Will Eat Again
I'll eat it buy won't pay for it.
There’s not too much flavor variation going on during Valentine’s Day. Usually it’s all Cherry or the occasional Strrawberry since everything candy-wise is red colored this time of year. For some variation, I am giving the Brach’s Cinnamon Jelly Hearts a try.
The bag smells intensly of cinnamon and the candies are really cute. They’re hear shaped, about the circumference of a nickel and about half an inch high. They are firm to the touch and aren’t very spongy like some gummis are. These remind me much more of gumdrops.
The flavor is sweet and has a hint of heat to it on my first bite. The two kinda play in my mouth, neither gaining dominance until the end where it gets slightly hotter, but never into the “too spicy” zone. These aren’t as powerful as Red Hots thankfully, so folks like myself who can’t take “hot” candies too terribly well. Instead these are a nice mix of the intense cinnamon flavor with some sweetness to make it more friendly. The texture is nice too, as it’s a ick heavy chew wihtout being sticky. You barely notice the granulated sugar coating.
I was prepared to really not like these, as hot cinnamon candies aren’t my thing. I was surprised that I did like them. I can easily see these as cupcake toppers, as they’re gorgeous to look at. If you like cinnamon candies, I’d seek these out. It’s a great option for Valentine Day candy if you aren’t a fan of cherry.
Rating: Will Eat Again
Links Brach’s Website
Gimbal’s Fine Candies makes a bunch of really fantastic looking sweets. They are a company I’ve meant to try products from, but sadly they’re somewhat difficult for me to locate. Because of this, I’ve been waiting for the day where I have the luck to find some somewhere. Well, I was struck with candy luck the other day, as I found this bag of Cherry Lover’s jelly beans in my local Rite Aid. I immediately snatched it up and squealed at my good candy fortune.
These is an assortment of cherry flavored jelly beans. What impressed me right away is that “cherry juice concentrate” is one of the top items on the ingredients list. Yum! This made me very hopeful of having a more authentic taste as opposed to the medicinal one I encounter so much.
The beans are very pretty, and they’re even heart shaped! So cute!
Wild Cherry: Bright red. The flavor is classic red cherry, bright, fruity sweet. Thankfully there’s no hint of bitterness for the food coloring. Just a tasty, classic red cherry flavor.
Cherry Vanilla: White with red flecks. The flavor stars out like cherry, then this sweet, creamy flavor kicks in. I wouldn’t say it’s terribly vanilla, but when the two mix together ti does give off a cherry vanilla essence.
Black Cherry: Dark red. This one is very juicy, with strong, rich, notes of cherry that remind me of jam or a think juice. So yummy.
Chocolate Cherry: Dark brown. Immediately has notes of cocoa that are accented with bright cherry flavors. tasty.
Cherry Cheesecake: Pink with red flecks. Starts off sweet with creamy, rick, tangy flavors similar to cream cheese. The cherry flavor here is better and metallic tasting in comparison to the “cheese” flavor.
Bing Cherry: Bright red, hard to tell apart from the wild cherry. This flavor is more sweet than the wild cherry. The flavors are more metallic and deep than the wild cherry. Has more bitterness to it.
Cherry Daiquiri: Purple with red flecks. This starts off bright and fruity, more like a standard “berry flavor” than anything else. It tastes like there’s hints of lime.
Cherry Cola: Bright pink: Stars off sweet, then you get the intense, earthy flavor of cola. They’re sharp with an accent of herbs and lemon. Combined with the cherry it was very intense and it tickled my throat.
Kiwi Cherry: Pink with green flecks. The flavor is immediately very fruity with accents of pineapple and passion fruit. I wouldn’t call it “kiwi” per say, but mixed with the cherry it comes across as a very peachy flavor.
Overall, I really enjoyed these. My fiance too, was pleasantly surprised, and it’s the first thing he now grabs to munch on out of my candy stash. I plan to put these is a pretty candy dish when I have friends over, as they are terribly attractive to look at. If you are looking for a delicious, unique jelly bean, along with loving good cherry flavors. These are worth seeking out.
Rating: Will Eat Again
Links Gimbal’s Website
Hershey’s Kisses Cherry Cordial Creme are probably the first candy that I became aware of the existence of “limited edition” candies. It was back a few years ago, in 2007 I’d say, when I heard of Candyaddict.com making a petition to bring the flavor back since it had so many fans. Well, needless to say, they were successful! I’ve been seeing around this time of year since then. and I know it’ll sound odd, but this is the first time I actually bought a bag. Part of it is because cherry isn’t a favorite flavor of mine, plus there are so many other cool flavors candies have been coming in so I just didn’t have the time.
