candy

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And the winner is…

My family had a wonderful time eating through our one pound box of candy last night. We felt it was very important to test all the submissions on how to find out the flavor in the middle of a delicious chocolate.

We enjoyed reading all of the entries and several gave us a chuckle. Since this is a contest, we did need to pick a winner.

The winner is….drum roll please,

Heather J

Her entry:
As an adult, I pop a toothpick into the underside of the chocolate bonbon ~ that way NOBODY knows I cheated, and I can even get away with offering them to unsuspecting friends. Gross ) However, when I was young I used to take a “small” bite ~ which constituted at least 1/3 of the thing ~ and then put the leftovers back in the box if it was undesirable. Coming from a family of 7 people, we used to see what the teeth marks looked like to see who the offender was. That way we would know if we wanted to take the germophobic risk of eating after so-n-so. LOL!

So Heather, please contact me through the contact Jamie section of my blog. Send me your contact info, first and last name and address, and I will send your yummy box of candy to you!

Thanks everyone for reading and a special thank you to the contest participants!

Look for an all new contest on my blog coming in a few weeks. 🙂

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Calling all chocolate lovers! A contest!

When my friend Linda was visiting over Valentine’s Day she received a gift from her husband. Valentine’s morning the doorbell rang and there stood the delivery man. He quickly placed a beautiful bouquet of flowers in a pretty vase and a heart-shaped box of candy on the center of our dining room table. (As an aside, I really want to know what they spray on flower arrangements these days. Linda travelled here by plane, so she left her vase of love here for us to enjoy. It has been 13 days since the flowers arrived. Four days ago I placed them on the front porch and they still look as perky as the day they were delivered. Kinda scary if you ask me.)

Anyway, Linda generously shared her box of chocolates (unfortunately for her in a family our size, even a large box is emptied quickly). There was no diagram or paper outlining what different flavor awaited us upon our first bite into the delicious morsels, so we had to guess. We were wrong every time. I was in search of anything caramel. I struck out, all three times. My heart was set on caramel and I got a creamy orange, then another time a fruity strawberry. My last stab in my quest for a bite into a sweet, chewy, sticky caramel delight that you have to hold firmly clamped between your teeth and then pull straight out in front of you with one long motion of your arm was met with failure. I even tried a darker chocolate and different shape, but no, no caramel for me. After attacking the box with gusto, we humbly remembered our manners and saved the last piece for Linda. She smiled knowing she would not be offering me the wet half-eaten piece of chocolate-covered caramel she had just discovered that had fooled me by looking exactly like a chocolate-covered cherry!

So, I invite you to join in a little bit of fun with me. I am having a contest. Please write in the comment section of this story, your funniest, most creative or practical way you discover what luscious flavor awaits you inside a box chocolates. My family will judge and pick our favorite answer. The winner will receive a box of Ohio-based Esther Price chocolates. The winner will need to be in the Continental U.S for this contest, but any readers out of the country, I would still like to hear your answers. The winner will be announced Wednesday, the 6th of March at high noon. 🙂

I am looking forward to reading your responses. Join in the fun!

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How do YOU get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop?

One of my favorite childhood commercials in the 1970s was the Tootsie Roll Pop.  I liked the one where the little boy asked both Mr. Turtle and Mr. Owl, “How many licks does it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?”

As far as I can tell, these catchy Tootsie Roll Pop commercials date back to the 1950s.  For those of you interested in watching one of these commercials, try searching for them on Google or you can find them on YouTube.  My children got quite a kick out of watching them.

 Leo Hirschfield is the founder of what is now known as Tootsie Roll Industries.  The company was originally named The Sweets Company of America, and began as a small candy store in New York City in 1896.  Their first big hit in the candy industry came in the form of the Tootsie Roll.  This candy was fondly named after Leo’s daughter Clara’s nickname “Tootsie.”  The Tootsie Roll Pop would not make its debut to the public till several years later.  In 1931, Luke Weisgram, an employee of the Sweets Company of America, invented the Tootsie Roll Pop.

I tend to pick the brown flavor.  My favorite strategy of eating this delectable creation is to dip it in water and then lick it.  I learned how to do this by watching my mother eat them this way.  Dipping the lollipop in water only adds to the flavor.  I love the sweet liquid running down my throat!  I often find myself trying to get to the center of the lollipop as a stress reliever.  However, I almost never lick my way completely to the center of the lollipop.  It usually ends in a crunch before this point.

So tell me, I’d like to know… Do you have a favorite flavor?  Do you have a favorite commercial?  How many licks does it take you to get to the center?  Do you never make it and end up crunching like me?  Or, much to my chagrin, do you not even like them or have you never had one before?

Come and take a tour down memory lane with me!  Please share your answers, thoughts, and fond memories about the Tootsie Roll Pop by leaving a comment below.  

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