Candy Dish Blog

When I saw this I just about stood up and hollered, it looked so good. Tortillas, peanut butter, chocolate chips and marshmallows. What could be better? Many thanks to iFood TV.

Today in the National Confectioners Association conference room we had a luncheon to celebrate my 25 years representing US candy, chocolate and cocoa companies. That’s 25 chocolate covered years. My children, now 20 and 22, have never known a mother who didn’t bring them chocolate poems, candy jewelry, gummi watches, Snickers and Sour Patch Kids on a regular basis. They have never had a Christmas without Goetze’s caramels and Ferrara Pan chocolate covered almonds delivered to their door. It’s kind of a wonderful world.

I got an email from loyal reader and marketing professional Kelly, who told me about a contest sponsored by Green & Black’s chocolate.

Kelly writes:

Since Green & Black’s is a chocolate that makes no compromises, we want to find out how others live green & Black – making eco-friendly choices while not compromising on life’s every day indulgences. From now until April 30, we invite your readers to submit an original story (200 words maximum) on how they balance both the green & the black – the eco-friendly and indulgent – in their life. The winning “Live in the &” entry will be awarded the following:

• Guest passes to the Food & Wine magazine Classic in Aspen Grand Tastings
• Insider access to the exclusive Grow for Good Dinner
• Passes to select seminars
• Round trip airfare for 2 to Aspen
• Accommodations for 3 nights

You can read more about it on the Green & Black site and enter online at the Food & Wine website. We would love to read your brief story as well, so feel free to submit it here too!

Ampersand by Leo Reynolds.

I have about half a heart-shaped box of chocolates leftover from Valentine’s Day still.  I’m lucky because the box I have has one of those handy little maps that tell you what flavors are in the box.  The only problem is that not all the chocolates are labeled on the map.  There are at least that I cannot identify.  So I’ve been avoiding those pieces in favor of the flavors that I know I like, but the time has come to start sampling them.

That reminded me that I never passed on the secrets of the chocolate code after Valentine’s Day.  So, in case you still have a box you’re working on, you might enjoy this information from NCA’s CandyUSA Web site.

Can You Crack the Chocolate Code?

A fresh box of chocolates. Yum.

You want to find to find your favorite right away, but how do you tell what piece is caramel, peanut butter or toffee?

Each manufacturer usually has its own “code”. If you find a manufacturer whose chocolates you enjoy, get to know their codes. A swirl with two loops on it may mean caramel for one company and butter cream for another, but it will generally always mean the same the thing within a brand.

Beyond codes look for signs of nuts (large bumpy surfaces) or coconut (small bumpy surfaces). Hard caramels are typically square or rectangular and soft caramels are typically flat and round (like a silver dollar). Chocolates that are wrapped often have liquid or softer centers (cherry cordials for example).

Of course, some manufacturers provide maps to their goodies on the inside lid of the box or color pictures to help you identify what you’re selecting.

But, the best way to find out what’s in the inside of your chocolate is to taste it.  

WHATEVER you do, please don’t stick your finger in the bottom to find out what you’re getting unless you’re committed to eating it regardless of what you find.  There’s nothing worse than picking up a piece of chocolate to find a big thumb hole in the bottom.  Yuck!

Happy Valentine’s Day by pixieclipx

America’s favorite appetizer on a toothpick is now a bubblegum! Or is it Austria’s favorite? I am not sure they have Vienna sausages in Vienna but I could be wrong on that score.

Archie McPhee has a lot of weird candy and gum. Since I am over ten years old, technically I shouldn’t like this stuff but it brings out the kid in me to see it. Gummy bacon, William Shakespeare head pops and wasabi gumballs are some of my favorites from their collection. Think about it – how often can you enjoy the sweet taste of Shakespeare and simultaneously be inspired to write a companion piece to one of his many beautiful sonnets? It is almost as if life itself is reflected in these candies.

What would you most like to try from their list? I just hope the gum sausages don’t come in that weird brine that the real sausages do. Yuck.

Bubble gum cocktail weenies by Archie McPhee Seattle

I love Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother and Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog).  He’s hilarious.  Seriously.  If you have not seen Dr. Horrible, get yourself over to Netflix and add it to your cue immediately.

So I was pretty psyched to learn recently that, like me, NPH loves peanut butter and chocolate.  A co-worker put a ripped out page from a magazine highlighting the favorite candies of five “Hollywood Hunks” on my chair.  There’s no indication what the magazine actually is (so I apologize in advance for not giving credit where credit is due) and I don’t even know what co-worker to ask.

NPH loves Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.  He told the magazine, “The more you eat them, the more you have to eat them – until you burst.”

Wayne Brady (Don’t Forget the Lyrics) goes for Peanut M&Msbecause he likes to bite off the candy shell and eat the nut on its own.  “If you see a dish with all the nuts missing, you know I was there.  I’m a nut bandit.”  I take that to mean he puts the candy shell back in the dish.  Euw.

Jerry Seinfeld (Bee Movie) says he likes Bit-O-Honey  and claims that it has nothing to do with his movie either.  There’s a picture of him with the treats at Dylan’s Candy Bar in New York.

James Denton (Desperate Housewives) loves the “little mini Snickers.”

Rainn Wilson (The Office) digs candy corn because “you can bite out the colors one at a time.”  I wonder what end he starts with?

I was thinking about celebs and snacking over the the weekend because it seemed like every time the Academy Awards Show cut to commercial break I heard about True North nuts (which I’m guessing Wayne Brady would be a big fan of).

So, two questions, dear readers:

1. Have you heard of other celebrities with a particularly favorite brand of candy or snacks? 

and 2. Do you think the list above can rightfully call itself a list of ”Hollywood Hunks”?  I’m not so sure … but do I wonder what candy Hugh Jackman calls his favorite …

You found me out. I am just now stumbling across Super Bowl commercials because (gasp) I don’t give a hoot in a handbasket about football. I used to watch when I was a kid in the interest of family harmony but since I was about 18 I haven’t watched unless it happened to be on in whatever room I happened to wander through. I don’t dislike it; I just never developed a strong interest in it.

So I happened to do my weekly Twitter search on circus peanuts and found references to a Denny’s commercial that has a circus peanut as a pancake topper, along with a jelly orange slice. I now think that Denny’s is a little slice of heaven, if you can really get circus peanuts on pancakes. Has anyone been there and tried to order this? I don’t think I have been in a Denny’s in close to 20 years, so other than the one-trip breakfast bar, I am not sure what they might have on the menu.

What is your favorite way to enjoy circus peanuts?