FA+
Shop
Kitten update for July + Kaffre talks Candy #2
11 years ago
Greetings kitten-watchers! *hugs*
Some of you may have noticed that I've been even more inactive than usual the last two weeks. The reason is this: two weeks ago, our ducks got into the chicken pen and, rather than attempt to extricate them in the dark, we decided to leave them there till morning. The next morning, ten dead and partially eaten ducklings were found along with their dead father and two deceased chickens. We assumed, incorrectly, as it turns out that they'd been fighting and I became terribly depressed at my perceived culpability. More chickens ripped apart the following day, however, prompted me to revise this assessment and we quickly ascertained that a raccoon was responsible for the massacre - it remains at large, but we re-secured the pens to prevent future infiltration and thus far it appears to be working very well.
So that's what I've been dealing with the last two weeks - that and trying to de-imprint the incubator-hatched duckling that's currently living in our bathroom (a much more entertaining task).
Anyway, I'm sorry to have burdened you all with such horrific news so without further ado, I'd like to present the second installment of Kaffre talks Candy!
Name: Aero, Peppermint
Manufacturer: Nestle
Size: 41 gram bar
Where Purchased: Dollarama
Description: Peppermint Aero consists of a milk chocolate shell filled with a mass of bubbly mint-flavoured chocolate(?) dyed an unhealthy-looking green colour. The shape of the bar, like that of the original Aero, was redesigned recently. Formerly, the shell was fairly flat with only slight grooves so that the bar could be broken into seven pieces. The new design, however, features ten dome-shaped pieces joined together in a two columns of five instead.
Opinion: This bar has all the same virtues and failings as the classic Aero. As such, whether being mint-flavoured adds or subtracts from the bar's appeal is likely to be the main criteria by which one judges this product. Personally, however, I like the taste enough for this bar to nudge just past the standard Aero to the point where I will almost invariably choose it over the original version when both options are available.
Name: Assorted Chews
Manufacturer: Oak Leaf Confections
Size: N/A
Where Purchased: Bulk Barn
Description: A staple of candy machines, Sour Chews are a brand of hard, disc-shaped, gum that are either red speckled with blue or blue speckled with red. Unlike most of the other entries on this list, Sour Chews are usually sold by weight from candy machines or from vats at Bulk Barn and similar retailers.
Opinion: This treat was a childhood favourite of mine and I still enjoy it very much, but being assorted, it's difficult to describe for this interview. The candies vary quite considerably in terms of softness/hardness, sweetness/sourness, and more. Still, if you eat them two or three at a time as I do, they average out to a firm, slightly sour gum. Very tasty!
Name: Dairy Milk
Manufacturer: Cadbury
Size: 42 gram bar
Where Purchased: Dollarama
Description: Dairy Milk consist of a mid-sized bar of milk chocolate with small furrows allowing it to be broken up into six segments.
Opinion: This bar is fairly simple, but also quite tasty, being very sweet and very creamy as is typical of Cadbury products (apparently a result of the high percentage of milk used in the recipe). Overall, this is an excellent bar, but one that I really don't purchase often enough - this is something I do hope to rectify in future.
Name: Double Decker
Manufacturer: Cadbury
Size: 54.5 gram bar
Where Purchased: Bulk Barn
Description: Double Decker, as you can probably guess, consists of two destinct layers. The bottom layer is chocolate with rice crisps while the upper layer if of a rather chewy nougat. The whole thing is then covered in more chocolate resulting in a fairly thick, roughly rectangular, bar.
Opinion: This bar provides an interesting texture combination in the form of the crispy rice and chewy nougat. Ultimately, however, while I quite liked this product, I personally found the nougat layer a tad thick for my tastes. I'll probably buy the product again from time to time, but I just don't like it enough for it to be a regular.
Name: Fry's Orange Cream
Manufacturer: Cadbury
Size: 49 gram bar
Where Purchased: Bulk Barn
Description: Fry's Orange Cream consists of a dark chocolate shell with a creamy, orange-flavoured fondant centre. The shape of the bar is fairly flat with a simple, but sleek appearance. There are some grooves suggesting that the bar is meant to be broken into segments, but they don't work well for this purpose.
