"candies" news and stories

Barbie, as you may know, turned 50 earlier this year. If this slightly belated bit of promotional whimsy is any indication, plenty of you still want a piece of her.

To celebrate the doll's 50th, Dylan's Candy Bar created "Barbie Loves Dylan's," a line of chocolate and candy outfitted in colorful graphics befitting the belle's pop-art and pop-cultural legacy. We love the way these chocolates are packaged, with through-the-years pix inspiring affectionate memories of both "The Brady Bunch" and yearbook photos of days (and unfortunate hairstyles) gone by.

It's rare to come across chocolate whose packaging wouldn't look out of place next to a Warhol, and we applaud whatever graphic design genius was behind this. But if Barbie taught us anything, it's that beauty is skin deep, and that lesson unfortunately applies to the chocolate bearing her name. It tastes as plastic as Barbie herself or, in the words of one judge, "like drugstore Easter candy." Like Barbie herself, this chocolate could last 50 years ... in the back of a pantry.

For $14, a better move might be to pop the candies into a frame on the bedroom wall. 'Cause Barbie also taught us that when substance fails, style triumphs.

Source

Source

Dark Chocolate Dipped Altoids sounded so good after reading Joe's initial review that I decided to keep an eye out for them while shopping. Target seems to be a veritable gold mine of new and limited edition candies, so it didn't surprise me when I saw a box near the checkout and picked them up.

At least, I thought I saw a box of the candies I was looking for. I didn't discover that I picked up a tin of Dark Chocolate Dipped Cinnamon Altoids instead until I took a closer look at the package later that day. I'm not a big fan of cinnamon candies in general, but I have to admit that the chocolate-coated cinnamon Altoids were pretty addictive. The chocolate was not too sweet and melted fairly easily in my mouth, cutting the normally sharp cinnamon flavor substantially and leaving behind an almost Mexican chocolate-type flavor.

I still haven't had a chance to sample the regular chocolate covered Altoids, but I think I'll be satisfied with my accidental purchase for a while yet.

Dubbed "lollipops for the new generation" by the company, Jelly Belly's LolliBeans are one of the company's newest products and were promoted at the SF Fancy Foods Show along with their new pomegranate jelly beans. Lollipops are hardly innovative, as far as candy goes, but the company seems surprisingly excited about these pops. Each one is shaped like a very large (over 1 inch long) jelly bean and is embossed with the famous Jelly Belly logo, and 10 flavors - very cherry, watermelon, sizzling cinnamon, strawberry cheesecake, cotton candy, blueberry, tangerine, bubblegum, grape and lemon - all of which are as true-to-life as the original Jelly Bellys are.

Perhaps if I had picked up a Strawberry Cheesecake pop instead of a lemon I would have been more impressed, but this was simply a good - not fantastic - piece of candy.

The Lollibeans are available at candy and gourmet stores nationwide and will probably be more widely available as we head into Easter.

In the US, Valentine's Day celebrations are generally geared towards couples, with a slight bias towards women when it comes to the marketing of chocolates, flowers and other gifts - a bias that is meant to have women encourage men to buy gifts for them. In Japan, things are a little different. The chocolates and other Valentine's Day items are marketed towards women, but they're marketed for them to buy and give to men, rather than the other way around. Barentain Dei calls for gifts to be given to boyfriends and husbands, as well as for giri-choco, or obligation chocolates, to be given to male bosses, coworkers, classmates and friends. About 80% of Japanese women participate in the tradition, spending an average of $20 on their most chocolate important purchase and $6 on each of their other chocolate gifts, averaging $56 per woman for a total of over $400 million countrywide on the holiday. This doesn't include additional gifts or fancy dinners.

If this all seems a bit unfair, as it is more one-sided than the US version of Valentine's, not to worry. On March 14th, the Japanese celebrate "White Day" as in reciprocation for Valentine's Day, where men buy gifts, from chocolates to expensive jewelry, as a sign of affection

Source

Russell Stover Chocolates started back in 1923 and leads the market in terms of the sales of boxed chocolates. It is the third larges chocolate manufacturer in the US, behind Hershey's and M&M Mars (Masterfoods). Although receiving consistently decent scores in taste tests, the brand has an image of affordability and none of the cache that more upscale brands - Godiva, Lindt, Vosges, to name but a few - do. Since chocolate is an ever-growing segment of the market, Russell Stover has decided to take action and reinvent the brand to appeal to new, younger consumers, consumers who are looking for more sophistication, trendier packaging and flavors that mimic those of upscale brands.

Several new lines will launch this spring, including Russell Stover Urban, Internationale and Origin Select, as well as a Private Reserve line designed to compete directly with bars from Lindt. There will be more organic chocolates, as well. The Whitman's brand, which is owned by the same company, will also launch a new line Whitman's Soho.

Consumers will make or break the new products, but industry insiders already see potential in Vanilla Bean Brûlée with 70% Dark Chocolate squares and other similar products, with Candy Industry magazine even giving Russell Stover the Manufacturer of the year award for 2006.

Source