Lacy Japanese chocolates that I don't understand

Okay, so this is another item that I have no idea about. I saw these chocolates at a Japanese market and thought, "Why not?" I've tried other Japanese chocolates like Crunky and such, so why not try this? Well first off, I have no idea what the boxes are saying. All I know is that they're some sort of chocolate and they look all lacy. There's also the word Sasha in front of chocolate. I can only assume that these are called "Sasha Chocolates". Because I didn't know what these were, I decided to take a chance and buy them.

What I think is caramel on the left and original on the right. Outside of the words Sasha Chocolate, I know nothing else.

I decided that Original would be the best way to start things off

There's some sort of writing on the top flap of the box. Each of the chocolates is individually wrapped

It is quite fancy looking

How did it taste? Well it's pretty brittle and the taste is definitely chocolate. I can't say that it's better than other chocolates that I've had. Overall it didn't impress me that much outside of its design.

Next up:

The picture on the left seems to indicate that it's caramel and crack flavored

The inside is the same except orange

The lighter part of the chocolate is a tinge yellower than the original flavor

This one definitely had a hint of caramel in it. I liked this one a bit more than the original because of the slight caramel flavor. I suppose the flavor could also be interpreted as butterscotch or something along those lines. This was definitely my favorite of the bunch.

Lastly:

This one is even more confusing than the other ones because I have no idea what the picture is supposed to be. It's like chocolate spaghetti with two tiny fruits on top. Again, I have no idea what it is. This is also the only one that has a picture of a person. Who is that person? I don't know

This time things are a lot redder

This one is even more yellow than caramel

This was the most interesting of the group and my least favorite flavor. It tasted like preserved plum or something along those lines. It could also be mistaken as paprika flavored. I have no idea what they were going for, but I know that I didn't like it. I suppose some things even chocolate can't make better

Well, it would definitely be appreciated if someone could correct me on these as I would like to know what the name of these products are. I would also like to know what the last flavor was. I probably wouldn't buy these again because they didn't wow me and they cost a lot more than typical chocolate. Well, I guess the last flavor did wow me, but not in a good way. Yep, I'll probably buy more candies I'm not familiar with, and hopefully next time they'll be a lot better than this bunch was.

Twix strikes again and candy from Mars

Well it seems like the Twix company has openly challenged me and decided to deviate even more from their original Twix line. The latest Twix I saw was Twix Java at a local Wal-Mart. They didn't sell them near the convenience items though, but instead they held them in the back near the tobacco and cigarettes. Maybe they were trying to hide these all for themselves. Anyway, I've decided to lower my expectations for this one and have decided that no other Twix variation will come close to original Twix. In a sense, I guess I've lowered my expectations for all non oroginal caramel varieties of Twix.

There's a brownish-red color on edges of the bag, and a small coffee cup in the V. Clever.

All Twix look the same on top, so I decided to skip that picture. The caramel, like in Twix Triple Chocolate, is noticeably darker as well

When I first bit into this, it definitely had a strong aroma of coffee. I tasted and smelled coffee more than anything else, and it wasn't until a few seconds in that I tasted that somewhat familiar Twix taste. I'm not a coffee lover per se, but I could see how this would be appealing to those that do enjoy coffee. I would put this Twix above Twix Triple Chocolate and somewhere near Twix PB. Again, it's not my favorite, but coffee lovers can finally stop dunking their Twix in coffee. I'm not sure if anyone does that, but I have a friend that dips his bread in soda and water, so I'm sure there have to be people that dunk their Twix in coffee. I'm also waiting for Twix to make something ridiculous like Twix White Chocolate. Make it happen in America, Twix people.

Next up we have a candy bar that people in Mars eat. I guess that's why I don't see this candy bar often, because people on Earth don't really notice it. In fact, as of late, I've only seen it at Wal-Mart. I could have sworn that they used to sell these at 7-11's, but I suppose that there's not a big market for it. Also I guess Martian people are pretty small because this candy bar was probably 2/3 of a regular candy bar. They also prefer almonds over peanuts. The only two mainstream candies I think that feature almond are Almond M&M's and Snickers Almond. I don't know why the almond isn't used more.

