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June 16, 2010
Come celebrate The Candy Store’s 3rd Anniversary with us. We would love to have you there to thank you for your support over the past three years and want you to come party with us. Oh, and not that you need a reason, but there will be food, champagne, prizes, and candy (of course!). We are also very excited to have local confectioner Happy Goat (we’re all in love with it) join us for a special tasting.
What: The Candy Store’s 3rd Anniversary Party
When: Thursday, June 17 from 5 – 8 pm
Where: The Candy Store, 1507 Vallejo Street
Why: Food, Champagne, Door Prizes, Candy!
Plus, a special tasting courtesy of Happy Goat
See you tomorrow!
ps – There’s a special contest for all of our fans on Facebook. Check it out because there’s a huge prize for the winner!
~Liana
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May 26, 2010
Having recently attended the ISM candy show in Cologne, Germany, we have to admit we were a bit underwhelmed by the Sweets & Snacks Expo in Chicago. Though it is the largest candy show in North America, it is much smaller than ISM, and most of the brands are familiar ones. That said, we’re glad we attended and did manage to reconnect with some of our favorite confectioners, as well as find a couple of new products for the store. And we are having a great time just being in Chicago!
One of the highlights for us was simply meeting the people behind the Boyer Candy Company. Their Mallo Cup is a store favorite – probably the candy Diane mentions the most when asked about her favorite candy growing up. At the store, we carry the Mallo Cup and also their Peanut Butter Smoothie, but have had a difficult time getting their plain Peanut Butter Cups. After hearing Diane’s impassioned pleas, however, they promised to make it happen. We’ll be sure to let you know as soon as our first shipment arrives!
Another old-school confectioner that we connected with at the show was NECCO. As many of you know, the company recently switched to using all-natural flavorings and colorings in their iconic NECCO wafers (and conversation hearts). It was a bold move that has met with mixed success – as you might imagine, there has been a bit of a backlash from some loyal fans of the candy (especially those who loved the lime flavor, which was nixed in the transition to natural). The company has held the line, however, and in fact they are about to introduce more changes to their candy line-up, improving the quality of the ingredients in another of their classics, the Clark Bar, and also adding a new Clark Bar Dark, made with dark chocolate. These new incarnations of the Clark Bar are made with all-natural ingredients, including real peanut butter and actual chocolate instead of a compound coating. As a store that sells a lot of nostalgic candy (including our fair share of NECCO wafers and Clark Bars), we are often wary of change in the candy world. But we’re going to go on record here in saying that we believe NECCO is moving in the right direction. All natural flavors and colors will eventually be the norm – many candy makers are already forced to manufacture separate lines of all-natural candies for some European markets. And both of the new Clark Bars are quite delicious to boot. Of course, we’ll still probably have to maintain a separate stash of artificially-flavored NECCO wafers in the back…
Unlike, say, the Fancy Food Show, the Chicago show is not known for showcasing an abundance of high-end chocolates. We were surprised, then, when a small chocolate company, Hoja Verde, contacted us a few weeks back asking us to visit their booth when we were at the show. We went to see them, and, wow, are we glad we did! Hoja Verde makes a small line of dark chocolate bars from high-quality Arriba beans grown in small plantations in Ecuador. We will be carrying all four of their bars, ranging from 58% to 100% cacao (that’s right, finally…a 100% bar for those of you who have been bugging us to carry one). Even the darkest bars retain the fruitiness of the shade-grown Arriba beans – after tasting these bars and those made by Claudio Corallo (also sold at our store), you will rethink the myth that Criollo beans are the only ones worthy of playing in the high-end chocolate game. Look for Hoja Verde’s amazing bars on our shelves in a couple of weeks.
And finally, the star of the show… For anyone of a certain age, the phrase “Smack It and Crack It” can mean only one thing: Bonomo’s Turkish Taffy. Bonomo’s was the candy of the 50’s and 60’s, but it has not been made commercially since the mid 80’s. We can easily say that, in our store, at least, it is the most asked for of all discontinued candies (of course, Diane’s dad is the one doing most of the asking). There was a rumor a few years back that some guy on Long Island had secured the rights to the name and the original recipe and was attempting to bring the candy back. Since then, Diane has been contacting (i.e. stalking) this poor guy every couple of months to check on his progress. Well, we are happy to report that, as of this summer, Bonomo’s is back, baby! When Diane finally saw the boxes of vanilla, banana, chocolate and strawberry taffy on display at the show, she screamed so loud that heads turned on the other side of the hall. Tears streaming down her face, she quickly filled her bag with samples, but we had to leave quickly before the owner of the company arrived with a copy of his restraining order.
