Back to the Chocolate Pumpkin Patch 2009

Last year we had a face-off between Hershey's Marshmallow Pumpkin and Russell Stover's Marshmallow Pumpkin. Hershey crushed Russell Stover in my opinion. But there's a new kid in town this year. I found this contender hanging out in Cracker Barrel:

Made by the never heard of Chocolate House, aka the Georgia Nut Company http://www.georgianut.com/. The wrapper seems mysteriously similar to the Hershey wrapper:

The Hershey one is better, but both feature purple foil and giant orange pumpkins. Maybe just a coincidence, but in Chocolate CSI we know there are no coincidences.

Here they are naked:

Hershey is on the left, looking more like a pumpkin. Georgia Nut's version is a little flatter, but actually weighs a tiny bit less.

Autopsy:

Hershey has marshmallow, whereas Georgia Nut (GN) has marshmallow creme. It's like that Fluff stuff you can put on sandwiches - very sticky, kind of yucky. So sticky it gets all over your fingers, and lips, and elbows and maybe even on your eyelashes.

So they have two very different tastes. I prefer Hershey - it has a more chocolately flavor. In the GN version, the fluff overpowers the chocolate. But for only 120 calories (130 for GN), they are both pretty good Halloween treats. Not much calcium though - don't get your hopes up.

New to the patch this year is Palmer - remember the peanut butter pumpkin I reviewed a few posts ago? I admired its artistry. It had the ugliest wrapper I have ever seen, but the candy itself was very festive. Well, check these out:

The ugly wrapper tradition continues! But look inside:

So cute! Look at the green stem! That's no blob - look at those leaves - admire the detail!! We're talking Chocolate Michelangelo here! As far as taste? Well, this IS Palmer, but again, the chocolate cream filling saves it. These are actually pretty good. We're not talking artisan chocolate, but for 39 cents - it's a winner!

Bad wrapper:

But, look at this!

Look at that orange - yahoo! But as soon as you notice the orange, you are hit with an overpowering, sickly sweet orange creamsicle smell. And WOW these are sweet! Too sweet - unless you really like orange creamsicle - in which case you have just died and gone to heaven. For the rest of us - no. This is not a maybe, this is a no. But it's festive!!

Now after a feast like this, we need an after dinner mint:

These are solid - York Peppermint Pattie Pumpkins are just as you would expect. The dark chocolate is not the richest, best dark chocolate and the mint isn't creamy, but they're good. And so cute and little - about the size of a fifty cent piece. I like cute, little candy - you can tell yourself they have hardly any calories. A slice of fried pecan pie? Not so much.

I'm proud of the York people - they didn't have to bother to but a stem on the PPPs - and they didn't have to put that unholy orange color in there. They could just have put regular ol' peppermint patties in orange wrappers. But no - they made special ones for the holiday. Yay York!!

You never know who out there appreciates what you do. You may have been kind to someone just in passing, but it made their day. You might have helped a customer and not thought twice about it, but it meant the world to them. Heck, right now someone could be blogging about you - making you the unsung hero of the candy world. I bet the York workers have no idea how cool I think their efforts are and how it makes my Halloween! Realize that what you do doesn't go unappreciated. You impact many more people than you know. Never doubt that you make a difference - what you do matters to more people than you will ever know.

And Russell Stover, I'm watching you.

Candy Expo Continued (Pieces v M & Ms)

Hi Gang! Sorry for the delay - when I left Chicago I had to head to Birmingham to give my Leadership Lessons from the Kings of Chocolate seminar and then get back to Raleigh and deal with the pile up. I'm still digging out. No rest for the gluttonous.

This is SOME of the candy I came home with covering my dining room table. Amazing, huh? When will I have time to review all this? How much weight can I avoid gaining? But...how lucky am I????

You should have seen me lugging all this through the airport - I already had one bag checked (at $15 each way that was a cool $45 for nothing). This bag of candy had to weigh over 50 lbs - it's a damn good thing I work out! As it was I lost the feeling in my fingers three times. Oh - I also had a bag with my laptop. I am clearly demented. (And stubborn as hell).

Okay - I just randomly took pictures on Wednesday - I figured they could come and get me if they wanted to, so here are some to give you a tiny idea of how cool these booths were:

How cool is all that???? I wish I had that Lindt bunny for my front yard. And not just for Easter.

The booths were all gorgeous, colorful and huge - with samples! Candy Expo is as close to Willie Wonka and the Oompa Loompas you can get.

Let's do some quick reviews:

I'd never tried these before, but now I have. And these are my thoughts - did Nestle Crunch really need to be any crispier? I don't think this adds anything to the original. (The original isn't one of my favs to start with, but this makes it less flavorful.) Same goes for Butterfinger - I mean it's already great and crispy as hell - it doesn't need any wafers. I prefer the originals of both of these bars.

But THIS is another matter entirely:

I like the Baby Ruth, but I LOVE the Baby Ruth Crisp. I think the Baby Ruth needed a little lighter touch. These are well worth trying. I actually went back to the booth to get more samples. WAY good.

Look at this great idea:

They already had Reese's Pieces, now Hershey's has added York Peppermint Patty Pieces, Almond Joy Pieces, and Special Dark Pieces. The York Pieces are fabulous (and I'm not even a huge mint fan), the Almond Joy Pieces are way better than the Coconut M & M's below, but I would rather just have an Almond Joy. And the Hershey's Special Dark Pieces are good. I don't have any Dark M & M's to compare them with, but they are a solid entry. Great ideas from Hershey.

Grab the York Pieces when they come out - I think you'll like them.

Mars isn't taking this innovation lying down! (Well, maybe lounging on a beach...)

Okay - these don't taste much like coconut at all. The Almond Joy Pieces were much better - they had some coconut texture - although they were too small to autopsy. And they tasted kind of like coconut. These taste like M & Ms. Maybe someone walked through the factory wearing a Hawaiian shirt. No coconut is listed in the ingredient list - the Almond Joy Pieces list both coconut and almonds.
Hmmmmm..........

Maybe Mars thinks if they SAY the M & M's taste like coconut, we'll BELIEVE they taste like coconut.....

I was so excited about these - strawberry and peanut butter M & Ms - YAY!!! What a great idea! How exciting! But they disappointed me. I found the strawberry gave them a weird aftertaste. Peanut Butter M & Ms are better (and I think Reese's Pieces are better than those!).

Candy Expo really was a blast!! As I review more of the candy I'll tell you more about some of the people. The candy was cool, but it was the people that really made it a great experience.

I'd also like to express my admiration and appreciation to anyone who has served in the military. My friends Katie and Wally come to mind - I am so proud of them and don't tell them nearly enough. Memorial Day is a great day to think of all those who serve, who have served, and who gave their lives for our country. Thank you!!!