Posts filed under ‘News Briefs’
News Brief: Smells Like Candy Spirit
Well, looking back I guess we shouldn’t be surprised. It had to happen eventually:
The ingredient innovator BENEO has found a way to incorporate body fragrance into a tasty candy that works from the inside out. (full press release here)
Did you get that? Body fragrance. In candy. This product is now available in Europe, and the brand name says it all: Deo.
Deo is a sweet rose-flavored lozenge. Eat a piece, and after a half hour or so you too will be sweetly rose scented. I am not making this up. It’s the magic of a chemical called geraniol, a sweet-smelling chemical found naturally in some plant essences. Mad candy scientists discovered that if you eat geraniol, it comes back out through the skin. The same thing happens when you eat garlic, although the consequences are generally quite different.
It actually might not be such a bad idea; sort of a breath mint on steroids. But did they really have to call the candy Deo? It will make it difficult to hide your true intentions when you offer a packet to your stinky office mate. On the other hand, it will certainly be a nicer gesture than the traditional gift-wrapped deodorant stick.
And it’s nice to think that candy is working to solve our global water crisis, too. Those daily showers use up a lot of precious fluids; Deo can help us all move toward a reduced bathing schedule.
Catchy marketing phrase? How about: “Now you can have your deoderant, and eat it too.” Although this is likely to evoke bad memories of accidentally licking a freshly swiped underarm. Mmmm…
Intermission: Candy is Delicious Food
Feeling peckish between features at the drive-in? Head out to the snack bar!
This intermission short, circa 1950, reminds hungry patrons that “Candy is Delicious Food. Eat Some Every Day.” Which just happens to be a slogan that the National Confectioners Association came up with as early as the 1920s to promote candy eating.
For those of you under 30, a “drive-in” is an outdoor movie theater. You pull up your car to a pole that has a speaker on a long wire. You can hang the speaker off your window. In the waning days of drive-ins back in the 1980s, the sound was broadcast over FM radio. But the scratchy, tinny mono-phone sound of the window speaker is key for the full effect. Plus the steamed up windows.
Some of my best child hood memories are of piling all us kids into the station wagon in our pajamas and heading to the drive in, where we would play in the jungle gym until dark, then settle in to fall asleep while the movie played. I think this worked pretty well for my mom, too.
If you’re nostalgic for the full drive-in experience, or want to try it for the first time, head to Wisconsin this summer. The Hi-Way 18 Outdoor Theater just outside Jefferson has the real old-time deal, window speakers and all. Hi-Way 18 is going for the full nostalgia effect with a program of vintage intermission shorts including “Candy is Delicioius Food.” The ads are old, but the films are new releases. Now Playing: Despicable Me and Toy Story 3. Perfect movies to enjoy in your car on a hot summer night while you’re eating some delicious candy food.
Here’s the Hi-Way 18 lot during the daylight hours (from www.highway18.com).
Thanks to Beth Wheelock at GazetteXtra.com for breaking this candy story!
News Brief: Renegade Pharmacist Foils Addict Plot with M&Ms
If you are a pharmacist in Edmonton, Oklahoma it seems your job is just a little more complicated.
Among the fair citizens of Edmonton, as alas in many cities throughout our fair land, there is a significant addict population. And big on the addict’s list of highs is hydrocodone, a powerful and legal pain killer commonly known as Vicodin.
If it’s hydrocodone you’re craving, there is a place where such compounds may be found quite easily. The pharmacy. Of course, you can’t just walk in and say “Excuse me, I’d like my hydrocodone, please.” Number one, it’s by prescription only. And number two, it’s a controlled substance.
So the best way is just to break in and steal the stuff. Which was happening in an particular Edmonton pharmacy. Again, and again, and again. This is where candy comes in.
Having lost more than he could bear to addict break-ins, the Edmonton pharmacist said ENOUGH! He took the hydrocodone out of the bottles. And instead, he put in M&Ms.
Now, M&Ms are unlikely to get anyone high. (Except the red ones, allegedly.) But they do make a nice sound in a pill bottle when you shake it. Evidently, that’s enough if you’re a burglarizing addict in search of a fix.
So when the burglar broke in, AGAIN, last Sunday night, all he got was chocolate.
On the other hand, between the euphoric effects of chocolate and the placebo effect, maybe the jonesing addict didn’t even notice…
Read the abc.com report, or better, watch it here:
Vodpod videos no longer available.News Brief: Moms say NO to Candy Camp
Candy Camp. I’m serious. Five days a week, fun and games, and candy. Candy!
Dylan Lauren, camp director and impressario of the famed “Dylan’s Candy Bar” in Manhattan’s tony Upper East Side promised that candy would be “incorporated into every aspect of the camp.” Sign me up! Oh, wait, it’ s only for the 3-5 year old set.