Opinion: The dark chocolate of this bar proved a bit more noticeable than in the standard chocolate cream described in the previous installment, but as with that bar the fondant proved much more strongly flavoured than the chocolate. Ultimately, however, as much as I do like orange-flavoured chocolate, I personally found this product rather too strongly flavoured for my tastes
Name: Goodies
Manufacturer: Twizzler
Size: 150 gram bag
Where Purchased: Dollarama
Description: Goodies are a brand of candy-coated licorice pieces similar to the better known 'Good and Plenty' (curiously, both brands are owned by Hershey through different subsidiaries). Goodies, however, have a greater variety of colours and are sold in transparent plastic bags of different sizes.
Opinion: Licorice can be something of an acquired taste so any opinions are going to be contingent upon one's attitude toward licorice/anise flavoured confections. I for one quite like them. The flavour is sharp and the candy adds a pleasant chewiness to the treat. This candy does have a rather distinct anise aftertaste which may be a deal-breaker for those who enjoy licorice, but shun anise. In any case, I think they're quite tasty!
Name: Kinder Bueno
Manufacturer: Fererro
Size: 43 grams in two bars
Where Purchased: Dollarama
Description: Kinder Bueno consists of two smaller bars packaged together not unlike Twix or Twirl. The bars themselves each consist of hazelnut flavoured wafer cookie coated in chocolate. The bar appears to consist of four segments, but these don't seem to help it break any more evenly.
Opinion: I'd never tried this bar before and I can't really say why that might be since there's nothing about it's description or packaging that would normally dissuade me. Fortunately, the bar proved to be very tasty with just the right amount of hazelnut flavour and I will definitely be purchasing the product again.
Name: Kit Kat Chunky
Manufacturer: Nestle
Size: 50 gram bar
Where Purchased: Dollarama
Description: Kit Kat Chunky consists of a single large wafer cookie covered in a layer of chocolate. The structure resembled that of an oversized segment of the classic Kit Kat, but the scale is slightly different, being wider and shorter than a Kit Kat segment of equivalent proportions would be.
Opinion: I'm not really sure whether I've eaten one of these before or not, but decided to give it a try for this review. Fortunately, I enjoyed the product more than I did the Kit Kat I obtained for that reviw. Counterintuitively, there seemed to be a better proportion of chocolate to wafer with the Chunky bar and the wafer itself seemed softer and more flavourful than those in the original bar. Very tasty and reinforces my suspicions about getting a faulty Kit Kat earlier.
Name: MacKintosh Toffee
Manufacturer: Nestle
Size: 43 grams
Where Purchased: Dollarama
Description: MacKintosh Toffee consists of a thin, rectangular, piece of toffee. The toffee is a light brown and attempts to break or rip it proved futile and I ultimately resorted to cutting the toffee with a knife in order to obtain pieces small enough to constitute a snack.
Opinion: A good firm toffee with a nice creamy flavour, but unfortunately I don't think I'll be buying this product again. While I do enjoy toffee a lot, this item proved rather too much for me to eat in a single sitting and doesn't keep at all well once opened. Not bad by any means, but I'll be sticking to small toffees from now on!
Name: Twirl
Manufacturer: Cadbury
Size: 47 grams in two bars
Where Purchased: Bulk Barn
Description: Twirl consists of what is essentially two shortened Flake bars (see Installment #1) coated in a thin layer of Cadbury chocolate and sold bundled together in a single package in a manner not unlike that of Mars' well known line of 'Twix' bars.
Opinion: Unfortunately, the Twirl bar I purchased for this review was quite stale and presented a dried out almost tasteless mass that nevertheless retained its crumbliness, polluting my mouth with insipid flakes of stale chocolate. Despite, this, I will definitely buy Twirl again both because I very much enjoyed my previous Twirl bars and because I want the reviews presented here to be as reliable as possible which means all the bars I use should be fresh!