I picked this bag up on sale with the holiday candies, but imagine my surprise when I saw it among the Valentines Day candies when the store bought the new stock in. Needless to say, I got a deal! I wanted to explain why my package had snowflakes on it.
Opening the bag you get a very distinct smell. It’s very bright, fruity and red. It does have a “cherry” hint to it, but the kind of cherry medicine reminds you of. The wrapper is a pretty red raspberry color, accented with black stripes. The little paper sticking out the top read “cherry” and it easily identifies the type of kiss you’re looking at. You know, in case the color didn’t already suggest it.
The center of these Kisses are very fluid. hey immediately gush into my mouth as I bite down onto them. The flavor is, sweet at first, very syrupy. Then you start tasting hints of the milk chocolate, then the flavor of the cherry creme even more. It’s terribly sweet, and the flavor is a mix between real cherries and the flavor of red cough medicine. The chocolate takes an edge of the artificial flavor of the cherry, but I still manage to taste to bitter metallic tones of it. Not the worst cherry flavor I’ve ever had, but not the best either.
If you’re a fan of cherry cordials, I’d give these a try. Many friends who I shared these with enjoyed them, especially those who were fans of cordials to begin with. So i feel better about this, since it’s me having the problem, not the candy. It still amazes me how differently we all feel about certain candies. These Cherry Cordial Creme Kisses certainly have their fans, so if you’re curious at all, see why so many petitioned to being them back so long ago.
Rating: Will Eat Again
Links Hershey’s Kisses Webpage
SweetTarts is keeping up with their holiday offerings with these adorable Holiday Gummies. I saw these in Target in their holiday section, among dozen of other seasonal candies. I gravitate toward candies like these since as far as I know, SweetTarts doesn’t usually release gummies for the “normal” months. Therefore, these feel more unique to me than the Snickers, Kitkats, Kisses etc that come in just holiday theme packaging. It’s what’s inside that counts, guys.
The package does a wonderful job of matching the coloring scheme of SqeetTarts with the colors of the season. It’s a very attractive package to look at. The gummies come in the holiday shapes of bells, stockings, Christmas trees and stars. So very cute! I realize that Wonka is trying to be politically correct in calling these “Holiday” gummis, but it seems odd when the gummis have such blatantly Christmas iconography. Just saying.
The red gummis is bright and zesty at first, like sour cherry. It has bright “red” notes of strawberry and cherry. It’s tangy and sweet, and the flavor isn’t too metallic, although since it’s so tart it’s very “Jolly Rancher”. It’s a nice red flavor though, I could eat this one all day as opposed to others I’ve had.
The green ones start of sweet and mellow with nice juicy notes of melon. Only as you chew it does the more zesty tones and flavors of sour apple burst trhough. It’s a very juicy flavor and because of that it’s very tasty. It’s hard to top popping them into you mouth.
These were tastier than what I was expecting, and I really enjoyed them. I can see these looking really cute in a candy dish or as cupcake toppings. If your into sour gummi candies, I recommend giving these a shot.
Rating: Will Eat Again
Links Wonka Website
‘Tis the holiday season! That brings to mind many things about this special time of year. For many it means dinners, parties, gifts, overspending, travel, etc. One thing it means for me is sweets, specifically the ones my Mom makes. She has so many cookies, cakes, and pies she cooks for when the family all gets together. One of these special sweets she makes is homemade toffee, and let me tell you, it’s really wonderful stuff. So imagine my excitement when See’s sent me some Holiday samples in the mail and I saw this beautiful red box of their Victoria Toffee. It was as if Christmas came early!
The box weighs in at a pound and is decorated in a beautifully festive red box. Red is such a gorgeous, vibrant color, and I think it looks its best at Christmas. One the front you see a beautiful image of the toffee, a hint as to what’s inside. A nice presentation of the confection, bravo See’s.
I was greatly impressed when I opened the box, as the slab of toffee inside is just enormous. It’s one giant piece! I had to grab the block of it in my hand, using the protective plastic that keeps it nice and safe, and try to break a corner off it. This toffee is easily almost an inch thick, so that might sound easier than it was. I managed to get a small piece off to taste.
You can see big chunks of almonds in the toffee, which is very attractive. The toffee is buttery and sweet and crumbles beautifully when you chew it. The chocolate that covers it is very sweet and compliments the toffee with extremely rich, chocolately notes. The chopped almonds on the outside are fresh and crunchy, but at the same time makes it easy to chew when you take a bite. The flavors all together is a very rich and flavorful. The butteryness of the toffee mixed with the salty almonds and sweet chocolate is just a heavenly combination.
Overall I was very impressed with this toffee. I think if you don’t have time or know-how (when in fact it’s really easy) to make your own, this is an excellent substitute. A treat that will be appreciated by many!
Rating: Will Eat Again
Links See’s Candies Website
