Friend to All Candy: Taza Chocolate Mexicano Vanilla

We came across a new chocolate today, and not only had we never seen it before, but it was on sale. Also it was in the shape of discs. Also it had the word "Mexican" on it. These facts made a purchase an inevitability.

I'd never heard of Taza, so I was curious about this company. Obviously the high-end chocolate market is flooded nowadays, what with all the buzzwords you can put on your packaging to maybe get a leg up on the competition, like "all natural" and "fair trade" and "organic" and "direct trade" and "artisinal" and so on and so forth. But "stone ground" is not one I'd seen before, so it seemed worth a look-see.

It's different. That's obvious right out of the gate. The chocolate is disc-shaped:

Because the discs are relatively small, breaking off an individual wedge isn't necessarily easy. And this flavor (vanilla) is pretty sweet, so unless you have a major sweet tooth, you'll probably want to eat it in smaller pieces.

But it's gooood. It was a lot different than what I was expecting. Being stone ground gives it a rougher texture than a normal chocolate bar. Check it:

It's kind of chunky. It took a moment to get used to, but once I did, I liked it a lot. Like I said, even though it was a dark chocolate, it was pretty sweet. The vanilla flavor was pronounced but not overpowering. If I'd had a frame of reference for the aesthetic they were going for, I probably would have opted for the cinnamon flavor, if only because when I think of Mexican chocolate, cinnamon's the first thing that comes to mind, and the blending of flavors in this bar makes me think they'd handle that combination particularly well. Taza makes a bunch of different flavored discs; the vanilla one is good enough that I'll probably work my way through all of them.

Friend to all Candy: Orange and Strawberry Kit Kats

Last time, we talked about a fancy candy bar that had mushrooms and shit in it. This time we're swinging the candy pendulum to the far side of the spectrum and tasting two varieties of Kit Kat, strawberry and orange.

The orange ones are from that expedition to World Market a couple of weeks back. They seem to be European imports, and maybe I'm totally wrong about this, but it seems like not only is the European packaging less wasteful (and thinner), but it seems to put the amount of calories front and center. What does it say about me that I don't know what we put on our candy wrappers? I look at them long enough to make sure it's a Mr. Goodbar and not a Krackel and then I open it and shove it in my face. Maybe I will start paying more attention to candy packaging from now on, or maybe I will end this sentence and forget entirely that I ever thought about it.

I'd show you a pic of the orange Kit Kat in all its glory, but there's really no point. It just looks like a regular-ass Kit Kat. But the taste? So good. It doesn't seem like real orange flavoring, but that's fine. It has a sort of Fruit Loops aftertaste. It's that sort of orange flavor.

The strawberry Kit Kat is a different beast altogether. It's a Japanese import that Beth picked up at 888 International Market the other day. Japan is a huge market for Kit Kats, to the point that the world's first Kit Kat specialty store opened in January in Ikebukuro. They don't fuck around with their flavors, either. Check this out:

Here it is. The coloring is pink with flecks of red. It's not just a saccharine fake strawberry flavor. The tart elements of the fruit come through as well, which was surprising. We've been shoving these in our face every chance we get. And we definitely want to get our hands on some of the other flavors. I've had the green tea ones before, but they're not easy to come by. I'm gonna do some snooping around, and hopefully I'll have some more taste tests for you all soon.

Friend to All Candy: Vosges Reishi Mushroom & Walnut Dark Chocolate Bar

As a special treat, Beth and I took a little trip down the road to World Market. I can't remember the last time I went to World Market, and I don't really even like to go there, but I wanted candy candy candy, and I wanted candy I couldn't find at the places I normally go. So I picked up a few things to write about, and also to eat as quickly as possible.

Friend to All Candy: Chick-O-Stick and Bit-O-Honey

We took a little vacation last week to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, which is an awesome little town, small (like 2000 people small) and sometimes a little scary in Twin Peaks sort of way, but the locals we met were friendly and open. Is this because the economy of the town depends on dense city folk like us antiquing and eating lots of food and stumbling over each other in search of quaintness? I suppose that's possible. I'll just pretend I didn't realize that.

In any case, on any road trip Beth and I are in search of candies we can't find in Kansas City. Steve Almond's seminal book on the dying art of independent candy-making, Candyfreak, got my regional candy ball rolling six or seven years ago. I'm always on the lookout for candies I've never seen, or candies I haven't had since I lived in another part of the country.

Sadly, I don't have too much to report from the trip. It really is getting harder and harder to find candy that isn't produced by a huge corporation, but I did find a couple of things that made me happy.