Sugar Savvy

I’m not sure whether the winner of this particular taste-off should be known as “The BEST orange marshmallow pumpkin” or “The least BAD orange marshmallow pumpkin.”

Okay, so I LOVE marshmallow. I LOVE the flavor combination of orange and chocolate. And heck, I even love pumpkins. So it only adds up that I would LOVE me an orange marshmallow pumpkin.

Turns out, this is not the case. I am quite confident that I would enjoy a 65% (or higher) dark chocolate-covered marshmallow studded with candied orange peels. But being that I embrace candy corn with open arms, it cannot be said that I am any sort of candy elitist. The orange chocolate marshmallow, unlike the peanut butter cup, however, is not a confection that benefits from a low-brow approach.

Typically, when conducting a taste-off of any kind, I arrive at some sort of hypothesis. After tasting 5 different brands of candy corn last week, I concluded that Zachary’s was the best of the lot. The peppermint patty round-up caused me to realize that there are several interpretations of said candy, some stiff, others runny, some dark and full, others cloying. Anyway, I stray from the point. Probably because there is NOT ONE THING to say about the subtle nuances that separate these two identical orange marshmallow pumpkins. Because they are exactly the same: Crackly, poor quality chocolate covering an orange-flavored marshmallow that tastes less orangey than a Bayer baby asprin.

This could be a good candy. It is not.

It is, though, a reminder that I love orange and chocolate, and it left me with was a yearning for an honest-to-goodness blast of the real thing. Luckily, I remembered this beauty waiting for me in my chocolate box. No, it’s not a pumpkin or particularly Halloween-y, and yes, it is 10 times more expensive than the pumpkins and to compare the two is like apples and oranges (ha), but it sure was fantastic.