Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews are a very well know candy if you’re a Philadelphia local. It’s a classic candy, as it’s been around since 1917. I hadn’t had one until summer 2005 where I stumbled across a promo for them on the streets of Manhattan. I tried the free samples I was given and feel in love with their flavor. It’s delicious and timeless.
Now some years later, Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews have re-designed the packaging and are trying to get the word out about Peanut Chews. I for once, am happy to help, as I know a “local” candy can sometimes have a hard time branching out. I feel they’re doing a good job, as I have seen Peanut Chews around here in Los Angeles on occasion. When Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews asked if I’d like some samples for a review, I excitedly said yes!
I want to start by saying I love the new packaging. It’s retro yet keeps the essence of the candy. It doesn’t look out of place on the candy shelf, and it’s eye catching at the same time. Peanut Chews come in two varieties, milk and dark chocolate. Each is color coded and easy to identify.
For those of you who don’t know what exactly is a peanut chew? It’s a chewy center made of peanuts mixed with a molasses then covered in chocolate. Simple yet tasty. I have to also say that, these Peanut Chews are not using real chocolate. They’re mockolate, as there’s no cocoa butter in there. It’s right there in the ingredients.
The milk chocolate variety smells sweet and full of peanuts. The flavor is very heavy on the milk chocolate’s sweetness and the toasty peanuts. The chew is nice and think and there’s no hint of the molasses.
The dark chocolate has a very different flavor. The flavor is not as heavy of on the peanuts, you taste more of the chocolate and the molasses. I think I like the dark chocolate version better because the notes of the molasses is are really unique and wonderful flavor.
Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews are a candy that I keep coming back to. They have such a classic flavor and its simplicity is really delicious and addicting. That combined with the nostalgia factor and the connection with Philadelphia (which really means a lot to my Philly raised fiance!) makes Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews a candy that is found in my candy stash very often.
Rating: Will Buy Again
Links Peanut Chews Website
As a candy enthusiast, it’s important for me to not only taste candies and love doing so. It also entails knowing a lot of the history behind the candies. Anyone who knows anything about candy knows the name David Klein. He’s the man who invented the Jelly belly jelly bean, and is the focus of a documentary call “CandyMan”. It’s a really good documentary if you haven’t seen it, and what I’m reviewing today are David’s newest jelly bean.
At first I was skeptical of the “Beyond Gourmet” in the name of these jelly beans. Gourmet is such a trendy word to throw around nowadays, especially in regard to food products. ONe look at the flavor list of these jelly beans and I immediate got why they’re named in such a way:
Bacon? Ginger? Himalayan Sea salt? Yes, these jelly beans are definitely thinking outside the box.
I had some trouble with the packaging, as the little wells inside the box didn’t contain my jelly beans very well. When I first opened them they had all amassed as a giant colorful pile at the bottom and I had to sort them back into their original spaces. That was harder than it sounds, as some of the jelly beans, mainly the Cranberry, Pomegranate, Black Cherry and Grape are pretty close in color.
Upon opening the box and looking inside, you can see how gorgeous the beans are:
Enough with the looking, let’s get on with the tasting!
Bacon: I admit I was skeptical of this flavor. I know “meat” flavored jelly beans have been attempted before, and there’s bacon jelly beans that I’ve seen around yet I haven’t’ tried any of them. The bean is a cream colored with brown speckling on it. It has no aroma. The flavor starts off very spicy and smokey. It actually does taste like bacon! It has a pork flavor with a lot of smoke to it. Of course there’s some sweetness to it. I have to admit, I love bacon, and tasting it in a jelly bean is bizarre. Tasty, but bizarre.
Black Cherry: This flavor is awesome. It’s deep, very complex flavor. It’s sweet, it has notes of jam and and it’s all back cherry. Extremely authentic, totally delicious.
Blueberry: This flavor is a little strange to me. It has intense berry notes right at the beginning, and about halfway though does the true blueberry flavor comes out. When it does, boy, it’s the real thing. Yum!
