Candy

It’s not really necessary to go into great detail about where this bar has it’s origins (The Mekong Delta in Vietnam) but the origins of Vietcacao are worth a paragraph or two. The company has been active for five years now but was six years in the making before that. André Stengel – the founder – decided to get involved in Vietnamese cacao after a somewhat illustrious career as both head of a high school and VP of the French Confectioners & Chocolatiers Association. France was the first country to colonise Vietnam and the country was producing cacao until the Vietnam War disrupted both cultivation & supply. Vietcacao is also engaged in an ethical and sustainable development programme, with the company investing profits back into the local community. One particularly notable project involves the installation of equipment and provision of training for pupils in a school for handicapped people. With support coming from (mainly French) companies and chocolatiers, Vietcacao continues to build on early success. In the UK Marc Demarquette is both a supporter and importer of their products and it was he who supplied this bar for review. The chocolate itself is a deep reddish brown in colour with a light, vibrant scent suggesting fruity/floral notes which is borne out in the tasting. Good acidity and lots of bright, fruity cacao notes precede the deeper red fruits and woodier low notes. It has a long, clean finish and an excellent soft mouthfeel. At seventy percent cacao this bar doesn’t overwhelm in any way – it’s a light, bright tangy chocolate with a great range of flavours. I suppose one way to describe this bar would be ‘unsurprising’, which is in no way an insult. It has all the right qualities for a good chocolate but doesn’t surprise in anyway. You get bright, lively acidity sitting over moderate dark notes, a hint of bitterness and a long, clean finish and that’s all good. It’s good to see someone taking the time and trouble to resurrect the cacao growing industry in Vietnam – as is happening all over the world – and the ethical credentials of this chocolate (plus the taste) make it very desirable. A great ‘everyday’ chocolate for those who like something that isn’t too aggressive or ‘wacky’. Information Contains dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids). Cacao Origin: Vietnam Filed under france, vietcacao. Tweet This The post Vietcacao Mo Cay B?n Tre appeared first on Chocablog.

The Lovely Candy Company was a new (founded this year!) candy company that made its debut at Sweets and Snacks last month. They make gluten-free licorice, caramels, and fruit chews (gluten-free was a continuing trend from 2012 to 2013), and I grabbed a couple of free samples of their caramels for review. I got one Original Chewy Caramel and one Chocolate Swirl Caramel. The samples that I got were loose, so the photos of the packaging shown here were from Lovely. Both caramels were wrapped in wax paper. They were soft and sticky, and a few bits of caramel got left behind on the wax paper upon unwrapping. The Original Chewy was a pretty golden brown, and it was indeed chewy, with a small amount of teeth sticking. They tasted sweet with a slightly fruity sour tinge to it. The flavor was quite similar to that of Brach’s Milk Maid Caramels, more on the sweet and buttery side rather than the scorched and bittersweet. I prefer the latter type of caramel, but if you like the former, these make a nice alternative to Brach’s that’s with better ingredients. The Chocolate Swirl was a pretty swirl of the Original golden brown and a darker cocoa brown. Its texture was similarly soft and chewy. The Chocolate Swirl had a great cocoa depth of flavor. It didn’t taste of chocolate; it tasted of intense dark cocoa powder. I appreciated the deep cocoa complexity here. The Original was nice, but I prefer my caramels with a darker complexity, so an O. The Chocolate Swirl, on the other, brought plenty of cocoa complexity, and they get an OM.

