Halloween Candy

I write with news of new candy, candy that quickly reverted me to a small child last night, delighted with my luck in finding it. Far from high cuisine, or even low cuisine, these candies nonetheless are pleasing enough to make you actually ponder the science of new candy technology. Or at least enjoy the piece while it lasts.

The first is the new Reeses Miniature cup - this time, with banana. That's right, peanut butter, banana, and chocolate, a comfort food triumvirate that consistently works. By the fourth bite, did I think, gee, this doesn't taste like real banana, but instead, the kind of banana oil/extract/dye/flavoring you find in banana jelly beans? You betcha. Did it matter? Not really.

The second was the Reeses small "crunch bar." Somehow, the chocolatey peanut flavor has been transformed into peanut-sized nuggets then dipped in chocolate. The ratio of chocolate to peanut improves from the original "cup" form, which is really too much peanut for my tastes.

The third, or third, fourth and fifth, was the new line of Snickers. One traditional, one with dark chocolate, and one with almonds instead of peanuts. Conveniently packaged in a mixed bag, furnishing that "flight of snackbar chocolate tasting" I've always wanted, I appreciate the move to dark chocolate. Snickers is, after all, the perfect mix of candy bar elements.

Not-such-a-winner: new flavors of twizzlers, which, at least in "wild berry" form, seem to have borrowed their flavoring from the cough syrup shelf. Even the "peel and eat" packaging didn't work.

Not to worry, the candy was also distributed to the precious smaller trick-or-treaters, too.