Food Lush

Groceries on the cheap: Are you a brand snob?

By Erica

The last two weekends, I've shopped for my family's groceries at Aldi. A quick rundown, in case you're unfamiliar: Aldi only sells their own propriety brands of foods (although, I've spotted a few name-brand things randomly around the store). They don't have baggers and if you don't bring your own bags, you have to pay for them. They also have a system wherein you put a quarter in a slot on the cart-rack to be able to use one. In order to get your quarter back, you have to return it to the rest of the carts. These things allow Aldi to save on overhead costs and, therefore, keep their prices quite low.

The first time I shopped at Aldi, I was a touch nervous. I wasn't sure what to expect from the store, or their products. I worried needlessly, of course. The store is clean, well-stocked and the staff is friendly. Most importantly, the prices are shockingly low. The first week, I was able to get about 85% of my groceries at Aldi and spent $76. (My normal weekly trip is $150.) This past weekend, I shopped for two weeks worth of items and spent a whopping $109. I even got a pot roast, pork chops, and beef stew meat. 

The other very important fact is that their products taste great. So far, there's nothing that we've tried that we haven't liked. And there are even a few things that we like BETTER than the brand name. 

If you've got an Aldi near you, I encourage you to give it a try. Even if you're a brand snob, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Maybe you'll even become a reformed brand snob like yours truly!

{Image credit: aldi.com}

Candy Corner: Good & Plenty

by Erik    

Good & Plenty have always been a go-to candy of choice.  Not only are they delicious, but they're also the kind of candy where people either love them or hate them.  In my family, most everyone else fell in to the "hate them" category, and so a box of Good & Plenty tended to be something that I could enjoy all on my own.  Without sharing.  Sharing is great and all, but sharing candy is a highly over-rated activity, especially when you have four brothers and sisters.  

What's not to like?  They have a hard candy shell that crackles just the right amount when you bite them.  And a chewy licorice center that, although it's black licorice, isn't overpowering or overwhelming.  The candy shell has a nice sweetness to it, too, that helps balance out the tartness of the licorice center.  I'm not the worlds biggest black licorice fan, but I don't despise it either, and a Good & Plenty strikes just the right balance.

It appears, however, that my long period of enjoying these candies on my own is drawing to a close.  This morning I accidentally left a large partly eaten and halfway open box on the coffee table (they're only a DOLLAR at Target for a huge box!!!).  Anyway. My wife found the one year old gorging herself upon them at 8:15 am.  She had sucked every last bit of the candy shell off of them -- not having molars apparently was the only thing holding her back from chewing them into oblivion -- and had drooled a pink and white sheen over her entire body.  The only things left were small, black logs that she spit out onto the floor and that looked suspiciously like mouse droppings.  But, oh God, did she love them.  Prying the last of them from her hands required quasi-Herculean efforts

So I guess now that I won't get away with eating an entire box of Good & Plenty on my own.  Sure, I guess it's probably good for my pancreas, and my dietician is likely thrilled.  And I somehow feels good to know that the sugar lust -- the raw, animal craving for a sweet, delicious candy snack -- has been passed down to another generation.  But the feeling is still bittersweet.  I just liked to eat an entire box on my own. 

 

PS.  OK, so... this is a pet peeve of mine, but... what's up with candies that advertise themselves as "fat free"?  Do you see that?  On the picture up above?  The big yellow sticker-like thing that says "A Fat-Free Candy!"  What is the deal with that?  I mean... you might as well put a label on them that says "You're about to enjoy 700 calories of VERY high fructose corn syrup.  That's about a third of your entire recommended daily allotment.  But don't worry, dear friend! It's fat free!!!"  It just doesn't make sense.  It's kind of like putting a sticker on the cover of the book "Gorillas in the Mist" that says "Note: Contains no scenes of graphic polar bear sexual violence."  It might be true, but... it really kind of misses the point entirely.