And guess what: not a single taker. Seems that while Upper East Side moms are happy to bring their tots to Dylan’s for a little supervised romping in the land of sweets, handing them over to the Candy Lady was just a bit too much. What does that mean, anyway, “incorporated into every aspect”? No one knows for sure why the camp flopped, but my guess is that moms suspected that the plan was to stuff Max and Mimi with lollies from 9 until noon. Happy Max and Mimi! But not very educational.
We love giving our children candy, it seems, but only under our close parental supervision. Otherwise, what might happen! Heavens!
If you’re interested, Dylan says they are planning to try again next year.
It was the WSJ that broke this story: Yuliya Chernova, “Can Summer Camp Be Too Sweet,” July 9, 2010. http://on.wsj.com/bDe10R.
Image: Dylan’s Candy Bar at Flikr
News Brief: Chocolate Conspiracy
Are you still getting change back for your dollar when you buy a candy bar? Or are you breaking a second bill? How much do those bars cost, anyway?
If you’re buying candy in Canada, the answer seems to be “too much.” The Canadian Competition Board has alleged a conspiracy among major candy manufacturers to inflate prices between 2001 and 2008. A class action lawsuit in the name of a decade’s worth of candy eating seeks to recover millions in damages. Named companies include Nestle Canada, Hershey Canada, Mars Canada, and Cadbury Adams Canada.
The suit was originally filed in 2008. On Friday (June 8), the Supreme Court of British Columbia approved a partial settlement. (more…)
News Brief: Cooking with See’s Candy
See’s Candy, the venerable California confectioner, has added some intriguing recipes to its website, the better to inspire home cooks seeking new heights of novelty and succulence. Add See’s Candy to just about everything; it’s “the secret ingredient next time you bake.” Mmm… Here’s just a few of the ideas from the See’s Kitchen: (more…)
Dates plus peanut butter plus soy flour=Candy
Mary Goit makes Belly Timber: all natural “energy bars” combining pureed dates, whole oats, peanut butter, soy flour and the like. Pure food for food purists. And guess what? Starting in June 1, in the State of Washington, Belly Timber will be taxed as candy.
Vodpod videos no longer available.Seattle’s King5.com: Energy bar maker told her product is ‘candy.’
News Brief: Sweets and Snacks Expo
Sweets and Snacks Expo 2010 wrapped up this Thursday (5/27) in Chicago. It’s the biggest candy trade show in the world, nay, the universe. Over 400 vendors debut more than 2,000 new products. If it’s candy, it’s at SSE.
Fearless reporters with metabolisms of steel ventured to SSE, and lived to tell about it. Here are their stories.
- Novelist and stand-up candy reporter Katharine Weber talks with the Faith Middleton Food Schmooze (NPR) from the floor of the convention on Wednesday (about 6 minutes into the program). Listen to the sounds of a thousand jaws chewing. Rebroadcast on NPR on Saturday, May 29.
- Candy! Candy! Candy! And also Hello Kitty, Falafel Chips, M&M Totes, and more. Lots of pics at FORMzine.
- Denise Ryan blogging at On Motivation and Chocolate posted a nice shot of the Jelly Belly Mona Lisa, and lots of other views of the Expo exhibits and candies.
- Sugarpressure was there, camera in hand. Check out his sneak peeks at some of the most intriguing, delicious, and hot new offerings coming soon to a vending machine or multiplex near you. Tobasco truffles, Strawberrry Ritter Sport, Mint Peeps, Snickers Peanut Butter.
- “Candy Defies Recession; new Treats Galore at the Sweets and Snacks Expo” by Kelsey Bjelland and Erin Steuber, graduate students at Medill School of Journalism (Northwestern University, Chicago). A+ for this sweet assignment!
- Here’s a run down of the “hot trends” and trendy products as well as 2009 industry overview, from the show’s sponsors over at National Confectioners Association.
- Twitter chitter at #SSE10
- Leor Gale went to the Expo, sort of. Was the travail worth that one piece of Bonomo Turkish Taffy?
- Trend Watch: On the trail of “healthful sweets” at SSE with the Los Angeles Times
- Chicago Sun Times nails a few more trends: “cocktail” inspired candies, candy couture, candy cross-branding.
News Brief: Beckett Eats Pop Rocks
Now playing on a website near you: Adventures in “Experimental Parenting.”
Disclaimers: Direct all comments and complaints to wjmooner on YouTube. Candy Professor does not practice or advocate any of the parenting practices depicted in this demonstration. No actual babies were harmed in the making of this educational video. All parenting experiments should be performed under strict safety protocols and in approved laboratory environments. Prospective experimenters (“parents”) should be sure to file all necessary Human Subject Review forms with the appropriate Confectionery University officials.
