The Chocolate Box — See’s Piece by Piece #52 — How Sweet It Was
This is the last in the regular series of See’s Candies posts for Sugar Savvy. Rest assured that I’ll be paying close attention to See’s Candies’ offerings and will be posting when I see or taste something interesting from this venerable candy maker. I’ll also be writing often about other chocolates and candies.
I want to thank the Well Fed Network for the opportunity to do something I always wanted to do — taste a different See’s Candies confection every week and then share my impressions about it. In addition to gaining a few pounds (well, I never just bought ONE piece of candy each week), I learned a few things from the experience. Here are some of the life lessons I gained from See’s Piece by Piece.
1. If life is a box of chocolates, make mine dark. While I’ve always liked dark chocolate, I usually ate it plain. The sharper finish really complements most fillings. I guess the life lesson here is to take things straight up and not look for them to be sugar coated.
2. Sometimes perfection is where you least expect it. Never in a million pounds of candy had I expected to like the See’s Candies Dark Raspberry Cream. Not sure if the lesson is “don’t judge a candy by it’s filling” or if it to try things before you rush to judgment, either way it’s good advice.
3. Ask for what you want in life. After a year of buying See’s Candies weekly in my neighborhood shop, I overheard a patron requesting a specific free sample. Now, I’ve just taken what ever free candy the sales clerk was interested in passing out, so this was a revelation. I think sometimes I’ll still just take the fatalistic approach and see what See’s is handing out rather than making a request (that’s how I discovered the Dark Chocolate Butter Chew, after all), but no more Mayfairs or Peanut Butter Patties for me! I intend to speak up and ask for what I want.
4. Hand out a free sample. That’s what See’s Candies does in their shops (see number three) pretty much for just standing in line and considering what you’d like to buy. Buy one piece, buy three pounds, the lovely counterpersons couldn’t be more helpful or generous. Show people just how good, skilled, capable you are by impressing them with a small taste.
5. Always use quality ingredients. I think this one is pretty self explanatory.
In addition to the life lessons, I came away with some new appreciation for old favorites and some new candies to put in The Chocolate Box.
I summed up my favorites in the first half of See’s Piece by Piece in this post on my “Top 11.” Some of my more recent favorites include the following which scored a perfect 10 on the Well Fed rating scale as compared to other See’s Candies.
See’s Chocolate Chips (when baked into cookies)
One of the worst candies I tried was the most fun to write about. Check out this post on See’s Candies’ Chocolate Covered Cherries. I believe I called these confections the “chorines of the chocolate box.”
My first post explained all about See’s Candies and its history as a company as well as in my life. I also wrote about my definitive See’s go-to candy — the Dark Chocolate Bordeaux. I am always order a piece of DCB no matter what else is going into the See’s Candies’ bag or box.
I encourage you to check out the See’s Candies’ website and check out the goodies they offer and find a shop near you. Visiting a store is a sweet treat and a good-tasting trip back in time. If you missed any of the 51 prior See’s Piece-by-Piece posts, with their tasting write ups, See’s trivia tidbits and ingredient listings, you can explore them by searching on Sugar Savvy for See’s or by clicking on “The Chocolate Box” category at left.
See’s Piece by Piece sponsored a 10-question trivia contest to help wrap things up. We picked a random winner from all those who submitted correct answers to all the questions. Congratulations to Adam Houkal, who was the lucky winner of a $25 See’s Candies gift certificate donated by the Well Fed Network. All the answers appeared in previous See’s Piece-by-Piece posts.
To see the questions and answers, please click here.
See you at the See’s Candies’ counter.
