Buttons, Bites, Clusters, Minis and More

Since moving from the States to Canada I've noticed a few products on the shelves that have surprised me. I've also noticed some surprising packaging of products. When I lived in San Francisco I didn't pay excessive attention to the packaged theater style candy, I eman it was usually in a different aisle altogether, or at the very least way down the end, and the selection was always limited. The mini, or bite sized phenomenon is definitely not such a big thing in the States. But in Canada I am absolutely floored by how much aisle space is given over the smaller sized versions of regular candy. If its a rare variation in the States, and usually something only found in that format, here in Canada the opposite is true. Almost everything in the theater candy section is a version of a bigger standard product, and its super popular.

These are the buttons, bites, clusters, minis, and more found while walking my candy aisles now.

I was looking all over this packaging and other than the character art I can't seem to find any difference between these Dairy Milk Buttons. Anyhow, these are of course the standard straightforward Cadbury chocolate buttons. And like the Dairy Milk itself, they are stamped as Fair Trade.

Hershey's answer to the Buttons are of course the Drops, which have as far as I know been fairly successful. In a surprising turn Hershey's has an actual new product on shelves now featuring whole nuts!

Dark and Milk Chocolate options with whole nuts... seems like a pretty good idea. |If only Hershey's chocolate was better quality.

Sticking with hershey's though we also get an entry into the Minis catagory.

Dark Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, Mr Goodbar (Milk Chocolate and Peanut), and Krackel (Milk Chocolate and Rice Crispies). While this mix bag is a common sight around Halloween, the most important thing to note here is the Krackel. Hershey's does not offer Krackel in a full sized bar. So if you want to try it, this is how its got to be done... in Miniature form.

Now I'm not 100% sure these Allan bagged candy should count since they're not chocolate, and aren't based on anything but they look good so I'll mention them.

Allan is of course the company behind the Big Foot gummy feet candy, and although I don't eat too much of their stuff I have to say I'm impressed with what I've seen. I wonder if these dessert bites have a true gummy center.... probably. I mean that would make sense from this company. but what do you think the outer frosting coating is? just sugar? or could it be like yogurt or something? Either way these look pretty tasty.

Now for some oddball entries from Cadbury.

The Mais Souffle is exactly what it looks like: caramel popcorn coated in chocolate. And honestly when you just hear it you know its a winner. And then there's the Toffee Clusters, which definitely hold some appeal, although I don't know if they're as sure a thing as the popcorn for me.

Let's move on to some small versions of big bars, these things seems so popular here in Canada.

Simple idea with the Kit Kat, Seems like a good one to me.

This one is good, but a bit odd since I thought you could still find the mini York Patties around. I'd say these bites are silid though, just maybe not as sharable as individually wrapped minis.

I don't know how Hershey's keeps claiming that Reese Sticks are new since they clearly aren't, but these Reese Sticks Minis are definitely a newer product. Since I like the reese Sticks I bet I'd go for this.

Another Reese product, I don't know if the Minis count. I mean aren't they always changing the size of the Reese Cups anyhow.

Coffee Crisp Bites on the other hand are a great idea from start to finish. I'd like to try these and review them for the site.

Playing on the Cadbury Caramilk secret these minis look great. I am a HUGE fan of Caramilk so these are sure to be awesome.

Big Turk of course has to make an appearance here. While I wasn't terribly impressed with this Turkish Delight chocolate bar in its big form I bet the Bites would improve the experience. More chocolate, and more of a candy experience. This might just work.

Oh Henry bites are not a great idea in my opinion. The bar was busy enough. Making it more compacted is not a recipe for success. I think this might be an even bigger garbled mess of a chocolate bar experiecne than the big version.

This is a case of good idea, bad idea. The good idea is making a small bite sized version of the Crunchie bar. The bad idea is making it a Cluster... why on earth didn't they just make it a straightforward Bite? I am confused, and suspect the flakey nature of the Crunchie would make this experience very weird.