I have one favorite thing about this chicken. And it’s that I made it for lunch one day, then packed up the leftovers and stuck them in the fridge, only for my husband to find them a day later and take them for his own lunch. He hates coconut. I mean, hate hate hate. And it’s not like how he “hates” ricotta, since we all know he doesn’t really hate that anymore. He can’t stand the texture of coconut, which I can’t do a darn thing about. He loves the taste (think: rum or gelato) but the squishy-squeak-beneathe-your-teeth thing? Can’t do it. I had no idea he took them that day – I just happened to ask him when he came home what he ate for lunch. He responded with… “those chicken fingers that were in the fridge?” Oh. I stopped dead in my tracks. Before I continue I should mention that reheated (most likely microwaved) crispy baked chicken is about as high on my list to eat as steamed broccoli or a bowl full of fennel seeds is. I am weird about stuff like that. Like if it’s supposed to be crispy, I want it to be crispy. Annnnnd I’m pretty sure that tossing it in the microwave for 30 seconds is not going to do that. Oh well. He could care less. Makes my life easier. So while I’m stopped dead in my tracks, I turn to look at him and ask, “were they good?” I was pretty hesitant but kind of hysterically laughing inside. For once, I wasn’t trying to trick him into eating the chicken – in fact, I had fully intended on telling him I coated the chicken in coconut, FYI, so he might want to stay away. But I forgot. Really. He said they tasted odd. Different, he claimed. Not like the usual ones that he wants once a week. Ha. Ha ha ha ha ha. I don’t know why I found it hilariously hilarious. On another note… There is something about photographing chicken fingers that I simply loathe. I can’t do it. All my pictures end up looking the same and I have no idea how to place the chicken and ugh… life is hard. Whine whine whine.  What’s so funny is that crispy chicken fingers made a two time appearance in my 2012 recipe disasters – and mainly just because I didn’t like the photos. And when something doesn’t look appealing, I automatically assume it doesn’t taste good and scrap it. Even if I liked it. It’s like I have no filtered recipe memory. One was even nearly the same as this recipe but I’m so glad I waited on it. These are so much crunchier (high heat, a wire rack and a spritz of nonstick spray/oil is necessary to reach this!) and seriously, my life revolves around crunch. And I actually soaked these in coconut milk instead of buttermilk. YES. It’s weird. But not. Crunchy Coconut Chicken Fingers with Peach Honey Mustard Yield: serves about 2 Prep Time: 2 hours Cook Time: 40 minutes Ingredients: 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken tenders 1 can of full fat coconut milk 1 1/4 cups unsweetened, shredded coconut 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon pepper 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder 1/4 cup dijon mustard 1/4 cup honey 1 ripe peach, peeled and chopped Directions: Add the coconut milk to a blender and puree until completely smooth and creamy. Place chicken tenders in a baking dish, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and cover with coconut milk. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place a wire rack on top. Spray the rack with nonstick spray. In a large bowl, combine coconut, flour, panko, salt and pepper. Stir well to coat. Remove dish with chicken from the fridge. It should have a thick coating of coconut milk on it, so remove each strip and dredge it through the coconut milk, pressing gently to adhere. Place the chicken on the well-greased wire rack and repeat until finished. Spray all the chicken tenders with a spritz of coconut oil spray or n

Take the best Gummy Beards ever. Now, mess with them. Add cool flavors. Real juice. Whaddaya get? Absolute SHITE. Just kidding, tee hee!

1. For the first time in… years? I didn’t get rainbow sprinkled cone on vacation. I’M GROWING UP. 2. Remember a few months ago when I talked about wanting these sunglasses and the vast majority of you told me I’d look ridiculous and if I had any fashion sense at all (which I don’t) that I shouldn’t do it? Well… I found them on sale this past week and – did it. 3. I want to go to this lady picnic and be best friends with them. I just hope I don’t really have to be a lady. 4. My brothers, cousins and I have a long running group text that is so atrocious that it gives me anxiety. Like instead of texting one of them back, I’ll accidentally tweet something horrific. This is my only exception to the group text rule as I generally think they are the most annoying things on Earth. Right next to the “reply all” function on email. 5. If Sookie and Eric don’t end up together by the end of the True Blood series (whenever that may be) I will probably hurt someone. I don’t care about ANYTHING else on that show and haven’t for about three years. Can’t it be the anna paquin/alex s show? Yes yes. 6. Spring garlic pancakes: for some reason I cannot stop thinking about these. Maybe it’s the whole pancake thing. 7. So. It’s quite possible that I have exhausted my buffalo chicken pizza obsession. Well – let me clarify. I haven’t exhausted the buffalo-style infatuation but just the specific pizza we have been getting, like, once a week. I can’t be sure though, so check up on me in seven days. 8. One thing that has not died down though is my burger obsession. Dying over these aloha sliders. So freaking cute and delicious. 9. Because I can’t share enough in my Tuesday things, I’ve started sharing some of my current favorite links on the weekend. Things like food and maybe even makeup and general internet crushes. !!!! 10. Oh look, it’s my life: what it’s like shopping at Sephora. 11. The above is a perfect example of why I make a terrible sales associate. Unless I’m selling something I believe in, like sprinkles or shoes – I just can’t push people to buy something. However, I on the other hand am a marketer’s dream. I want to try all the things. 12. This week’s things are brought to you by a rainbow sprinkle-less photo. My husband is concerned at the amount of sprinkled doughnuts and sprinkled ice cream cones I constantly share. Like as if I might be boring you. What is he? The instagram police? ©2012 How Sweet It Is

While I'm pretty sure you can't eat any part of this house, the colours of the glass are in fact made from baked sugar.There are no dyes involved at all, it's just sugar cooked for different amounts of time, thus getting darker the longer it's cooked.Click here to read more about this.CC

Jelly Belly didn’t have a totally new candy product to show off at Sweets and Snacks this year (last year was all about Snapple Jelly Bellies), but they did have some fun tweaks on existing products. One especially eye-catching tweak resulted in these Jewel Jelly Bellies (photos without my watermark are from Jelly Belly): They took their blueberry, bubble gum, sour apple, cream soda, berry blue, orange, and very cherry flavors and added a gorgeous pearlescent sheen to them all. The result was incredibly eye-catching, and they look even better in person than they do in these photos. They’re currently only being sold in bulk, so they didn’t have photos of the future official packaging to send me. They did have some example packaging at the Expo, however, as Disney Princess Jelly Bellies, which I thought was great cross-branding.

