Sugar Savvy

Southern California may have Disneyland, but Northern California has its own version of kid-swamped chaos: the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield, just east of the Napa Valley.
Faith Kramer did an excellent article about the tour, so I decided to take it since I was staying just a few miles down the road. However, […]

“I’m no schoolboy, but I know what I like”
- M.Jagger/K.Richards
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I LOVE brown sugar. Brown sugar has been a faithful and consistent standby in times of candy scarcity. I’ve often referred on Sugar Savvy to childhood moments of eating spoonfuls of dark […]

Taking sugary delights to a whole new dimension, the Swarovoski company has come out with something that quickly leaves those standard bride and groom cake toppers in the dust. Swarovski Crystal Cake Jewels are available in every color imaginable and the customization is only endless. Whether it’s hearts, initials, flowers, butterflies, monograms or […]

“For people may not know what they think about politics in the Balkans, or the vexed question of men and women, but everyone has a definite opinion about the flavour of shredded coconut.”
This quote from a poem about chocolates by Louis Simpson is a fitting way to begin this review of the See’s […]

If you’re ever in the San Francisco Bay Area, I highly recommend the Scharffen Berger chocolate factory tour. As much as I love European (and especially French) chocolate, I can’t complain about the stuff they make here, as they specialize in dark chocolate.
I took the tour last Thursday morning. Be sure to make […]

FUDGSICLE AND CREAMSICLE CANDY TWISTS
I had high hopes for these when I spotted them at Dollar Tree a few weeks ago. I bought the Fudgsicle flavor and my friend Lizzy bought the Peaches ‘N Cream, with the plan of swapping taste-for-taste.
But one taste is all we got around to swapping. I […]

THIS JUST IN, FROM BBC.COM:

“U.S. Man Survives Chocolate Ordeal”
A 21-year-old US man ended up in hospital after spending two hours trapped in a vat of chocolate, police in Wisconsin said on Friday.

I suppose this is one way to get your (yearly?) dose of anti-oxidants.
I’m so glad to know that there are Americans out there who […]

This week’s See’s Piece by Piece continues the exploration of See’s Candies coffee flavored truffles. In last week’s post, I tasted and rated the Café Hazelnut Truffle.
While I liked the Café Hazelnut Truffle enough to give it an 8.5 rating, the very strong coffee taste was such a jolt I thought only the hardcore […]

I like to eat candy, as you know. I also like reading novels. And I especially like to read novels in which the characters like to eat candy.
I was recently re-watching a movie called “Born Into This.” It is a documentary about Charles Bukowski, one of my all-time favorite writers. In it, there […]

This is Part One of See’s Piece by Piece’s exploration of See’s Candies’ coffee flavored truffles. This week, The Chocolate Box tastes the Café Hazelnut Truffle.
First, some true confessions. You should know that I have a bias for coffee flavored chocolates. If you do not share this quirk, please take that into account. Second, […]