As I mentioned in my Aero reviews they also come in Bubble form. This is an absolute no brainer when you think of the product, their marketing imagery and how well it ties in. I don't know that I've ever had them though, and I'd be very interested in checking it out.

Also while its rare to come across the full sized Aero bar in its Orange flavor, the Orange Bubbles are all over the place. At least that's been my experience.

This is a bit of a head scratcher. Aren't Rolos already mini???

And finally we come to one only recently reviewed here on the Candy Aisle the Skor Minis.

I think these might work better in mini form as well. While I didn't hate the bar or anything, it wasn't too exciting. I expect this would be about the same, or maybe a tiny bit better.

Anyhow, that's all I've got for you today. As I said off the top, it seems a bit odd that there are so many of these mini chocolates and candies here in Canada. Who is buying these when they could geta  full bar instead??? Whoever it is they must be doing ti a lot though. Since there seems to be no end in sight for these bags of minis, bites, and clusters.

Almost Perfect Candy

I was out in Whitby, Ontario last week and my brother in law clued me into the Almost Perfect store.

This is the kind of store a lot of you may have seen if you live in or near an urban center. This is essentially an irregular food store. It's full of food that's been rejected, not over any health concerns but most likely because the food was discontinued, or possibly seasonal and the major retailers don't want it on the shelves anymore.

You can also find some of these items if you are the kind of person who goes on factory tours. I remember when I was a kid going with my parents to both the Ben & Jerry's factory in Vermont (or maybe it was headquarters), and most significantly when I went to Hershey Pennsylvania. These factory tours of course ended at the gift shop, and both of these companies offered "irregular" food products there. As a kid this just fascinated me to no end. The products may be slightly off, but they're crazy cheap and just awesome.

Almost Perfect seems to offer more of the straightforward food items focusing on seasonal stuff, maybe with misprinted packaging, or remainders of limited editions. They specifically have a pretty decent candy section too, which was of course my main reason for wanting to go.

Some of the items like this entire stand of Allan candy was a bit weird. I'm not sure why any of it wouldn't be on the market. These are the guys who make "Big Foot" and I'm sure I'll get to their products sooner or later in reviews. These are weird flavors, so maybe they were just limited time or discontinued. Hard to tell since I'm not that familiar with their product lineup.

More likely is seeing something like this Imported Continental European Dark Chocolate. Seems fine and all, but nothing I would imagine anyone would buy, especially if its not an in house brand or some kind of off-shoot loss leader to get people into the store. Without a good brand name behind it why on earth is anyone buying it? My guess is they are not. And that's why it's at Almost Perfect.

Here is a very interesting one, and something I wish I could've reviewed. But I wouldn't feel right reviewing something from Almost Perfect when I really don't know why its there. Most likely this unique variation on the classic Hershey bar didn't sell and was discontinued, but I don't know.... maybe it was awful, or maybe its still in development. Whenever the reason its not sticking around I don't think Hershey wants it representing them.

Do you suppose these Reese Eggs were sitting around in a warehouse since Easter? My guess is yes. The sure tasted great though, I bought a bunch of these!

Here are some great looking Red White and Blue M&Ms. I suppose these are from this past 4th of July. We'll see if they turn up again next year.

I love the idea of Fierce Cinnamon Hot Tamales. Do you think maybe they were too fierce for the public? Are these still available in real life?

Here's another one that I'm not sure of. Don't these exist on the market now? Why is this one here? Could it be because it has the "New" label on it?

Finally a simple question. Whats wrong with all these Jolly Ranchers???

This is totally a store that's good and bad at the same time. I mean how cool is it going to a store to get something no one else has? BUT then the truth sinks in, maybe other people don't want this stuff. for a reason...

I'll have to keep my eye out for more 'irregular' candy, or off the beaten path kind of stuff. Let me know in the comments if you've ever been to a store like this and what your impression has been.

Thanks for joining me, later all.