Some of you may have noticed that I've been even more inactive than usual the last two weeks. The reason is this: two weeks ago, our ducks got into the chicken pen and, rather than attempt to extricate them in the dark, we decided to leave them there till morning. The next morning, ten dead and partially eaten ducklings were found along with their dead father and two deceased chickens. We assumed, incorrectly, as it turns out that they'd been fighting and I became terribly depressed at my perceived culpability. More chickens ripped apart the following day, however, prompted me to revise this assessment and we quickly ascertained that a raccoon was responsible for the massacre - it remains at large, but we re-secured the pens to prevent future infiltration and thus far it appears to be working very well.
So that's what I've been dealing with the last two weeks - that and trying to de-imprint the incubator-hatched duckling that's currently living in our bathroom (a much more entertaining task).
Anyway, I'm sorry to have burdened you all with such horrific news so without further ado, I'd like to present the second installment of Kaffre talks Candy!
Name: Aero, Peppermint
Manufacturer: Nestle
Size: 41 gram bar
Where Purchased: Dollarama
Description: Peppermint Aero consists of a milk chocolate shell filled with a mass of bubbly mint-flavoured chocolate(?) dyed an unhealthy-looking green colour. The shape of the bar, like that of the original Aero, was redesigned recently. Formerly, the shell was fairly flat with only slight grooves so that the bar could be broken into seven pieces. The new design, however, features ten dome-shaped pieces joined together in a two columns of five instead.
Opinion: This bar has all the same virtues and failings as the classic Aero. As such, whether being mint-flavoured adds or subtracts from the bar's appeal is likely to be the main criteria by which one judges this product. Personally, however, I like the taste enough for this bar to nudge just past the standard Aero to the point where I will almost invariably choose it over the original version when both options are available.
Name: Assorted Chews
Manufacturer: Oak Leaf Confections
Size: N/A
Where Purchased: Bulk Barn
Description: A staple of candy machines, Sour Chews are a brand of hard, disc-shaped, gum that are either red speckled with blue or blue speckled with red. Unlike most of the other entries on this list, Sour Chews are usually sold by weight from candy machines or from vats at Bulk Barn and similar retailers.
Opinion: This treat was a childhood favourite of mine and I still enjoy it very much, but being assorted, it's difficult to describe for this interview. The candies vary quite considerably in terms of softness/hardness, sweetness/sourness, and more. Still, if you eat them two or three at a time as I do, they average out to a firm, slightly sour gum. Very tasty!
Name: Dairy Milk
Manufacturer: Cadbury
Size: 42 gram bar
Where Purchased: Dollarama
Description: Dairy Milk consist of a mid-sized bar of milk chocolate with small furrows allowing it to be broken up into six segments.
Opinion: This bar is fairly simple, but also quite tasty, being very sweet and very creamy as is typical of Cadbury products (apparently a result of the high percentage of milk used in the recipe). Overall, this is an excellent bar, but one that I really don't purchase often enough - this is something I do hope to rectify in future.
Name: Double Decker
Manufacturer: Cadbury
Size: 54.5 gram bar
Where Purchased: Bulk Barn
Description: Double Decker, as you can probably guess, consists of two destinct layers. The bottom layer is chocolate with rice crisps while the upper layer if of a rather chewy nougat. The whole thing is then covered in more chocolate resulting in a fairly thick, roughly rectangular, bar.
Opinion: This bar provides an interesting texture combination in the form of the crispy rice and chewy nougat. Ultimately, however, while I quite liked this product, I personally found the nougat layer a tad thick for my tastes. I'll probably buy the product again from time to time, but I just don't like it enough for it to be a regular.
Name: Fry's Orange Cream
Manufacturer: Cadbury
Size: 49 gram bar
Where Purchased: Bulk Barn
Description: Fry's Orange Cream consists of a dark chocolate shell with a creamy, orange-flavoured fondant centre. The shape of the bar is fairly flat with a simple, but sleek appearance. There are some grooves suggesting that the bar is meant to be broken into segments, but they don't work well for this purpose.
