Chocolate Salt Water Taffy and Dreams

I totally got beach fever last week and took off Friday and drove to the Outer Banks like someone was chasing me. Hey, it's the summer - what can I say? And I'm sooo lucky to live in such a gorgeous state!!

I got to spend a few hours on the beach until a thunderstorm rolled in. When that happened I did the obvious - went shopping. And, of course, for me, shopping means checking out the candy. And what candy represents the beach more than salt water taffy?

Now the store I stopped in was packed and this stuff was flying off the shelves. Yahoo! This taffy is made by http://www.forbescandies.com/ another small candy maker based in Virginia Beach, VA. They say this taffy is full of "sea breeze and sunshine." Yeah and glucose, sugar and hydrogenated vegetable oil. But what the hell.

I also got some salt water taffy at Candy Expo from Sweet's. Sweet's makes those chocolate covered cinnamon gummy bears I didn't love. But hey, they are in the Salt Water Taffy game:

Apparently the sail boat as candy window is vital in the packaging of salt water taffy.

I am going on an assortment rant. I have done this before and I feel certain I will do this again. In the store there were bins of the different flavors. Two of the flavors were peanut butter and cherry chocolate (yum!). Did I get any of those in my assortment? Oh no. I got 12 orange, 12 vanilla, 13 of a flavor I cannot for the life of me identify - some fruit thing, 8 licorice, 6 grape, 6 chocolate, 2 lime, 3 blue raspberry (glaack), 2 banana, 3 peppermint, 1 cinnamon. Next time I'm just going to buy two pieces of taffy - peanut butter and cherry chocolate. The rest of these suck.

Okay, I'm being too hard on them, but I think a Tootsie Roll is 10,000 times better than these chocolate taffy blobs.

Why can't assortments be more assorted? Why do you get 12 orange and no peanut butter? The Sweet's assortment was no better. I got 1 juicy pear and 12 chocolate (although I was okay with that). They also have Neapolitan - good, and peach - horrifying.

And look at these from Forbes:

I thought maybe one was just a poorly colored grape taffy. Oh no - that truly ugly color is licorice. And apparently one flavor is just shoved in after another - I saw many weird combos like the mutant in the upper right. Taffy scares me.

Except for Sweetime's Valentine's Day assortment, which I could eat that until my teeth fell out, I can live without taffy. The Tootsie Roll still reigns in the low-fat-not-chocolate-chew department.

But I didn't go to the Outer Banks for the candy. Every time I go, I have to stop by the Wright Brother's Memorial in Kitty Hawk:

I LOVE this monument. It is absolutely gorgeous, is art deco, and rests on a base in the shape of a star. But best of all is the quote carved on the base of the wing:

"Conceived by genius, achieved by dauntless resolution and unconquerable faith."

What audacity the Wright Brothers had - how brilliant they were. And how they changed the world as we know it. This is sacred ground in my book and it always takes my breath away to stand on it.

What could the rest of us achieve if we had dauntless resolution and unconquerable faith? To what heights could we fly?

This summer - if you go to the beach - eat some taffy and dream some big dreams. That's what summer's for.

Candy from Beyond the Grave

Can I just tell you - dating is so unbelievably time consuming! Talking on the phone, planning the date, getting ready for the date, going to the date, enduring the date. It is totally taking me away from my blogging, and I actually find blogging more rewarding. I think my relationship with chocolate, candy and you, my dear readers, may be better than what I can hope for with any mere man. The three of you have yet to cancel on me, give me an unwanted kiss, or talk so much about yourself that I considered slitting my own wrists. I'd say I am going to dating hell, but I think I am already there.

But enough about me - let's talk about chocolate!!

Thanks to Russell Duncan for reminding me about Mast General Store and their selection of nostalgic candy! When I was in Asheville, I stopped in. The place was crowded, with almost everyone jammed in the candy section. Maybe people did coke in the 80s, but they are mainlining sugar in 2009. Rock on, I say!! Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Mast has one of those set-ups where you pick up a big basket and walk around all these barrels of candy and put what you want in the basket. Well - you know what happens - you get a couple of these and a few of those and pretty soon, you have an ungodly amount of candy. Nature abhors a vacuum and you fill that basket right on up.

To check out, they weigh it (some of the specialty items are priced individually) and you walk out having had a blast and paying way too much for a very customized and bizarre assortment of candy.