{Photo Credit: Amazon.com} 

Candy Corner: Skittles Blenders

by Erik

Ah, Skittles. I sure do love those tasty morsels. In fact, I've already done a post on Skittles sandwiches. So when I saw a new flavor in the aisle at the local Target, I naturally jumped at a chance to sample them. Behold "Skittles Blenders."

At first, I thought they'd just be another entry in the "not as good as the original" candy files. But I was wrong. They're good. They're really good. They claim to be what happens when you "blend" two flavors of Skittles together, but my secret hunch is that this is what happens when someone at Skittles accidentally orders 200 tons of mango and sour apple artificial flavoring. And so some vice president of marketing figured they could wring an extra couple of batches out of the ol' Skittle cooker and could re-purpose some of the previously copyrighted rainbow-themed paraphernalia they have lying around in the office and just print money out of that shit.  When the candy industry launches a new candy flavor, in my imagination, they say: "make it rain, baby." And lord, do Skittles Blenders ever make it rain. In a good way.

Final Verdict: Best New Candy of 2011*

*I don't know if they actually came out in 2011.  But they're new to me in 2011. That will have to do.

{Photo Credit: amazon.com}

Candy Corner: What's Your Regional Candy?

by Erik

Longtime readers will know that I've spent a fair amount of time traveling this summer. Two weeks in Vermont, and most recently two weeks hangin' with the ancestors back in Michigan. Plus, with some work-related trips throughout the length of California, I've had the opportunity to sample some interesting regional flavors. Vermont has its maple-flavored obsession, and California has an interesting melange of Asian flavors mixed with Mexican sweets (in addition to a burgeoning high-end chocolatier scene). Michigan has a couple of regional delicacies -- the most commonly known is the Mackinac Island Fudge (not to be confused with the Mackinac Island Fudgees that the horses leave all over the roads on the island itself, if you know what I mean. You won't want to wear white loafers, even if it is before Labor Day). 

Lesser known (to me at least) is Dutch Licorice. Michigan has a sizeable Dutch population along the state's Lake Michigan coastline. There's a town named "Holland" that has a whole replica Ye Olde Tyme Dutch Village in it (Nelis' Dutch Village), and every other surname sounds as though the loveliest parts of French were combined with the ugliest parts of German and were left in a swamp to ruminate for 2000 years. And these Dutch take their Dutchness VERY seriously.

So seriously that they have adopted a particular type of licorice as the official Dutch candy of western Michigan. This is a kind of black licorice that is different from what one would consider a typical black licorice flavor profile. This black licorice is salted, and tough. In fact, you can choose from a whole range of saltiness and toughness:

Now, here's the sad part: I didn't get to actually taste any Dutch Licorice. In fact, I didn't even know about it until the last day we were in Michigan, at which point my brother mentions this crazy Dutch Candy and how gross it is. So I'm going to have to order some.

But it did get me wondering: what are some other regional candies that are unique to a certain area, city, or state? Readers? Help me out here, and give me your local candies or sweet favorites (remember Nicole's awesome regional food breakdown?). Someday, I'll drive across the country visiting each of these candy nirvanas, kind of like a more sugary, diabetic version of Travels With Charlie (instead of a trusty canine side kick, I'll have an insulin pump). In this travelog, Steinbeck wrote about the homogenization of culture brought about by mass media. But candy still offers a unique look into a local culture and custom. In a state that often times seems homogenized within an inch of its life (heck, I can get a burrito, Pho, a live (cooking) turtle, ice cream, a spaghetti dinner, and bubble tea all in the same strip mall), I still can't find Dutch Licorice anywhere.     

{Photo credit: http://shopping.dutchvillage.com/dvfood/dvf_food2.htm}

Candy Corner: Dum Dums

by Erik

Next week I'll be flying across the country, again, with a 14-month old. The last time we tried this, she screamed non-stop for the first hour and a half of a five and a half cross-country journey. We were THOSE people -- you know, the kind that you give nasty, sideways glances to on an airplane, and think to yourself "Well! That child is worse than Hitler! They must be terrible parents."  