Coconut: This flavor is outstanding. It tastes like real coconut flakes. It has this extra tier of flavor that really makes this taste who and authentic. So awesome, one of the best flavors in this box.
Cranberry: This flavor was very tasty. It’s tart, zesty and has the “bite” that cranberries have. It’s a taste tha tworks really well in jelly bean form. Delicious!
Ginger: This one is spicy and fun. it has the very typical ginger “burn” to it, and it’s like taking a swig of an authentic ginger ale. It’s like eating real crystallized ginger.
Grape: The flavor is very floral for grape. I get notes of concord grape and jam in there. It’s a very tasty bean.
Green Apple: This flavor is fun. It’s starts off wit ha floral edge then immediately blossoms into apple. I’m surprised that it tastes so authentic. It’m immediately reminded of those dried apple slices that just pop with flavor.
Himalayan Sea Salt: This one is really unique. It has a sweetness to it, that’s very plain and has no essence to it. The salt flavor is really awesome, it balances beautifully with the sweetness. A really different and delightful bean.
Lemon: I was looking forward to this flavor so much. It’s exactly everything I hoped it would be. It’s tart. It’s zest and it’s completely refreshing. The lemon flavor it out of this world. I love it so much!
Orange Punch: This flavor is so much fun. It’s bright and punchy with notes of oranges and tangerines. It’s sweet, it’s tart and full of citrus flavor. So wonderful.
Peach: This is a fun flavor. It’s perfectly preach. I get notes of peaches, and oddly, plumeria. It’s a very juicy, fresh flavor. One of my favorites!
Pomegranate: This flavor was hard to pin down. Pomegranate is a very vague flavor to me. it tastes very fruity and red, with a nice tartness to it. It’s very delicious and refreshing because of the tartness.
Root Beer: This jelly bean is my absolute favorite out of the whole box. I have never tasted a more delicious root bear candy than this jelly bean. It is absolutely outstanding. The flavor stats with subtle spice and wintergreen notes and then quickly blossoms into a creamy, rich root beer flavor. Amazing!
Strawberry: This flavor is really great. it tastes exactly like a sweet strawberry jam. Often candy strawberry flavors just come across as “pink” or “red”, but this flavor has completely captured the fruit.
Vanilla Bean: This bean is so delicious! It tastes like melted vanilla ice cream. It’s so flavorful. This bean even has the bleck flecks on vanilla in it. So yummy!
I was really impressed with all these flavors. The “beyond gourmet” title is certainly well earned. These flavors taste amazing and incredibly authentic, even more so than it’s Jelly Belly ancestors, and they take that little extra step into new “gourmet” territory with the ginger, bacon and Himalayan Sea salt flavors. Just, wow. My fiance and I both really adored these jelly beans, and we hope to order some of their other jelly beans at some point. The “wasabi” and “thai chili” flavors just call to us, we want to try them! Bravo David Klein, bravo!
Rating: Hoard
Links Oregon Trail Foods
The Russell Stover Cream eggs hold a special place in my heart. They’re the candy that was always the big treat during the Easters of my childhood. I liked the fact that they came in different flavors, so there was always one that appealed to your current mood. My favorite flavor is the Maple Cream (review to come!) but the Strawberry always came in as a close second. The vanilla, coconut and the white chocolate coconut eggs (which are sadly discontinued) were always present too. So much yumminess!
This Strawberry Cream egg is milk Chocolate covered. You can smell its sweetness as soon as you open the package. It’ sweet, milky and has a slight berry kick to it. It reminds me of how a milkshake smells in a way. When you hold the egg in your hand, it’s surprisingly light for it’s size. It weighs in as only an ounce, but really packs in the flavor.
