What's in a Toffee???

Are all English Butter Toffee's the same? Not a chance! Here's a recent review of the ever popular Daim bar.


But lets add a little context here. Here are reviews of Skor and Heath to round out the picture.



Let me know what your favourite toffee product is and don't forget to check out the YouTube channel for more reviews twice weekly.

Pot of Gold Excellence review

And here we are once again with yet ANOTHER holiday review. This time its even another box of chocolates... and a very popular one at that, here is my review of Pot of Gold Excellence.


Walking the Candy Aisle rates Pot of Gold Excellence - 4 / 5

For more on Hershey's Pot of Gold please visit- https://www.hersheycanada.com/en/brands/pot-of-gold/

Quality Street review

Merry Christmas all. So here we have the big'un for the season. This is my massive two part review of the entire box of Quality Street chocolates. enjoy.

part 1


part 2


Walking the Candy Aisle rates Quality Street -5 / 5

The take aways from me specifically are try the - Strawberry Delight, Fudge, Orange Cream, and The Purple One for the best of the best. I hope you enjoyed this massive review. I don't know that I'll normally do such an extensive look at a box of chocolates but I felt like this one was a special case.Feel free to let me know what you think.

For more on Nestle's Quality Street please visit - http://products.nestle.ca/en/brands/chocolates/quality-street.aspx

Ovation Toffee Crunch review

Another chocolate Orange?!?! Hardly! this is the Ovation Toffee Crunch.


Waking the Candy Aisle rates Ovation Toffee Crunch - 4 / 5

Ovation is made by the good folks over at Sweetworks Inc. For more on all things Ovation please visit them online at http://sweetworks.net/category/ovation/

Eat-More review

Here's a weird one for you. Please enjoy this Eat-More review.


Walking the Candy Aisle rates Eat-More - 1 / 5

Not so great... Anyhow, if you really want to know more about Eat-More check out the Hershey Canada website for... well its actually pretty bare bones. If you want more reviews of good chocolate though please check out the Reviews Page.

Heath review

We've got what I'm sure some would call an American classic up for review today, with Hershey's Heath bar.


 
Walking the Candy Aisle rates Heath - 4 / 5

Pretty good stuff, and after looking at this review and the Skor one I have to say Heath seems the better choice of the two. I'd still like to do some kind of head to head moving down the line though.

For more on Heath and Hershey's please check them out online right here. And as always for more reviews please head over to our Reviews Page, or just Subscribe to the YouTube channel :)

Skor review

Another day, another review. Today on the block, we've got Hershey's Skor.


 
Walking the Candy Aisle rates Skor - 3 / 5

Very middle of the road stuff here. I'll have to pick up a Heath bar soon and try that as a comparison. Anyhow, if you want to know more about Skor you can check out the official page on Hershey's site.

For more WTCA goodness feel free to check out all of our reviews on the Reviews Page.

Toffee Crisp review

Today we continue our look at UK Candy with this review of Toffee Crisp.


Walking the Candy Aisle rates Toffee Crisp - 4 / 5

Toffee Crisp is a Nestlé product. Find out more about it at its website. For more UK Reviews please stay tuned to our YouTube Channel, or just head over to the Reviews Page for more.

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.

Crunchie review

We're back again with more UK Chocolate up for review, today it's time to look at a favorite of mine, the infamous Crunchie.


Walking the Candy Aisle rates Cruchie - 5 / 5

Great stuff! this is one you really have to check out. For more on Crunchie please check out Cadbury's site http://www.cadbury.co.uk/ And for more reviews, please check out our library of over 100 reviews on the aptly named Reviews Page. And if you're interested in allof the 5 star candy we've looked at have a gander on our YouTube page for the best of the best, and please while you're there Subscribe :)

The Big Bar Line Up - Hershey

Hershey's entry into the Big Bar markets are simple and mostly consist of variations on a theme. Almond, and Cookies feature a lot. Why we don't see hazelnuts, or peanuts is a bit of a mystery, but Hershey does as Hershey will... Lets have a look at what they've got to offer.

Here the standard Milk Chocolate bar has some slightly redesigned packaging to fit it more clearly into the overall product line up. While I appreciate the idea, I have to say its a bad one. The Hershey packaging is iconic. Its simple and people love it. Messing with that just worries me deep in my bones.

Hershey Almond is another classic of course.

Variations on a theme here with Dark, Almond and Toffee, and Almond and Coconut.

Of course Hershey's other long running bar is the Cookies 'n' Creme. This is one that I really just hate the packaging on. In fact I've always hated the packaging. If you've got one bar to change up the look for, please make it this one. While the chocolate bar itself isn't terrible, I just find the look totally unappealing.

Finally we get one I actually would like to try.

Cookies are great, Mint is great, Mint Cookies are great, so this one is probably a winner.

And surprisingly that's all I was able to find for Hershey in the big bar section of the candy aisle. Surprisingly over on the Hershey's website they don't even list this many products... I know they've also got the Symphony Line, but I haven't seen that since I moved back to Canada from the States. Maybe they don't have that here. Anyhow, the whole thing is very interesting, and perhaps a little suspicious.

