Sugar Savvy

Reviewed this week:  Yan Yan Strawberry Cream Snack, from Meiji Seika, Singapore
Ingredients:  Wheat flour, vegetable oil & shortening (palm & canola oils), sugar, lactose, whole milk powder, leavenings (ammonium bicarbonate & sodium bicarbonate), yeast, cheddar cheese (contains milk, cheese culture, salt), salt, strawberry powder, emulsifier (soya lecithin), natural colorings (beet red E162, beta-carotene E160 & […]

Ever since my first trip to Germany, I’ve loved this brand of chocolate.  My favorite is the milk chocolate with hazelnut bits and raisins.  Part of the secret of this chocolate is the addition of hazelnut paste, which creates a richer tasting chocolate.
The Milka brand was founded by Philippe Suchard.  Yes, the Suchard that makes the Swiss Suchard […]

Reviewed this week:  Peanut Cake from Hurng Fur Foods Factory Co. LTD., Taipei, Taiwan
Ingredients:  Peanut (66.7%), Sugar (20.7%), Maltose (7.5%), Salt (0.1%)
Package Copy and Appearance:  clear packaging, a little red seal in the upper left saying “nice choice” and information that the product has won “excellent food golden award.”  This is probably a one packaging […]

 Coffee Crisp is a bit of a cult candy bar.  There was even a site, Coffee Crisp Petition that appealed to Nestle to distribute the candy to the US, not just Canada. They were successful, so now you can find this bar locally.  While I was there I also noticed the Limited Edition Chocolate Mocha Kit […]

It looks like Hershey’s is making the big push into the premium chocolate market with its recent acquisitions of Dagoba and Scharffen Berger, and now with their new line of Cacao Reserve chocolates.
This weekend was the first time I’d noticed this product line at Wegman’s, and then I saw it again at CVS later the […]

Photo from Brad Kent
Peanut butter lovers, your dream candy bar is here. For me, the Pay Day Peanut Butter Avalanche was love at first bite. Rather than the typical caramel center there is crumbly peanut butter a la Reese’s peanut butter cups. This was coated with a little caramel on the outside for additional […]

Reviewed this week: Kasugai Litchi Gummy from Kasugai Seika Co., Ltd. Nagoya, Japan
Ingredients: Sugar, corn syrup (corn starch, water), concentrated apple, litchi juice, gelatin, oblate powder, d-sorbitol, citric acid, milk calcium, pectin, artificial litchi flavor, palm oil, emulsifer (glycerin fatty acid ester, soybean lecithin)Package copy and appearance: The front has images of litchis with the […]

Jelly Belly candies easily classify as one of my desert island candies. They do a really great job of capturing flavors, probably due to their tendency to use all natural ingredients, if possible.
One of my favorite groupings of their jelly beans is the Sours. Originally the mix only included cherry, orange, lemon, apple and […]

Reviewed this week: Pine Pocky, imported from Japan by Hadson (Toko) Trading Company in Maspeth, New York.
Pocky has become one of those cult candies like Kit Kat. There are numerous flavor variations and for those dedicated fans, they seek out all the different flavors. The basic concept is a cracker stick coated […]

Reviewed this week: Morinaga Milk Caramel and Brown Sugar Caramel candies, imported from Taiwan
J. Winslow previously reviewed the brown sugar version.
For me this is a bit of a retro Asian candy. My pops used to buy this for me when I was kid, and he used to eat it as well. Although it’s […]