ZOMG, Candy!

A quick round-up of things that I ate and photographed but couldn’t come up with many words for. If the picture takes up more room than the review, it doesn’t warrant a standalone review. These were all gifts from friends who brought (or mailed) me candy from afar, which is why they’re mostly hard/impossible to find.

Israeli something from my friend Monica:

Like a prettier, square-r, tastier, and creamier Kit Kat. Amusing because to me, the words on the wrapper look more correct when they’re upside down. I had to spin the wrapped bar around a few times to remember how it should be oriented. An OM

St. Lucia Rum Fudge from friend and former roommate (which is quite different from a roommate and former friend) Jenny:

I don’t know if it was the St. Lucia or the rum part that made it weird, but it was weird. Instead of being sticky/creamy/gritty like regular fudge, this was dry and sugary. It was supposed to be chocolate-flavored, but to me just tasted like sugar. I don’t actually like fudge (way too sweet for my palate), and I, despite dear Jenny’s best intentions, didn’t much care for St. Lucia’s rum fudge, though I bet I’d love St. Lucia, where Jenny got to go for Spring Break. An O.

Australian Cadbury Picnic from reader Hannah (who now writes for Sugar Savvy)

Similar to the British version, but minus the sultanas. The strip of caramel was quite hard and only sort of got chewy once you worked it around in your mouth a bit. The peanuts were plentiful and crisp but could have been more roasty and flavorful. All that plus the dry wafer center made this bar much drier than its British counterpart. I have no notes on the chocolate, which meant it, like the bar, was unremarkable, though the plentiful peanuts would make it a hearty snack. An O.

Turkish chocolates from my friend Ben from his suitemate:

The one shaped like a giant Hershey’s kiss had a thin chocolate shell around creamy but not silky ganache with slightly fruity notes. Those sprinkle looking things were made of chocolate as well. Mine had a slight tinge of mustiness (like it had taken on the scent of a paper towel). I will chalk up to storage and transport rather than to the chocolate and thereby give it the benefit of the doubt. But still just an O for unremarkableness.

I really liked the shape of the one that had bits of pistachio all along one side. It would make for good architectural inspiration, doncha think?

The pistachio studded one was a thin chocolate shell around a nutty paste that was soft and quite velvety. I’m assuming the paste was made of pistachio, though it tasted more of pine nuts to me. The filling is heavy on the palate, so I ate the confection over several days, spacing out my bites and nibbles. An OM.

The Violet Crumble is a chocolate bar from Australia. This was in the bunch of candy that Cassie gave me, and I finished it pretty quickly. I also saw it on sale at Economy Candy, where a woman had about a dozen in her basket. I commented on how tasty it was, and she and her male companion both enthusiastically agreed with me.

The Violet Crumble bills itself as crisp golden honeycomb covered in milk chocolate. “It’s the way it shatters that matters,” says the wrapper. These are apparently very popular in Australia, which is probably why it’s possible to find them in the U.S.

The milk chocolate that covers the Violet Crumble is sweet without inducing a gag reflex. The inside is a dense looking crisp that’s actually light and airy, which, true to saying, shatters (cleaves) in a way that’s pretty neat. The texture reminded me of the inside of a malted milk ball, but it dissolves much slower than malt, and when you chew it, it doesn’t completely shatter and disintegrate. Instead, it almost feels like a little will get stuck in your molars. In fact, I learned if you chew a big enough chunk, a little bit of actually does, though it melts away quickly.

The flavor of the “honeycomb” is super super sweet, with a tinge of burnt sugar taste. I usually dislike candy bars that are as sweet as the Violet Crumble, but I found that I could enjoy it a few bites at a time. It’s so unique that it’s worth a try.

If you do choose to save some of your opened Violet Crumble for later, I recommend sticking it in an airtight container or something. My piece picked up a little moisture, which altered the perfect crisp dryness of the crumble, though it was still tasty. The Wikipedia article on the Violet Crumble goes into great detail about how the packaging keeps the bars dry.

I found a similar candy called the Dark Sponge at Economy Candy that’s much, much better than the Violet Crumble. You shall see why in tomorrow’s post.