A few more photos from the show:
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April 26, 2010
We’ve got some amazing new chocolate collections in the store. Just in time for Mother’s Day, of course, but really these chocolates would make fantastic gifts for any occasion. We work hard to find these unusual collections so that you don’t have to…
First up: Salt Talks, from Joan Coukos at Chocolat Moderne. Joan’s chocolates have always been a store favorite, and we know that this collection will be no exception – how could it, when it has exquisitely-flavored salted caramels paired with white, milk and dark chocolate? There are sixteen pieces in each of the beautiful art-deco gift boxes. The dark chocolate shell holds their ever-popular salted espresso caramel, familiar to those of us who are addicted to their “Madame X-stasy” Bistro Bars. The milk chocolate shell contains a salted caramel finished with chopped pecans, and the caramel in the white chocolate shell is seasoned with sea salt that has been smoked over Welsh oak, giving it a truly unique smoky flavor. Salted caramel fans, rejoice!
Next we’ve got an amazing ten-piece collection from William Dean Chocolates out of Largo, Florida. Bill Brown, William Dean’s chocolatier, has been wowing the Bay Area recently, picking up a ton of awards at this year’s Chocolate Salon at Fort Mason. If you didn’t get to try them there, or if you did and you want more, our store is now the place to get them. Chocolates simply do not get any more beautiful, or more delicious.
Finally, we’ve found some wonderful new chocolates made by Ococoa in Los Angeles. They’re called Butter Cups, though butter in this case refers not to the dairy product but to various nut butters. Flavors included in this unique nine-piece gift box are: Classic Peanut Butter, Pistachio Date, Sesame Fig, Hazelnut Chocolate, Almond Cherry, Cashew Apricot, Marzipan Truffle, Macadamia Guava, and Sunflower Honey. In addition to being delicious, they also happen to be vegan – when was the last time you were able to give a gorgeous gift box of chocolates to someone who didn’t eat dairy? Of course, vegan or not, if you love dark chocolates, you will love Ococoa’s confections.
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March 15, 2010
The year is flying by so fast. As soon as Christmas ended, I was ordering for Valentine’s Day; and the day after Valentine’s Day, I was ordering for Easter — which is now less than 3 weeks away (Sunday, April 4th). Crazy! Of course, crazy isn’t necessarily bad: few things bring me the kind of excitement that getting new candy does. I think David, our UPS guy, thinks I’m a little off, as I sometimes clap when I see him approaching the store. Easter is pastel and pretty and, in the case of the candy we sell, delicious! I mean, just look at some of the candy in these pictures…how cute can candy possibly be? Some stand-outs this year: milk chocolate and caramel robins’ eggs; sour gummi bunnies (the purple ones taste like grape Bubble Yum!); handmade chocolate-covered marshmallows; Papabubble’s adorable hard candy “barnyard” mix (did you see the pigs’ faces?!); and real Cadbury Creme Eggs — meaning the ones from the UK, not the ones made by and with Hershey’s chocolate. As you probably know by now, I’m also a bit of a marzipan fanatic — if you are too, you’ll want to pick up a box of our marzipan ”chicks and eggs.” We have beautiful Easter boxes (wicker is soooo 2009) jam-packed with delicious treats, or you can customize your own for a gift that is sure to please anyone. My only advice to you is not to wait until the last minute, because I can’t stand to see disappointed faces: Easter is our second busiest holiday season, so stock up as soon as you’re able. Happy spring, and we’ll see you soon!
-Diane
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February 21, 2010
My apologies for not getting around to the second part of our blog post about London’s swinging confectionery scene sooner, but it’s been a crazy couple of weeks, what with Valentine’s Day and all. Anyway, we returned to London after spending a couple of days at the ISM show in Cologne. This time, we were staying in Knightsbridge, conveniently positioned halfway between our two primary destinations: Rococo Chocolates and the famed food halls of Harrods.