Just off Notting Hill’s bustling Portobello Road lies a small oasis of chocolate. Somewhere to escape the tourists, drink tea and immerse yourself in an extensive selection of chocolate from around the world. Alexeeva & Jones feels like a continental chocolate shop even before you walk through the door. The shop window is elegant and minimal and some carefully placed tables & chairs outside provide a place to stop and watch the world go by. Walk inside and the feeling of relaxed sophistication surrounds you. Loose chocolates are beautifully displayed in marble and glass boxes and the walls are covered in some of the best chocolate bars in the world. It feels stylish and welcoming, without being overly formal. I feel like I could spend a couple of hours here. And that’s exactly what I end up doing. Retail manager Helen greets me as I enter. Helen is a veteran of chocolate retail in the UK, having been store manager at the likes of William Curley, La Maison du Chocolat and Rococo. What she doesn’t know about chocolate isn’t worth knowing, and that’s immediately obvious. She can tell you every detail about each and every chocolate, bringing the stories to life – and unfortunately making me want to buy everything. Loose Chocolate Collections The beautiful displays of loose chocolates are the focal point of the shop. Eight international chocolatiers are featured, some of which you may have heard of, others that might be new to you. Not being reliant on a single chocolatier means that they can vary the collections depending on season and quickly introduce new chocolatiers. Currently, they have a house selection, along with chocolates from Davenport’s, Franck Daubos, Centho, Beschle and British chocolatiers Paul Wayne Gregory, Damian Alsopp and Iain Burnett. It’s a great mix, with something for everyone, from Davenport’s sweet fondants to Damian Allsop’s divine water ganaches with a healthy dose of European sophistication in between. I have to admit, I found the choice a little overwhelming, but I tried a small selection from the Franck Daubos and Centho, two European chocolatiers I hadn’t encountered before and found them impressive. Bars Of The World I’m very much into artisan bars at the moment, so as beautiful as the displays of chocolates are, I was most excited to see a range of bars from some of the world’s best chocolate makers on display along the wall. I don’t know of anywhere else in London – or the UK for that matter – where you can buy the likes of Friis Holm, Åkessons, Pacari and Amano under one roof. Some of my favourite bars like Friis Holm’s Chuno and Amano’s fantastically powerful Morobe are there, along with others like Larent Gerbaud’s beautiful looking bars that I’d not yet had a chance to try. I quickly realised that a single visit to Alexeeva & Jones wasn’t going to be enough. I couldn’t leave without buying a bar of Morobe along with a Laurent Gerbaud yuzu bar and a couple of Damian Allsop’s “Eat London” range. Needless to say, I left satisfied. Notting Hill is fast becoming a chocolate destination in itself, with the likes of Melt and Artisan du Chocolat just around the corner. It has a different vibe from some of London’s more well known chocolateries, but if you’re into artisan chocolate, the area – and Alexeeva & Jones in particular – is well worth a visit. Alexeeva & Jones 297 Westbourne Grove, Notting Hill London W11 2QA www.alexeevaandjones.com Information Filed under alexeeva & jones. Tweet This The post Alexeeva & Jones, Notting Hill appeared first on Chocablog.

This week we're starting a new feature on the blog. Every Wednesday we'll be reviewing a new Asian treat graciously donated to us from our friends at oyatsucafe.com. Some might say that our goal is to make sure we have the widest variety of treats reviewed on the site, but I'm pretty sure that the goal is to make sure I eat something really strange on a regular basis. No matter what the reasons, not only will we have a new Asian review every week, but you (our loyal readers) are entitled to a discount from oyatsucafe.com and all you have to do is enter "candy critic" in the discount section of their online form.Last week we also received a whole bunch of South African treats from our friend CJ, and we're going through it and setting up some awesome reviews. I'm thinking a South African review-a-thon might be in our near future.Finally, I've been thinking about classic treats that I have not yet reviewed. I realized recently that I never reviewed original Mike and Ikes (as you can see from this weeks review that has changed), but if you see a classic treat that I've missed, make sure to let me know about it.CC

Pepsi-flavored Cheetos - FritoLay - I'm not 100% sure that these are real, but since it's Japan, I'm no 100% sure that it's not real either. - Click here to learn more about this treat.CC