No matter what we did she would not stop screaming. Eventually I got her to fall asleep by letting her watch someone play Angry Birds on an iPod.

This time, I'm coming prepared.  

Dum Dums are my secret weapon in the fight against childhood screaming. I plan on covering her up with a bib, and then handing her as many of these as she wants, over and over and over, until the whole aisle is covered in a thin, sticky sheen -- a process that will take approximately six minutes. But at least she won't be screaming.

A bit more on Dum Dums. I love these things. They're small, so they're not really that satisfying, but they're the perfect treat size. Also, their website is the bomb. Did you know that they have an App for an iPhone? I'm not quite sure what it is that you DO with this app (some sort of game?), but, hey ... they're trying. You can also vote for new flavors (as of the time of writing, "bacon" was the number one most-voted for new flavor).  

In any case, I hope this works, because I've really thrown all my eggs in one basket here. It's all I've got.

{Photo credit: amazon.com}

Candy Corner: M&M Pretzel

by Erik

Every now and then M&M try to foist off some new product on the unsuspecting American public. Right now, it's M&M Pretzel.

Basically, the idea is that there are chunks of pretzel surrounded by the M&M milk chocolate and the hard candy shell.  

I tasted some M&M Pretzel for you, the American public, in order to answer the question: Are they funky enough? Well, fellow patriots, the answer is NO. They're gross. VERY gross. So gross, in fact, that I think that we really ought to have scrapped this whole debt-ceiling budget crisis BS and instead gone another trillion dollars into debt, as a nation, to buy up the entire world-wide supply of M&M Pretzel, as well as the Hershey patent to these things, and used them as fuel during the long, long winter. (Oh snap! Topical!)  

I'd say buy a bag for curiosity's sake, and give them a taste (heck, I ate the whole bag ... I mean, they're still candy, you know?). But they're not going to make it into the pantheon of great American M&M candies.

{photo credit: mms.com}

Candy Corner: The Maple Creemee

by Erik

As I mentioned last week, I just spent some quality time in the great state of Vermont -- which I loved more than almost anywhere I'd ever been. Still, there are some unique cultural differences in Vermont that take a bit of getting used to. I'd like to recount a conversation between myself and my significant other upon seeing multiple signs and ads for ice cream stores selling "Maple Creemees."

Me:  "Maple ... Creemee? What's that?"

Her:  "Really? You can't figure it out?"

Me: "Well, it sounds like it's some weird Quebecois sex position. 'Hold still, eh? I'm aboot to do da Maple Creemee.'"

Her: (Stunned silence. She doesn't take kindly to people making fun of Vermont. Or the Quebecois, apparently.)

Me:  "Some sort of Vermonter stomach ailment? Like 'Montezuma's Revenge' but, you know, based on the theory of eating too much maple syrup?"

Her: (Deeply frowning.) "Why would they put signs up for something like that?"

Me:  "Good point ... maybe they're advertising some sort of cure, like Pepto Bismol. Oh, I bet they're just a bunch of ground up Canada Mints! 'Oh, I was goin' out to milk the cows but I got da maple creemees and had t'come in ... I'm gonna need me a whole bag of Canada Mints to shut these creemees down."

Her: "I hate you. It's maple-flavored, soft-serve ice cream."

Me: "Oooh, let's get one!"

So, after stopping at the nearest maple creemee dispensary, I found myself in the possession of a large soft-serve ice cream cone that for all practical purposes looked like a slightly browner version of a vanilla cone. The taste, too, was VERY similar to vanilla but with a very pleasant maple overtone. It complimented the vanilla, but didn't overwhelm you with raw maple sweetness. It was one of my favorite maple-themed products I tasted while in Vermont.  