So let’s start with Rococo. Around for more than 25 years, Rococo is an institution in the world of premium chocolates. They now have three locations, but we opted to visit the original store located on Kings Road in Chelsea, and I’m glad we did. It felt like a first store: intimate, a bit worn, and authentic. The staff there was very friendly and extremely passionate about all of the chocolates. We knew we could only bring back a limited number of bars with us, and I can’t tell you how difficult it was to narrow down the selection — every bar we tasted (and I’m pretty sure we tasted them all) was delicious. We finally settled on five different types of bars, all made with organic chocolate: milk chocolate with sea salt, dark chocolate with chili pepper, dark chocolate with Earl Grey tea (my personal favorite — I can’t understand why every chocolatier out there doesn’t make an Earl Grey truffle), dark chocolate with orange & geranium, and (the unexpected hit) white chocolate with cardamom. This last one is now the only white chocolate bar we carry at the store, and it’s a truly inspired combination. In addition to their bars, we sampled fantastic chocolate wafers, many different types of truffles, and their beautiful edible flower arrangements — sadly, all of these are far too delicate for world travel, so we couldn’t bring those back with us. But do come in and try some of the bars — in addition to being unique, tasty and organic, they are beautifully packaged and make for wonderful gifts. And now, on to Harrods…
What can I say: the place is insane. Harrods seems to be a bit of a punch line among London locals, and in our experience the shoppers there did seem to be mostly Saudi tourists. Though we were tempted to visit the “Bulletproof Clothing” section on the 7th floor, we ultimately didn’t stray too far from the food halls — and, say what you will about Harrods, the food halls are amazing. The only other places that we’ve seen that compare to it are the great department stores of Tokyo, and in terms of size, at least, Harrods has them beat. If you’re only interested in candy, I think they’ve got a more interesting selection at Fortnum & Mason (see Part One of this blog post) — but for the full spectrum of food items (fish, meat, cheese, tea, pastries, chocolates, prepared foods, etc.) you have got to check out Harrods. We knew we were in for a treat right when we walked through the doors — we had been traveling all day and had not yet eaten dinner, so we asked one of the women working there if there was a restaurant in the store, to which she replied, “Yes, there are several on every floor.” Why can’t they have department stores like this in the states?
That’s it for this post. I will just leave you with two bizarre images. The first is the package of collagen marshmallows we saw on display at Harvey Nichol’s (note that they also had a cocktail on their bar menu called “Drink Yourself Thin” — vodka and methamphetamine, perhaps?) The second photo is a portion (yes, there’s more to it) of the Diana and Dodi memorial, tucked in between the luxury handbags sections at Harrods — on display is the wineglass that the couple shared at the Hotel Ritz on that fateful evening in Paris…
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February 6, 2010
Chances are, were it not for ISM, the king of all candy shows, we would not have found ourselves in Cologne, Germany in the middle of Europe’s coldest winter in years — but we’re glad to have gone. We did manage to see the Dom, one of the world’s largest and most impressive gothic cathedrals, and I’d be lying if I said we didn’t enjoy some beer and bratwurst at night. But we were there for the candy: and ISM did not disappoint. To give you some idea, the show is about 4 times the size of the Fancy Food Show, and it is ALL CANDY!
With the notable and somewhat surprising absence of Haribo, all of Europe’s major confectioners were represented. There were amazing pavilions from France, the UK, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy and, of course, Germany. The only downside for us, I would say, is that the show is definitely geared toward larger confectioners, distributors and importers. You won’t find many artisanal operations represented, and buying can be problematic if you don’t happen to have your own shipping container.
That said, it was a great experience and we certainly saw and tasted some fabulous candies, many of which will never (legally) be found in America due to the FDA’s bizarre regulatory system. But enough already, enjoy some photos from the show…
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January 31, 2010
The last few days here in Paris have been, in a word, amazing! Though the weather has been much colder than we’re used to, it didn’t affect our mission: to visit as many of the city’s best candy stores as we could in three days. No easy task, since every neighborhood has at least one confiserie and chocolatier, not to mention the metro station candy kiosks and the candy selections at every patisserie. Paris takes its candy very seriously.
Our first stop was Les Bon Bons, which happened to be right around the corner from our hotel in Montparnasse. We immediately felt at home here — it seemed like a Parisian version of our own store: tiny, yet packed full of carefully selected candies. Both older, artisanal confectioners and more modern licorice and gummies are featured. It was here that we discovered one of the best candies we’ve ever tasted – le Negus de Nevers, a soft caramel covered in a translucent candy shell, resembling stones — obsessed is really not the word for how I feel about these delicate and delicious candies.
Next, we visited A la Mere de Famille, reputed to be the oldest candy store in Paris. Even if their candies hadn’t been so amazing, it would have been worth the trip just to see their beautiful antique display cases. In general, we can say that we’ve never seen more beautifully displayed candy than we saw in the shops of Paris: the long trays of colorful pate de fruits, every variety of fruits confit (including whole pineapples and pumpkins), jars filled with freshly made marshmallows, hard candies in antique tins, and of course, every possible incarnation of nougat, marzipan and chocolate.