Here are some of the things I got:

Let's have a heart-to-to heart about these. See the hot Cinnamon Bear? That's a Sweet's Cinnamon Bear without the chocolate. MUCH better. Still a little too cinnamony for me. But very chewy and good. As hard as it is to believe, not everything is enhanced by adding chocolate.

I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE those brown striped peanut butter bars! I could eat them until I exploded. They are made by Atkinson's, another old American Candy Company. Around since 1932 and located in Lufkin, Texas: http://www.atkinsoncandy.com/about/

They also make Chick-O-Stick which has always creeped me out because of the chick reference. I mean what the hell is that? The web site should say where the name came from. It's peanut butter, but why chick? I don't like the name and want no chicks to have touched any candy bar I eat and no chick parts to be in any candy bar I eat.

They also make the Long Boys you can see below the Peanut Butter Bar. These are crappy versions of the Tootsie Roll. Very crappy versions. Coconut tastes nothing like coconut, maybe like a weird caramel. It has a gross coconut texture at the end of chewing it. Not sure what it tastes like, but it's really not of this earth. Don't get these.

Yuck - don't get the Slo Poke either. Bleech!!! Billed as "delicious caramel" it is pretty yucky. It is not delicious and is only vaguely caramel like. It's like a horrible Kraft caramel. And after some of the absolutely earth stopping caramels we've reviewed here, you should not waste your time with this.

Under the Slo Poke is the Squirrel Nut Zipper - the best thing about these is the name. Way cool. There is a great swing band called the Squirrel Nut Zippers. The candy is made by Necco and I can't see how Necco can sell all these really bad candies and still be solvent. When all the people who buy them for the sake of nostalgia die, Necco is going down. Note to Necco - invest in R & D before it's too late!!!

I tried one Squirrel Nut Zipper, considered spitting it out, and threw the rest away. Walnetto's are much better. And you know how I feel about them.

The last two candies here deserve a close-up:

These are by Goetze's. They have a cool website:

http://www.goetzecandy.com/index.cfm?page=caramel_creams

The website says:

A favorite of many generations, Goetze’s treats have always been made the same old-fashioned way with a low fat, low sodium, no cholesterol recipe. You’ll enjoy the same great taste that’s been loved for years. Made with wheat flour, milk and real cream, Caramel Creams® have a clean simple taste that doesn’t give you that sour stomach that many really sugary sweets give you.

AAIIEE!!! These are HORRIBLE!!!! I never was a big fan of the caramel creams - I'd get them at Halloween and never liked them. But when I saw strawberry and chocolate versions at Mast, I thought, "Cool - I can't wait to try these!" Maybe it is the wheat flour, but these have a weird mouth feel and a vile after taste. I've never gotten a "sour stomach" from sugary sweets but these......these are evil. They must be designed to give children a lifelong fear of candy. Goetze's backwards is Sezteog, surely the name of a lesser demon. And the chocolate ones are called Bull's Eyes to go with another of their candies, Cow Tales. Bovine parts. EVIL, EVIL, EVIL!

Maybe there is a reason these candies are no longer popular. Maybe it is because they are awful. We have such amazing candy makers working today, these relics can no longer compete. I love capitalism.

We're not done yet! Well, I'm done - after a coconut Long Boy, a Slo Poke and that god-awful devil's wheat flour strawberry cream, I'm feeling a little ill. We'll talk more about the past tomorrow. If I live that long.

Tradition! Nostalgia! Cracker Barrel!

I swear I have the greatest job in the world!! Today I got to give my "Motivation by Chocolate" seminar for a group of 35 employees of the Town of Holly Springs, NC. We had a great time! It's always a blast to speak for people who genuinely like each other and enjoy their jobs. And, hey, I got to talk about chocolate!! The session is fun because the attendees get to interact with each other, learn great ways to stay motivated AND do a chocolate tasting. Training just doesn't get any better than that.

My good friend (and loyal blog reader) Diane Fain-Worthen (she of the cool red scarf and chocolates from out in the Western part of NC) has struck again! This time she sent me the following pictures:

She took these pictures at a Cracker Barrel. Well, I just thought she had some random cool Cracker Barrel out in her part of the state, but heck, no, my Cracker Barrel had this stuff too! And I cleaned up! They have cute mugs and plates and t-shirts and candles and body treatment stuff - it was SWEET!!!! If you like chocolate enough to decorate your house with it and slather it all over your body, you have to get yourself to a Cracker Barrel! You'll notice in my updated blog photo I am holding the giant Hershey bar. What a great prop!