According to Google, debating who has the best maple creemee is a long-lived Vermont tradition, so if you ever should pass through Burlington, Montpelier, Newport, Barre, Westminster, or any other Vermont locale ... do yourself a favor, stop, and get a maple creemee.  

{Photo used under Creative Commons from sarahsemelka.}

Candy Corner: Maple Cotton Candy

by Erik    

I just spent two weeks in Vermont, and it was glorious.  The green mountains, the trees, the lakes, the rivers, the 5-hour long cocktail hours, the in-laws to watch the kids. Glorious, I tell you.

Still, Vermont did have its dark, steamy underside.  Or, more accurately, it had a boatload of dairies that regularly sprayed liquid manure onto the hay fields in order to 1) get rid of their manure and 2) fertilize the hay fields.  That shit smells.  Bad.

Also, Vermont has a slight food obsession that they like to cram down your throat at every opportunity.  You know what I'm talking about -- how in some places you can't walk ten feet without someone trying to tell you their local food product is the best.  Like how you can't walk down the street in Mackinaw Island without someone trying to shove fudge in your face.  Or, how every other pizza restaurant in Chicago claims to have the "City's best deep dish" (even though deep dish pizza is generally disgusting -- I have many strong opinions on deep dish pizza, but the name of this blog isn't pizza corner, it's candy corner, and so I'm not really allowed to talk about anything non candy related, as per my contract.)   

To continue: Seattle and their coffee, Upper Michigan and their pasties, Manhattan and thier Manhattans, etc and so forth.  Well, Vermont has an issue with maple syrup.  As in, they put it in everything.  EVERYTHING.  And so almost every candy you find in Vermont comes as a maple syrup variety, and they put it in things that really previously didn't or even still don't demand a maple syrup variety.

There were two things, however, that were really good.  The first was a Maple Creemie, which will be the subject of next week's post.  The second was maple syrup flavored cotton candy.  I found it in the small market located across the town common from my in-laws, packaged in a small plastic tub.  It's locally produced, by a company called "Jed's Maple Products" and is available on the internet.  Despite the fact that the package looked like the label was printed on someone's dot-matrix printer. I was dubious, but...

 

It turns out that cotton candy and maple syrup were meant to be combined together. Because that combination created the most magical, tongue-meltingly delicious candy I've had in a long, long time.  

Actually, it was the first cotton candy I'd had in about 15 years.  But, anyway, it was really good.  Try some.  

{photo credit: Jedsmaple.com}

Candy Corner: Candy for a Post Apocalyptic World

by Erik

Have you heard about the apocalypse? It's all the rage nowadays, what with Harold Camping and his "end of days is May 21st no whoops I mean some time in October" prophecy, the Hunger Games, The Road, 2012 (the movie and the Mayan prophecy), The Book of Eli, Battle Los Angeles, Battlestar Galactica (the reboot -- and yes, Battlestar Galactica, at its core, is much a tale of post-apocalyptic survival), that new Bon Iver album (shit, it makes me WISH for an apocalypse so I don't have to hear it!) ... well, you can hardly go anywhere, pop-culture wise, without running into a good ol' fashioned end-of-the-world story. Or wishing for the end of the world -- take your pick.

But, the important question: what kind of candy would survive the end of the world, and establish itself as the world's post apocalyptic candy of choice? Everyone jokes about how Twinkies are basically indestructable, and how they'd be the only food to survive a nuclear war -- heck, even WALL-E took a pot-shot at the venerable twinkie (he feeds it to his pet roach!). But that's not my choice -- it's too easy, too simple.

The clear survivor is the Bit-O-Honey.

 

Why Bit-O-Honey? Well, for a couple of reasons. First, they have a pretty interesting history that makes it clear they're in it for the long haul. A brief synopsis*:

1300 B.C.  Ancient Sumerians discover that they can still chew honeycomb after it's been dropped in sand. Upon discovery, remark "Eh ... I guess it tastes better than regular sand."

