Mint Pocky - Asian Food Market: Cherry Hill, NJ

Mint Pocky - Asian Food Market: Cherry Hill, NJ

'Tis the season for all things minty.

Tonight my boyfriend and I are seeing a screening of the Puella Magi Modaka Magica movies, and since he likes minty things AND his favorite character is Kyoko, I am bringing this Mint Pocky along on our date. (Of course I have to sample it AND review it first!)

The box is adorable! It’s covered in silver text, mint leaves, and teal stripes. All of the colors are cool-toned, which really plays up the mint theme. Pocky packaging has never let me down. The boxes are always well designed and thought out.

Persimmon - Produce Junction: Moorestown, NJ

Persimmon - Produce Junction: Moorestown, NJ

I have been trying to find fresh persimmons for a long time! My grandfather was in the army and he ate them during his time in Japan. He described it as a fruit that looks like a tomato, but tastes sweet like strawberries. With that kind of description, I HAD to try it. All the Asian grocery shops in my area had dried persimmons, candied persimmons, and ones in jars. I wanted fresh ones, so when I happened to see them at Produce Junction I picked a few up.

Gingerbread Oreos - Walmart : Cherry Hill, NJ

Gingerbread Oreos - Walmart : Cherry Hill, NJ

There are two limited edition Oreos out right now, candy cane and gingerbread. These gingerbread ones are only available at Walmart. Now, I make a REALLY good gingerbread every year, so I am going to be pretty critical of these. 

The packaging is nice and bright. I like that they avoided the obvious red/green holiday palette and went for some a warm yellow. I think that the color and the cookie image really makes the package stand out. This package opens like most of the traditional Oreo packs, you peel the front of the package open, which I don’t like. I prefer the resealable bags that allow you to slide the cookie tray out.

Peeling the package open, you can smell the spice right away. I can smell ginger and cinnamon, which I really liked. The Oreos inside are vanilla with a spiced creme filling, and it looks to me like this flavor is double stuffed. There was a decent filling-to-cookie ratio. (As you can see in the photos)

The cookies seem to be the normal, vanilla, blonde Oreo they use for a lot of their limited edition flavors. The filling is REALLY sweet and has a light spiced flavor. The overly sweet filling, with it’s shorting-like consistency, really overpowers the spices.

I loved the idea of spicing up the blonde Oreo cookies…but sadly all the spice-y goodness is lost in the greasy creme filling. I’ll stick to making my own gingerbread cookies this holiday. 

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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Dorayaki - Asian Food Market: Cherry Hill, NJ

Dorayaki - Asian Food Market: Cherry Hill, NJ

Dorayaki are made by putting two pancake-like sponge cakes together with red bean paste in the middle. If you read manga, or watch anime, these should look familiar. 

There really isn’t much to the packaging, it’s all clear, keeps the dorayaki fresh, and keeps everything together. (So I’ll skip over that.)

The outside of the dorayaki smells sweet, like a yellow cake, and it’s perfectly formed. (Like a little flying saucer.)

UNREAL Candy 8 - BJ’s: Moorestown, NJ

UNREAL Candy 8 - BJ’s: Moorestown, NJ

My mother and I joined BJ’s, which is both a great AND terrible thing. There is so much candy! (Good thing I have dental insurance.) I had seen UNREAL candy featured on Candyblog, and I was really excited to try it. It had such a good review, was I going to like it just as much?

The UNREAL design is very enigmatic. At first it looks like a big QR code. (In actuality it is a very stylized font.) The font gives it a foreign, almost alien, feel. Inside the bag are several mini chocolate bars.

These #8 bars are very similar to a Snickers. They contain peanuts, nougat, and caramel. How are these different?

Candy Cane Kisses - Target: Cherry Hill, NJ

Candy Cane Kisses - Target: Cherry Hill, NJ

I am not a winter person.  I don’t like all the holiday madness or the freezing cold temperatures, but something I DO love about the season is all the peppermint flavored goodies. Candy canes, peppermint mocha’s, Andes mints….all of them are delicious!

I’m not sure if these candy cane Kisses are new, but this was the first year I had seen them.

The bag’s layout is the same as the pumpkin spiced Kisses, but with a (obvious) winter theme. I really like how the white background makes the images pop!

Big Bite Gummy Bear (Cherry) - ???

Big Bite Gummy Bear (Cherry) - ???

Another item from my boyfriend’s big bag of candy. A gummy bear the size of my fist!

There is a lot of packaging for this bear. First, there is a hard plastic shell around the gummy to keep it safe and shaped. After that, there is a clear sticker holding the shell together and then another layer of clear plastic wrapped around the tape to protect that! I understand the need for it all, but when I was done unwrapping this candy I had a huge pile of waste!

Once free of his gummy-prison, the gummy bear is pretty hefty. This gummy bear is 12 oz! That means this guy is more gummy than a whole bag of gummy bears! 

It smells like artificial cherry.  Not in a bad way, the smell reminds me of cherry lollipops.

Taking a bite was difficult! The outside of this gummy is NOT so gummy. It hurt my teeth to get through the hard exterior. Once I did it was softer inside, but not as soft as typical gummies. This candy has a stiffer chew, but it really does taste like a larger version of a cherry Haribo gummy bear.

After a few bites, my gummy bear split in two! The bear is made with 2 molds pushed together, so I guess the seam wasn’t very strong.

I think this is a really fun and silly gift, but I don’t think you’d ever need another. One is enough for a lifetime. I am a gummy bear ADDICT, and even I might not be able to finish this.

EDIT: I finished it in two days…because I have no self control.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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Darrell Lea’s Green Apple Soft Eating Licorice - HomeGoods : Moorestown, NJ

Darrell Lea’s Green Apple Soft Eating Licorice - HomeGoods : Moorestown, NJ

Another flavor of Darrell Lea’s soft eating licorice, this time I have green apple.

I loved the strawberry, and the blueberry pomegrante was really nice, but how will green apple rank?

The packaging is just as nice as ever. Since it is so consistent I don’t think I really have to get into that.

Let’s get straight to the candy! Opening the bag, I was shocked by the color. This is NOT a very attractive color for candy and it looks nothing like the image on the package. If I had to name this color, it’s would be canned-green-beans.