You can't tell in this picture, but the candy bar is, again, quite small compared to other candy bars

It came out pretty cracked

And of course it did not break too well

Well the best I can describe this candy is it's like a softer Milky Way with almonds. The nougat in here is fluffy, sort of like the one found in Three Musketeers bars, but with the caramel it has more chew to it. I was surprised to find whole almonds in here. The almonds really added a whole new texture to the bar, which would have been a softer Milky Way without them. It's nothing new and is smaller than a Milky Way. I guess this bar isn't so rare after all because there are other candy bars that taste just like it without the almonds. This would be only an okay bar and didn't impress me that much. With so many candy bars like it, it's no surprise that this one isn't as mainstream.

A Tale of Two Toffees

Update: Thanks to my friends, Dillon, Karina, Phil, and Sherin, I was able to figure out the flavors of the World Dessert Candy that I posted before this one. It turns out that I got only two correct. The flavors are as follow:

China: Mango Pudding, Switzerland: Cheesecake, France: Strawberry Mille-feuille, Italy: Tiramisu, America: Apple Pie

Thanks again, guys

A topping that I see a lot at frozen yogurt shops are crushed Heath bars. I also see this as a flavor for ice cream. A Heath bar is basically a chocolate covered toffee bar. Most of the time, the toffee found in a candy bar is crushed bits of toffee. What separates those bars from the Heath and Skor bars is that the latter bars contain whole bars of toffee. I'm not sure why toffee isn't used more often in a large bar form as opposed to chopped up bits. That's why I decided to try these bars and I also wanted to see if there was a difference between the two.


I'm not sure what the difference between English Toffee and Crisp Butter Toffee is, but these two bars advertise their toffee differently. Heath always reminds me of the world "Health" for obvious reasons. For some reason I always think that a Skor bar is spelled SKQR like some Roman acronym, but it's not. Notice the crown in the O though, very fancy if you ask me.


The Heath bar is on top, the Skor bar is on the bottom. I guess the Skor bar has more waves and the waves on the Heath bar are more space between its waves. Overall they look pretty much the same.

From L - R: Heath, Skor. Notice that the toffee in the Skor bar is noticeably darker than the toffee in the Heath bar.

Well, overall they both pretty much tasted the same. I don't know why there aren't bits of Skor bar in ice cream or on top of my frozen yogurt, so I can only assume that Heath has a monopoly over the dessert industry. Why aren't toffee bars more mainstream? I guess it's because, like peanut brittle, they're not really teeth friendly. If you bite into one, it's quite hard and there's a lot of rattling going on. I enjoy the toffee flavor, but I wouldn't consider getting these over a Symphony bar which has bits of toffee. They're also a bit thin compared to other candy bars. Toffee lovers probably already stock up on these, so if you're curious, you should give these a try and see if you like them.

How Japan sees the world

Update: Now with correct desserts. Thanks to everyone who helped with translation!

When I go around an Asian market, I'm not usually fond of picking up any candies that are milk flavored or have some cream based flavor. I've gotten bags of chewy milk candy before and they've tasted somewhat artificial. I've gotten bags of creme flavored candy and they've turned out to be overpriced Creme Savers. Being burned a few times has soured my experience with creme candies at Asian markets. However, on a recent trip to the market, I saw a bag that just looked so ridiculous that I had to get it:


This basically looks like Disney's, "It's A Small World", on a bag of candy. Except this bag of candy isn't robotic and creepy. I think the squirrel in the center playing the violin is a nice touch. On the top we see each country is marked by an important landmark. The United States is represented by the Great Ferris Wheel, China has Mao's Clock Tower, Switzerland has the Upside Down Ice Cream Cone, and Italy and France both share the Giant Pumpkin Building. These are all great landmarks that every tourist should visit in my opinion.