203 A.D. Ancient Rome. Romans discover that eating a bit of honey rolled in wheat and also sand makes them projectile vomit a great distance, making them instant hits in the vomitoriom during their weekly "Caligua theme night!" get togethers.  

1348 A.D. Great Britain. As the Black Plague sweeps through the city of Bath, many citizen victims are heard to remark "Tis better than a bit of honey rolled in wheat and sand!" as they choke on their own blood.  

1586 A.D. Venice Italy. A remarkable breakthrough occurs when sawdust is added to the sand-honey-wheat mixture, establishing the same basic Bit-o-Honey formula that will be used essentially unaltered for the next 500 years.  

1921 A.D. Spain. At the height of the Great Influenza Pandemic, citizen victims are heard to remark "Tis better than a bit of honey rolled in sawdust and wheat and sand!" as they choke on their own blood.

2000 A.D. The start of a new millennium saw many people worried about a global catastrophe due to the "Y2K" bug. Bit-o-Honey experiences greatest sale volume ever due to stockpiling and hoarding of nation's supply by those assuming that the global food distribution network will not function as of January 1, 2000.  After Y2K fails to materialize, those very same Bit-O-Honey's are re-released to the market in April of 2008 in anticipation of 2012 hysteria.  The Bit-O-Honey marketing team will, in the future, refer to this time as the Golden Honey Era, as sales eventually surpass volumes that shipped during the immediate aftermath of World War II and Eisenhower-era 1950s (a time period that the very same sales marketing people refer to in internal memos as "Big Ikes Giant Honey Dipper Sham-A-Lam-A-Ding-Dong Salesapalooza.")  

And that just about brings us up to date, although any Bit-O-Honey history would be remiss if it didn't mention the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Dental Association for "Continued service in breaking teeth and pulling out fillings unintentionally" that was received in 2009.

Long story short, Bit-O-Honey is one tough candy. Like, seriously. It's tough. It hurts to chew. It might break your teeth and will definitely wreck your braces. So if I were to pick a fighter, a candy survivor, one candy that could persist until the end of time, there really is only one option. The Bit-O-Honey. 

*Clearly, this history is 100% fraudulent.

{image credit: hometownfavorites.com} 

Candy Corner: Medieval Times

by Erik

Winter is coming. Well ... at least, according to the HBO hit series Game of Thrones. I've been watching a fair amount of Game of Thrones over the past month or two (also, just because I feel like letting my nerd flag fly, I finished reading all of the available books several years ago and have been waiting for a long time for these shows, even going so far as to allow one of those "you can get free HBO for one month!" telemarketers hook me just so I could watch them. Ohhhhh, just wait for season three and the Red Wedding!).  

Anyway, even though Game of Thrones technically doesn't take place on Earth, it got me thinking a lot about Medieval times, what with the swords and horses, etc. So I started thinking: what kind of candies were popular in Medieval times? Sure, the Medieval times probably weren't all pop and Skittles with all the Black Plague and what not. But surely there must have been a couple of minutes to kick back and have some sugar.

So I hit the googles, and this is what I came up with:

1.  Sweetmeats referred to any sugary food.   

2.  Sugar was once believed to have a good medicinal properties. As opposed to the "diabetes causing" kind of medicinal properties.

3.  Sugar cane is a giant grass, and is native to the Ganges region of India. Some historians place the origin of sugar cane as a treat to residents near the Ganes as early as 1200 BC. That's B frickin C, people. By 1000 AD, sugar had reached the Middle East and the coast of Africa. By 1500 AD, sugar was Europeanized and was being grown in the new colonies.  

4. Up until about 1900, sugar was sold in block forms -- ones, bricks, etc., -- in pound increments.

5.  Licorice, marshmallows, marzipan, pralines, and sweet plums were common Medieval sweets.  

I learned all of this from a site called "The Food Timeline." It's a dense, but interesting, read.   

{Photocredit: thinkhero.com}