Sometimes Foodie: Ovation Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Orange

Ovation Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Orange - Jo Ann Fabrics: Cherry Hill, NJ

I remember seeing this pumpkin spiced chocolate orange (or is it meant to be a pumpkin?) on Candyblog a while ago, and I really wanted to find one this year so that I could compare it to the Pumpkin Spiced m&m's I reviewed last year. Some of you might remember last year's review, but to sum things up, I wasn't a fan of those m&m's. I'm actually surprised they returned this year. They were barely spiced, and what little I could detect was cinnamon heavy. I feel like they are no different from the cinnamon m&m's that came out a while ago, or the gingerbread.

I originally thought the problem with the m&m's was that the base was chocolate, and that the chocolatey flavoring overpowered the spice blend, but this is another chocolate candy with a spice blend, and Candyblog gave it a 7/10. I had to find this chocolate and give it a taste to see if chocolate candy can really do pumpkin spice justice.

This year I ended up finding this little treat at the check out lane for Jo Ann Fabrics. (Where they put all those little impulsive buy objects and candies. I am an absolute sucker for those.) The packaging is a little bulky, but that makes sense, this is essentially a large spherical chocolate bar, so it's a bit awkward to package. Foil alone isn't very safe, (or clean, just look at all the Cadbury eggs that gets destroyed in stores every year) and the added plastic shell keeps the candy intact no matter how roughly it's handled.

While the packaging is really functional and sturdy, the design is a bit dated. I love all the pumpkins, but a lot of them are repeats of the samepumpkin illustration, and the typeface choices are a bit rough. The package's design makes me feel like this is aimed towards grandparents and older consumers, but once the orange/pumpkin is out of it's box, the timeless foil wrapping makes it look a lot more modern.

I removed the candy from it's packaging prison and gave it a really good hard whack against the table top, apparently I didn't hit it hard enough to separate all the chocolates, but half the orange broke into little slices. I haven't had a chocolate orange in ages, and they don't seem to be very popular in America, so my orange breaking skills are a bit rusty. Unwrapped, the chocolate smells sweet and spiced. The spicy aroma is nutmeg heavy and it makes me think of fall, but I wouldn't say the scent was very "pumpkin spice-y."

I took a bite, and the chocolate was really sweet and milky, with a better texture and quality than I was expecting, and the spice blend was bolder than the one used in the m&m's. If I ate this without knowing what it was, I don't think I would guess that this was meant to be pumpkin spice. I can taste nutmeg, a little ginger, and maybe a bit of cinnamon, which is pleasant, but not very evocative of pumpkin spiced sweets and candies. (Which I have eaten a LOT of.) To me, this is a fall inspired chocolate treat, and it's not that bad, it just isn't pumpkin-y.

On a Pumpkin Scale of 1-5 (5 being the most pumpkin-y) I’d give this a 2. I liked it more than the m&m's, and this gives me hope that pumpkin spice and chocolate can one day be united in a delicious candy treat, but the spice blend in this isn't exactly pumpkin spice, it's more-so fall inspired. This was an interesting treat, but nothing I would buy again.