Our favorite store that we visited was A L’Etoile d’Or, both for the quality of its candy and for the passion of its owner, Denise Acabo. Her love and respect for and knowledge of candy made me instantly love her (I told her so too, in French). Denise knows every detail about every candy she sells in the store, many of which date back hundreds of years. Her store is a treasure trove of hard-to-find candies, such as nougat from a small Provencal confectioner that is only produced three months of the year or salted butter caramels from Henri le Roux in Brittany. The thing that most impressed me about Denise is that after decades in the business she is still thrilled by a piece of good quality candy.
My love for Paris and it’s beautiful and delicious confections is enormous and I’m already planning our next visit, if only in my mind.
- Diane
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January 26, 2010
Greetings from London, land of pints, puddings, pies and, oh yes, splendid confections! We’ve been braving the cold and rain, scouring the city for tasty candies. We’re only here for a couple of days, then heading off to Paris and Cologne for the ultimate in candy shows, but we’ll be returning to London afterwards so we’ll have more to write then. Our first stop was a visit to our good friends Hope and Greenwood in Covent Garden. Miss Hope and Mr. Greenwood love traditional British sweets, and their delightful shop is packed full of them. The walls are lined with jars of bon bons, toffees, licorice and sherbets, the counters covered with plates of sugar mice, oozy caramels, and traditional English fudge. They have beautiful boxes of British truffles, such as the Bucks Fizz (orange and champagne), and a line of organic “pudding” bars with flavors like Spotted Dick. The great news is that we’re going to be carrying some of their amazing confections at The Candy Store — look for them around Valentine’s Day!
We knew London was going to be a good city for candy the moment we stepped off the plane. We hadn’t even left the airport, and Diane was filling up her bag with Percy Pigs from the Marks & Spencer store in Terminal 5. For those of you unfamiliar with Marks & Spencer, it’s a department store that has branches throughout the city. Some of the stores are called M&S Simply Food, which is kind of like a 7-11, if 7-11 were the most awesome place on the face of the earth! All of their products are branded for their store and, though the focus is on “convenience” foods, the quality is uniformly high. Their candies are not only beautiful and delicious, but all naturally flavored and colored. We especially love the Percy Pigs and Fizzy Pigs Tails, pictured below.
Yesterday, we went to Fortnum & Mason, another famous department store, in business since 1707. Their store is in a beautiful old building in Piccadilly, and about the ground floor confection department all we can say is: WOW! Their candies are displayed like jewels, with beautiful trays of marzipan, fruits confits, Turkish delight, and traditional English boiled sweets. Fortnum & Mason also has a wonderful afternoon tea, which made for a nice break in between candy binges.
More from London next week. In the meantime, on to Paris and Cologne…
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January 4, 2010
When Michael Winnike, founder and caramel craftsman extraordinaire, first introduced his confections to us, I became an immediate fan. Seldom do I encounter anyone with similar passion and enthusiasm for all things candy, but Michael fits the bill and I like that.
As the candy buyer for the store, I see and taste a lot of candy. It’s a tough job, I know! While most items do not make it onto our shelves, every now and then I come across something that wows me and I place an order immediately. I have a very specific checklist and any new product must meet at these 5 criteria:
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The candy must be made by a small confectioner – family owned or local are a bonus.
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The ingredients must be of the highest quality.
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The product must be unique and not easily found in other stores.
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The packaging must be attractive.
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Lastly, and most importantly, it must taste great!
Happy Goat meets all the above requirements, plus a couple that I didn’t list: the price point is perfect, at $10 for a box of 14 individually-wrapped caramels, they’re a guilt-free indulgence, as well as a perfect gift. Also, Michael could not be any nicer or easier to work with.
A little about the caramels: the texture is firm, yet chewy, exactly how a good caramel should be. The tangy and sweet goat milk is on the forefront, the slight saltiness comes next, and finishes with vanilla bean seeds that linger in the mouth. The balance is just right. The name Happy Goat’ is not just cute — it actually is truth in advertising. The milk comes from free-range goats, raised on small California farms. They grow up on healthy diets and have a wide space to roam. The caramels are handmade in copper pots in small batches and contain premium goat dairy, organic sugar and Madagascar vanilla bean seeds.
It’s the little things in life that make me happy and yes, Happy Goat caramels are one of them! Come on by for a sample (that is, if I haven’t devoured them all – I’m only sort of kidding!)
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