Taking my first bite, I notice that the milk chocolate is sweet and creamy. It has a great caramel cream taste to the chocolate. Out of many mass produced chocolates here in the US, I think Russell Stover’s falls on the sweeter side. That has both its pro and cons. One I peel away a bit more of chocolate, I get to the flavored interior. The strawberry center is very fuffy and rich. The taste is sweet at first, then a nice jammy flavor kicks in and it’s very fruity. It does taste of the strawberries, kinda like strawberry ice cream. Its’ very sweet, so I get a throat burn. I make sure to have a glass of water or coffee handy.
I feel like I should mention that I eat these eggs a little strangely. I nibble off all the chocolate top and side then lick out the fluffy inside. It feels like pulling chocolate panels off a soft object. This makes the candy somewhat interactive and last longer.
I really love this Strawberry Cream Egg, and I ok with saying I think a lot of that love is the nostalgia of them. If you’ve never had one, I recommend trying one out to see if it’s your kind of thing. Traditions always start somewhere!
Rating: Hoard
Links Russell Stover Website
This egg is the one Russell Stover Egg that I am on the hunt for every Easter. Out of all the flavors they offer, this one is my favorite. I’m a sucker for anything maple and this candy is a great example of how much I love it. I was lucky enough to find a few of them in the CVS by my current job. Usually you have to find these pretty swiftly after the stock being put onto shelves because this flavor sells out quickly. I bought a few of them for myself and my fiance (he is in love with this flavor too), and was excited to do a review of them for the blog.
I really love the packaging on these as they’re simple and colorful, so they feel festive without going overboard on the design elements. That and the package does a pretty good job of keeping things fresh, even though there’s no protecting them if they happen to get squished. So you need to be careful transporting them.
This egg is covered in dark chocolate and smells heavenly once unwrapped. It’s a rich smell full of note of cocoa, maple, coffee and coconut.
The dark chocolate is a nice “medium” flavor. It’s not too sweet, and it had tastes of chocolate and coffee. The flavors are muted though, and you have a very think mouth feel from the chocolate’s melt. It’s really lovely. The maple cream is fluffy almost like a marshmallow, but it’s much moister and behaves more like a mousse. The flavor is immediately of maple, with sharp sweet notes, a hint of toast and a slight nutty edge to it. It’s so good it’s sublime.
I really don’t know what else to say about this candy, since I’ve gushed about it enough. I have a small stash going since I can only get this treat once a year!
Rating: Hoard
Links Russell Stover Website
I saw this Peeps Crispy Rice Marshmallow Treat neat the normal Peeps on the store shelf. Something new! I immediately scooped one up to take home to review for the blog. Not once did I stop to ask myself if this was really candy. It had “Marshmallow Peep” written all over it so I didn’t question it. Once I opened it up to review it, I had a bunch of questions filling my head. Had this been a “normal” rice crispy treat I would have not considered it candy. This is different somehow. Maybe it’s the branding, maybe it’s the inorganic colors. But when I bought it it seemed a perfectly natural addition to my blog.
I will try to think more about these purchases in the future.
So what we have here is a Marshmallow Peep Marshmallow Treat. The package does its best to display what’s inside the wrapper. It’s a bight blue marshmallow treat in the shape of a bunny with pink and yellow bunny shaped sprinkles. Pretty straightforward. I think the only thing missing from the actual food inside are the bunny’s eyes.
This thing is terrifying to look at. It’s bright turquoise and has pink and yellow bunny sprinkles on it. It smells of fake butter and vanilla.
It’s perfectly moist and it’s easy to pick apart. The flavor is the same as it smells. Fake butter, fake vanilla flavor. It’s very sweet, and has a strange artificial flavor to it. Maybe it’s all that food coloring? The rice crispies are nicely crisp, and that’s the only nice thing I can say about this.
I’m probably too spoiled on homemade treats all my life to fully appreciate this. I taste too many fake flavors and odd textures for me to find this appealing. That color alone is enough to make me go running in the other direction. Still, if you’re a big fan of marshmallow treats and unusual colors appeal to you, I suggest you seek these out.
Rating: Not Worth It
Links Marshmallow Peeps Website