Opinion: The dark chocolate of this bar proved a bit more noticeable than in the standard chocolate cream described in the previous installment, but as with that bar the fondant proved much more strongly flavoured than the chocolate. Ultimately, however, as much as I do like orange-flavoured chocolate, I personally found this product rather too strongly flavoured for my tastes
Name: Goodies
Manufacturer: Twizzler
Size: 150 gram bag
Where Purchased: Dollarama
Description: Goodies are a brand of candy-coated licorice pieces similar to the better known 'Good and Plenty' (curiously, both brands are owned by Hershey through different subsidiaries). Goodies, however, have a greater variety of colours and are sold in transparent plastic bags of different sizes.
Opinion: Licorice can be something of an acquired taste so any opinions are going to be contingent upon one's attitude toward licorice/anise flavoured confections. I for one quite like them. The flavour is sharp and the candy adds a pleasant chewiness to the treat. This candy does have a rather distinct anise aftertaste which may be a deal-breaker for those who enjoy licorice, but shun anise. In any case, I think they're quite tasty!
Name: Kinder Bueno
Manufacturer: Fererro
Size: 43 grams in two bars
Where Purchased: Dollarama
Description: Kinder Bueno consists of two smaller bars packaged together not unlike Twix or Twirl. The bars themselves each consist of hazelnut flavoured wafer cookie coated in chocolate. The bar appears to consist of four segments, but these don't seem to help it break any more evenly.
Opinion: I'd never tried this bar before and I can't really say why that might be since there's nothing about it's description or packaging that would normally dissuade me. Fortunately, the bar proved to be very tasty with just the right amount of hazelnut flavour and I will definitely be purchasing the product again.
Name: Kit Kat Chunky
Manufacturer: Nestle
Size: 50 gram bar
Where Purchased: Dollarama
Description: Kit Kat Chunky consists of a single large wafer cookie covered in a layer of chocolate. The structure resembled that of an oversized segment of the classic Kit Kat, but the scale is slightly different, being wider and shorter than a Kit Kat segment of equivalent proportions would be.
Opinion: I'm not really sure whether I've eaten one of these before or not, but decided to give it a try for this review. Fortunately, I enjoyed the product more than I did the Kit Kat I obtained for that reviw. Counterintuitively, there seemed to be a better proportion of chocolate to wafer with the Chunky bar and the wafer itself seemed softer and more flavourful than those in the original bar. Very tasty and reinforces my suspicions about getting a faulty Kit Kat earlier.
Name: MacKintosh Toffee
Manufacturer: Nestle
Size: 43 grams
Where Purchased: Dollarama
Description: MacKintosh Toffee consists of a thin, rectangular, piece of toffee. The toffee is a light brown and attempts to break or rip it proved futile and I ultimately resorted to cutting the toffee with a knife in order to obtain pieces small enough to constitute a snack.
Opinion: A good firm toffee with a nice creamy flavour, but unfortunately I don't think I'll be buying this product again. While I do enjoy toffee a lot, this item proved rather too much for me to eat in a single sitting and doesn't keep at all well once opened. Not bad by any means, but I'll be sticking to small toffees from now on!
Name: Twirl
Manufacturer: Cadbury
Size: 47 grams in two bars
Where Purchased: Bulk Barn
Description: Twirl consists of what is essentially two shortened Flake bars (see Installment #1) coated in a thin layer of Cadbury chocolate and sold bundled together in a single package in a manner not unlike that of Mars' well known line of 'Twix' bars.
Opinion: Unfortunately, the Twirl bar I purchased for this review was quite stale and presented a dried out almost tasteless mass that nevertheless retained its crumbliness, polluting my mouth with insipid flakes of stale chocolate. Despite, this, I will definitely buy Twirl again both because I very much enjoyed my previous Twirl bars and because I want the reviews presented here to be as reliable as possible which means all the bars I use should be fresh!
That said, your specification of 'Cadbury's Dairy Milk' is interesting. Have you, in your travels tried the US version which, I understand, is manufactured by Hershey?
Also, DD and Kit Kat Chunk are quite tasty as well. That being said, apart from the no fruit or nuts thing, I tend not to be very picky about what sort of chocolate bars I enjoy.
I was just curious whether your reference specifically to Cadbury Dairy Milk was slight against the Hershey ones sold in the US or whether that's how you always refer to the bar.
I can't say myself, I can't compare myself as I've only ever had the Canadian ones...