chocolate covered peanuts.

The bright green bean crumbled when I bit into it and ended in a rather unpleasant grittiness. When chewed with the chocolate, the grittiness was somewhat masked by the chocolate’s texture.

I appreciated the mix of salty and sweet here, but I wasn’t a fan of the texture. They get an O. I’ll be letting my boyfriend finish the tub, as he loved them.

I saw this Lindt Excellence Black Currant bar at Cost Plus World Market and couldn’t resist picking it up, both because black currant is an unusual flavor to find in the U.S. and because I’d never seen it before, so I thought it was a new product.

Apparently, I’m a little behind the times, as Sera and Debby have both reviewed this before.

The Lindt Black Currant bar smelled like grape jam. The chocolate was thin and layered with flat slivered almonds that added a sharp crunch and just a hint of nuttiness.

I’m not sure how necessary those almonds were. I don’t feel like their flavor elevated the bar, and their textural addition disrupted the melt.

The chocolate had a bright fruitiness that really popped. It reminded me of a dark berry jam, some mix of blackberry or blueberry, perhaps.

The fruitiness was so powerful that it obscured much of the flavors of the chocolate. There was some cocoa flavor in the finish, at least.

I enjoyed the joyful flavor of the chocolate, but it wasn’t good enough to make me reach for more. I think I took issue with the almonds disturbing what could’ve been a lusciously smooth melt. An O.