L-R: China (Mango Pudding), France (Strawberry Mille-feuille), United States (Apple Pie), Italy (Tiramisu), Switzerland (Cheesecake)

Okay, every dessert listed was pretty much a guess except for the United States. As we can see, every figure is eager to have you try their dessert and prove to you that their desserts are superior. If I were judging this contest this is how it would go:

1. China: Their Mango Pudding was really good. However, it had the taste of canned peaches, and not necessarily mango. Canned peaches are delicious, so China gets the gold medal in this competition.

2. France: Their Strawberry mille-fueille reminded me of a cereal I've had before, I can't quite remember what it was. Anyway, it was very good and it was a flavor that I have not found in candies. Maybe the cereal was Frankenberry. Wait, no, maybe not. Anyway, it was second best and very good.

3. Switzerland: Cheesecake is a certain third. I'm not really sure what dessert they were going for, the picture tells me Cheesecake, but the flavor tells me Lemon Meringue Pie. I'm not sure what the Swiss specialize in. All I know is that it was the definite middle of the pack when it came to these candies.

4. Italy: Tiramisu was okay, none of the candies in this bag were bad. Tiramisu wasn't really all that sweet, but you could definitely tell what they were going for. It has a nice smooth flavor and was pretty good. It was surprising, but not as good as the previous three candies mentioned.

5. United States: Obviously this candy is some sort of anti-U.S. propaganda. I mean, come on, how can Apple Pie not be the best tasting one? When I ate this, there was nothing but apple flavor which I could have gotten from any other hard apple candy. As good as those may be, in this bag, the U.S. did not cut it. As a patriot, I am extremely disappointed that this candy was the worst of the bunch. However, the U.S. has a pretty cool mascot on the bag.

This candy really surprised me and made me really consider trying creme candies from Asian markets again. I must admit, when one of the students said that the candies tasted good, I had my reservations. However, now I know that it was true and that good creme candies can be found at Asian markets. Plus the bag's pretty cool too.

Dear Twix: Just stop it

If you recall, I am not a fan of Twix PB. Original Twix or Twix Caramel is probably one of the best candy bars out there, so I suppose it's understandable that they could only get worse. They haven't come out with a new variety of Twix in a very long time. In fact, the last kind they had was Dark Chocolate Twix, and they didn't keep those around for very long. That's why, when I saw Twix Triple Chocolate, I knew that I had do an entry about them.

The concept of chocolate flavoring doesn't really appeal to me. I like candy bars, but I can't understand why people like chocolate flavored things like chocolate ice cream. It's not that I don't like it, it's just that I feel a flavor like vanilla covered in chocolate syrup is much better than chocolate ice cream. Also I'm not a fan of Cocoa Puffs. However, I love chocolate, again just not chocolate covered things.

It may look like fancy French, but believe me it's "Chocolate" not "Chocolat"

Looks about the same as any other Twix

The caramel and cookie are noticeably darker, though not as dark as Twix PB

Basically the aroma of chocolate in this variation of Twix was very strong, obviously because it is Triple Chocolate. That means that there is chocolate flavoring in the cookie and the caramel, hence the darker color. What I noticed was that the chocolate aroma reminded me a lot of Cocoa Puffs. Even the caramel sort of reminded me of Cocoa Puffs. Twix Triple Chocolate also seemed sweeter than Original Twix.

I wouldn't put this as one of my favorites. I'm not even sure if I'd put this over Twix PB. The only thing that this has over Twix PB is that it has caramel, while Twix PB does not. Overall it was not disappointing, but like with Twix PB, the Twix company is messing with something that is already perfect, so please stop, it's not cool.

Wonka Fruit Marvels: Not so marvelous, but not bad

It seems as if the Wonka company can't seem to top anything it made in the 90's and early 2000's. They seem to put out products that are sub-par at best, and they only really count as candy because they're sweet and in some sort of shape. Take for example the recent Golden Ticket promotion that Wonka has been trying to promote. With the promotion they introduced a new line of chocolate bar. Those chocolate bars lacked richness or any kind of depth, and outside of the fancy packaging, I'd rather have a Hershey's Milk Chocolate bar. For a factory that prides itself on chocolate, they sure aren't that good at making it.