Cracker Barrel also has a pretty darn good candy selection, especially of that nostalgic, old timey candy you can't find anywhere else. I always find something new I want to try:

I'd never even heard of Walnettos (although I would have totally called them Walnuttos - I mean, come on!). These are caramel loaded with walnuts. If you like walnuts, you'll like these. They were good. Not great, but good. If you really like walnuts, they might move up to great. I actually think these might benefit from a chocolate coating.

But what's really interesting is the history of the rather bizarre Walnetto (from the company website):

Walnettos were introduced to the United States in 1919 by the J. N. Collins Company of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Walnettos were a big hit from the very beginning! They became one of the top candies purchased at movie theaters throughout the United States. People from that era associated the rich, distinctive, walnut caramel taste of Walnettos with classic movies such as “Our Gang Comedies” and the Saturday Matinee Serials featuring Charlie Chaplin and The Three Stooges. Walnettos are back and better than ever. The candies were recently voted the favorite candy by US Soldiers!

(Holy cow - that is reaching back in time!)

Walnettos was one of the top ten best selling candies in the United States through World War II. After which, the company was bought by Peter Paul Inc., the makers of Mounds (trademark) and Almond Joy (trademark). During this time, Walnettos was featured regularly on the hit, comedy program, “Laugh-In”. Arte Johnson’s character used Walnettos to try to pick up Ruth Buzzi’s character on the park bench with the line, “Want a Walnetto?”. This further increased the fame and success of an already popular item.

(OMG - I am totally old - I can remember my parents watching Laugh-In! But we didn't have any Walnettos. I think I was abused as a child.)

In the 1960’s Walnettos was purchased by Cadbury USA. Cadbury, a company dealing with primarily chocolate confections, retired the line in order to focus solely on their chocolate business. It remained dormant until 1984, when an experienced candy marketer and budding entrepreneur, Sandy Licht, decided to bring back this nostalgic favorite.
Now Walnettos are back and better than ever!

Hee, hee - you gotta laugh at the Walnettos company telling us that Cadbury is a company dealing with primarily chocolate confections. Like Walnettos are the big dogs.

Hmmmm......the soldier thing seems to be true - at least according to the website. And somehow when compared with Twizzlers and Junior Mints, I can't imagine eating Walnettos at the movies. But it is a pretty cool history and you know how I want all these little candy makers to hang on!! I think the history of our candy is the history of our nation, and I don't want to lose it!! (Can you hear "God Bless America" playing in the background?)

I do have one piece of advice for the Walnetto people. Get a less lame mascot. I mean, come ON! You blew Walnutto, at least get a better mascot. Uh - maybe a squirrel? Maybe even a walnut? But just a square of the candy with some seriously bad shoes? Sandy, Sandy - you can do better.

Here's another little treat I found:

I had heard from several sources that chocolate covered gummies were good. I saw this adorable box and threw it on my Cracker Barrel pile. (Hey, if you all aren't going to start spending and help me I'm going to have to lead the economic recovery alone! Did you at least buy some on sale Valentine's candy?)

Well, low and behold, the Sweet Candy Company is another small US Candy Company. Check this out:

In 1892 Leon Sweet started the Sweet Candy Company in Portland, Oregon. In the beginning, Sweet’s manufactured just a few varieties of candy. However, the candy that Leon offered for sale had two distinguishing characteristics: the candy was mostly made by hand, and folks loved it. They loved it because of the quality.

In 1900 Leon moved the operation from Portland to Salt Lake City, Utah, where he merged several small specialty stores into one general line manufacturing company. Over the years, Sweet’s has become more innovative and more automated. The company has increased the number of products it makes and has expanded its total marketing area. Today, there are more than 250 Sweet’s Quality Candy items distributed internationally in bulk, bags and boxes. Sweet’s is perhaps still best known for its classic favorites: Chocolate Orange Sticks, Salt Water Taffy and Cinnamon Bears.

Well, I'll be. (Hang out in Cracker Barrel long enough and you'll start talking like this.)

The Chocolate Cinnamon Bears were interesting. I have to say I like the cute box more than the candy. The bears were chewy and fresh, but there was something about the cinnamon that WAY over powered the chocolate. I didn't like these much at all - way too cinnamony.

I also have to say that neither of these was cheap. 13 bears were $4.99 22 Walnettos also $4.99. I guess nostalgia is expensive. Probably Cracker Barrel is just making a killing selling candy to all those captive hungry people. I say - "You go, Cracker Barrel! Shake that money maker! Work it!!"

I need to go sit down in one of those rocking chairs for a while. The sugar rush is making me a little wild.