I will end with this note. Of all the reviews I've done for Walking the Candy Aisle over the year and change that it's been running my video review for the Hershey's Milk Chocolate bar has generated more views and comments than any other post or review. People love it, they hate it, they love to hate on it and want to defend it. A lot of Europeans claim that it tastes like throw up (for real). And that may be because of the chemical added to their base chocolate that Euro chocolatiers omit. Either way the entire Hershey's line up is pretty devisive.

Let me know what you think below, and stay tuned for another look on the various Big Bars in the candy aisle soon.

The Big Bar Line Up - Cadbury Dairy Milk

One of the major areas in the candy aisle that I've neglected since starting the blog has been the big bar section. You know the area I mean, that area beside the regular day to day chocolate bars that features the large size, sometimes premium always more expensive chocolate bars. I've never been the kind of person to go in for those chocolate bars. And mostly I think that has to do with price. Despite running a blog on the topic, I usually buy my chocolate on the spur of the moment. Buying the big bars just seems like too much forethought. My chocolate cravings are immediate, and I don't want to have a huge bar... if I did I might eat it all at once. Also and maybe more importantly I'm not fancy. While I know the space has changed over the last few years these big bars at least traditionally came from the premium retailers. They were always a better quality chocolate that demanded more attention. I am much more of an impulse driven, spur of the moment quick fix kind of consumer.

BUT there are a ton of great looking chocolate bars out there in the big bar section. Over a few posts I'd like to share some pics and minor thughts with you on some of these big bars. At least you can get a sense for what the lineup looks like here in Canada. Today I'm going to kick things off with Cadbury, other than Lindt there are more Cadbury bars in this big bar section than any other, and its predominantly highlighted by the Dairy Milk line.

Now I've tried to compile a complete list, but I might very well have missed something so just let me know in the comments if you've see anything else in your neck of the woods :)

Of course the classic Cadbury Diary milk kicks things off.

This along with the Fruit and Nut variety are (I believe) the only Big Bars from its line up to make it into the smaller more handheld size.

I've never been a fan of fruit and nut. It just seems like the fruitcake of chocolate bars...

Surprisingly they don't feature a straight up peanut and chocolate mix. Not to say I don't like caramelized peanut. but it seems like a classic has been passed over...

I am a huge cashew fan and they simply don't get enough love in the  chocolate world, so this is really nice to see. I wonder what the thought is about cashew on its own... seems like that should work. Too bad we don't have one to try out.

Here are two more classic flavors paired with Cadbury's excellent Dairy Milk chocolate. I am a fan of Mint in most any form, but Toffee can be pretty hit or miss.

Note the "new" label on the package. How it took them so long to come out with this is beyond me. The only thing I can think is that Hershey's Cookies N Cream has so dominated the market that they didn't see the value in their own brand. That said, I am very happy to see this hitting shelves here.

Here's an interesting one. Other than M&Ms, is there even another Pretzel chocolate on the market??? I sure can't think of one. Pretzels and peanut butter do go well together, but I have to say this feels weird to me. Like its something I'd want to work well, but just wouldn't.

This seems like a clear jump onto the Nestle bandwagon following the Aero bars lead. I have to say although its clearly copying, I would like to try it. Aeros are honestly some of Nestle's best bars and I'd love to see that form in with Cadbury quality chocolate to back it up.

Well here are the Premium bars I guess. Cadbury is a pretty accessible brand but you still can't get away with Dark Chocolate being much of anything but a specialty. I'm sure these are great, but like I said before, I'm not fancy, and I am clearly much more interested in milk chocolate than dark.

That's all I've got on Cadbury, but after taking a closer look at these bars I think I'll have to make the investment in a few to try out. If only for the sake of the blog :) I think I'd like to try the Caramelized Peanut, the Cashew and Hazelnut, and the Cookie Crunch most. According to Cadbury's UK website they have a number of flavors available overseas that we do not have here, including a Toffee Popcorn which would be pretty interesting... Let me know if you've got any favorites from this line up below. I'll be back next time with a look at another Big Bar line up.

Double Decker review

Today we kick off a new series of reviews on UK Candy. And we're starting with Cadbury's Double Decker.


Walking the Candy Aisle rates Double Decker - 3 / 5

For more on the Double Decker please visit Cadbury UK online at http://www.cadbury.co.uk And as I mentioned yesterday for more of this awesome British Chocolate invasion here at the Candy Asle stay tuned. I'm planning on releasing a new UK candy review every Tuesday. That's alongside the standard Friday reviews. Score!

Crunchie Cakes

It was back in early October that I told you about Cadbury's initial efforts into the snack cake world, at least to my knowledge, with their Caramilk and Mr Big cakes. Then of course there was the very interesting step with the Screme Egg snack cake at Halloween. Now though they've found another product to bring to the public in cake form: Crunchie.

For those of you who may not know, Crunchie is and has always been one of my personal favorites. Its a honey flavored sponge toffee bar dipped in chocolate. The bar is unlike almost anything I can describe, although I've been told that Australia's Violet Crumble bar is similar.

Crunchie is also one of the handful of lost reviews for the Candy Aisle. Yes we have had a few reviews not work out for one reason or another. I'm sure I'll take another stab at it in the not too distant future but when you look at Cadbury's interesting plan to launch their bars into new territory (see their efforts with fondue, and ice cream bars) then you have to give them serious props for at least attempting to innovate.

I'm interested to try a Crunchie snack cake. Hopefully I'll get a chance to soon!