Needless to say, outside of Gobstoppers or Nerds, I don't expect anything from the Wonka company to be any good. Even with lowered expectations, I expected this next candy from the Wonka company to be somewhat decent:

I have no idea how long they've had Wonka Fruit Marvels, but I've recently just seen them. Flavors outside of white grape include grapefruit, orange, and some other citrus fruits I can't remember. Like I stated before, when purchasing this candy, I had no expectations going in.

Back of the box

Shiny purple bag inside of the box that holds the candies

A Wonka Fruit Marvel

This candy comes in two parts: the hard outer shell and the gummy center. The outside is somewhat chalky, but has an okay flavor. After a few seconds, you can then bite down on it and get to the gummy center. It's at this point that the candy gets sort of confusing. It definitely wasn't bad, but it was different. It felt like there was a mess in my mouth seeing as how there hard candy pieces mixed with gummy candy.

Would I get this candy again? Probably not. I didn't hate it, but I didn't find it to be marvelous. Like I stated in the beginning, over the years the Wonka brand has disappointed me. The candies that they put out that I like have been available for years, and their new creations are never really all that good. Candy must have really sucked in the 70's if everyone was going crazy over Wonka products like they did in the book and the movie.

Expensive Candies at Wal-Mart

I won't lie, if I come out of the candy section of a store spending less than $20, I consider that a victory. I'm one of those people who purchases things when something catches their eye. It's a wonder that I haven't strained my credit card with ridiculous things I see on television. One store where I always expect to save a bit more money at is Wal-Mart. I'll maybe save a few cents more at Wal-Mart than I would have at Target. However, I found some items at Wal-Mart that were a bit on the higher end of the price spectrum. When I say higher end of the price spectrum at Wal-Mart, I mean anything $4 or more.

It surprised me quite a bit to find that Wal-Mart was selling small boxes of candy at prices of $4 and more. They still had the big bags of Airheads, Swedish Fish, etc. for reasonable prices, but these more expensive candies intrigued me. I decided to buy two of them to see if they were worth the price. First up there's:


Ever since I purchased sea salt caramels at Nugget in Davis, I've been trying to find them at other places, but unfortunately I was never able to find them. The next best thing was probably Lindt Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt. This is why I decided this would be my first choice of pricier candies to buy. At $4 a box, would it be a better purchase than a less expensive big bag of caramel chews?

The candies are individually wrapped and come in a sealed bag

An unwrapped caramel

I have to say that this candy didn't exactly disappoint me, but it didn't meet the level of sea salt caramels I had purchased before. I think it was because this candy was rather smooth, as opposed to the caramels I purchased in Davis which had coarse grains of salt in them. There's still a sea salt flavor and they taste a bit fancier than regular caramel chews, but I think that's because I paid $4 for a box. I'm not sure if I would get these again.

Next up:

This looked like a box holding cologne or perfume and came in at $6.50 a box. The box, while small, was quite heavy for it size. They offered other flavors, such as toffee, but I chose peppermint due to personal preference.

All this talk about Formula 23 really intrigues me

Here is a look at the creator of this candy

"Sup?"

They come individually wrapped in shiny green wrappers

They don't look that fancy without the wrapper

I swear I didn't bite into this

So how did these taste? Well, imagine a large Andes Chocolate Mint, but not quite the same. I happen to like Andes Chocolate Mints, and many of my students do as well. In fact, it was the favorite of one of my students for a while, until she turned to Swedish Fish. Anyway, a large bag of Andes Chocolate Mints comes in at about $3 on a regular day, and at around $2.66 on a sale day at Target. I would probably take the Andes Chocolate Mints over this because I enjoy the texture of a thin mint over this. However, if texture is not an issue to you, then you could go either way.

What did I learn from this? I learned that sometimes pricier isn't always better. Well, the prices weren't that much higher than other candies, but in the world of candy, a $1 chocolate bar is MUCH cheaper than a $2 chocolate bar. I've also learned that sometimes more expensive candies are just have better wrappers than regular candies. And so, it's best not to judge a candy by its wrapper or its price tag, but instead by its taste. The next time you are in possession of higher priced candy, ask yourself if that candy tastes like something that costs less. By asking yourself this, you may be surprised sometimes.