I noticed that Neapolitan Flavored M&M’s are being sold exclusively at Target Stores. Neapolitan  flavored means that each candy contains Vanilla, Chocolate and Strawberry flavors. I remember when I was a kid that we usually had these Neapolitan Slices of ice-cream in our home freezer most of the time. I thought this seems like a good combination. I’ll give it a try.

I start by opening the bag and take a whiff.

It smells like Neapolitan Ice-Cream. I get the Chocolate and Strawberry aroma.

I pour some M&M’s out. They are assorted sizes. Some are small like regular M&M’s and some are bigger like peanut M&M’s. They come in Brown, White and Pink. The same colors as Neapolitan Ice-Cream. I cut a big one in half and a small one in half to look inside. It’s a white center surrounded by a chocolate coating with a hard candy shell.

These are different.

The Strawberry flavor almost goes threw the candy….At first I thought the shell was strawberry flavored because I did indeed taste  strawberry……but after a few more I’m thinking the strawberry is just under the candy shell because I am getting MORE strawberry flavor under the shell.  Maybe the flavor bleeds?    The chocolate flavor isn’t the normal M&M’s Chocolate….ah ha…………I recognize it! ………..It’s the sandwich cookie M&M…….The one that looks like an Oreo on the M&M package. Can’t fool me….ha.   A very similar flavor to any budget brownies’ fudge topping.

It’s Sandwich Cookie Chocolate with a normal creamy white M&M center. I think the fake strawberry flavor (from Strawberry nut and Chocolate covered Strawberry) was applied to the sandwich cookie chocolate and then the hard sugar coat was applied.

Somehow it’s not terrible together…….Not a favorite but it’s ok in small amounts and doesn’t leave a chemical taste like some of the others.

1/2 a Fork…I can take it or leave it.

Your experience may or may not differ…….

That was my Forking Thoughts on the new Neapolitan M&M’s

The Forking Truth

I grew up around Philadelphia PA and a famous regional candy from there was Goldenberg’s  Peanut Chews. This candy bar was like no other. It was all natural and vegan. It was packed with lots of crunchy peanuts that were held together with some sort of sweetness (molasses) that had a texture similar to silicone glue and was very chewy and covered in a thin dark chocolatey  paint. The bar lasted a long time and it came cut in 5 or 6 smaller pieces to make eating it easier and shareable. It was different than other candy bars and also wasn’t too sweet. Actually for me as a child it almost wasn’t sweet enough…..Almost everyone that grew up in the regional area ate or knew of Peanut Chews because it was local. I think I remember it also cost less than the national brands because from the youth runs to the drug store for candy. Back then when I lived in the area I remember we saw the Peanut Chew Factory from the highway every time our family took a drive into the city. I also remember that I noticed the Penn Fruit Grocery Store that was next door to it at one time long long ago.

WOW-WEE! I came across a box of Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews at Dollar Tree.  I don’t remember the last time I had a Peanut Chew. Maybe it was more than 15 years ago? I haven’t seen sold in the Phoenix Area and maybe didn’t eat them the last few years I lived in PA.

Awwwww isn’t this cute! The Philly Sky line with the Liberty Bell. Underneath the Liberty Bell is the Iconic P.S.F.S. Building (a famous long gone bank and the home of radio station 93.3 WMMR) The building next to the Liberty Bell is the William Penn.

Then I go to try a Peanut Chew. Wow…this is nothing like the Peanut Chew I knew. The chocolate is a lighter color, waxy and thicker. It’s not that mysterious dark chocolatey coating that seemed like it was painted on. The inside is not packed with peanuts like they used to be. This candy used to be filled with crunchy peanuts held together by something sweet with the texture of silicon glue. It’s now filled with something gooey that it didn’t have before. It’s mostly a gooey center with very little tiny pieces of peanuts that aren’t crunchy. You used to have to really chew these chews. Hence the name Peanut Chews. It’s something different now. It’s not the same.

This could not be done with a real Peanut Chew. Look at all the pull-ee stuff…..

I found out that the Just Born Company……. (Famous for a lot of Peeps – the chic shaped marshmallows and Mike and Ike Jelly Bean-Like Candies) purchased Goldenberg’s in 2003.

The new owner of the candy company can change the recipe but I feel that changing the recipe that much the product truly isn’t Goldenberg’s anymore and (I think) they should have re-named the candy as Just Born Chews. This candy is something different from the original. At the very least they could write “New and Improved” so people know it’s not the same recipe.  I as a consumer I saw the familiar looking package as bait and I went for it….but inside was indeed a switch to me!

I feel I was Bamboozled….I know..I KNOW ….I KNOW it’s just a candy bar……… I so didn’t expect this………It made me feel bummed……It’s just another thing that isn’t the same…..Like “N” sneakers…….They used to be comfortable……I tried one on a few weeks back at the “N” outlet store and it was all flat inside…….then my husband pointed out to me that I would have to purchase the arch separately in the medium priced selection…….That’s just crazy…..A shoe should come with it’s arch……..What’s next  purchasing a new car that doesn’t come with tires?……I can go on and on …….Yada yada yada……. Yes I know that’s an extreme example…………. Well anyway back to Goldenberg’s Candy…………..so I wrote to the Just Born Company and so my surprise I quickly received a reply.

To sum things up they were sorry for my experience. They say they’ve IMPROVED the consistency and TEXTURE of the center with NO intentional changes to the flavor. The coating that Goldenberg’s used became unavailable so they picked an alternative that their research had a preference for. They also generously decided to send me some complimentary candy to regain my confidence in their brand.

Oh MY! The Candy already arrived just a few days latter! (more Goldenberg’s….too!)

Well that was sweet of them!

They included this card.

And that’s my story about Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews.

I note that you might feel differently and might prefer the newer formula…..I just write about my Forking opinion.

The Forking Truth

I noticed these Black Truffle & Olive Oil Flavored Kettle Chips at Frys Supermarket.

The Ingredients read that they contain natural flavorings and do actually contain dried Black Truffles. Looks like mostly good ingredients…I think I’ll give them a try.

Open up the bag.

Dang! It looks like someone was already eating the chips! How deep is this?

Hard to hold my paper Ikea Ruler down but it’s around 8 inches empty.

I go to take in the aroma.

It’s a kind of fried kind of smell.

I dump out some chips.

The chips come in an assortment of sizes. Many chips are folded and most of the chips are very tiny so tiny potatoes were used.

I look closer at the chips and see a few specs of something on them.

In one goes…..

There is a lot of a fine salt on them and they have a sour milk kind of taste. The chip feels powdery in my mouth. These chips however are very crispy.

I eat one at a more normal speed now. Yuk! they seem more salty and more maybe buttermilk-ee and even more crunchy. They have some potato flavor but not a whole lot.

I don’t get any Black Truffle or Olive Oil….maybe there is a small amount in there but it’s over powered by the sour milk powdery taste.

I go for a third one……

The third one sort builds and sort of taste like ranch dressing to me…….with a black pepper finish….

Sorry I bought these chips.

DISSAPOINTING

My bag of chips lacks the black truffle and Olive Oil Flavor and taste more like Crunchy Sour Ranch Dressing.

Maybe my bag was mislabeled?

Your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

It’s some sort of big deal that Hershey’s candy company created a new candy bar that doesn’t contain chocolate. The new bar is called Caramelized Creme Hershey’s Gold Peanuts and Pretzels. I think it sounds good. I feel I need to try it.

I open the package and it looks like no other candy bar I ever have seen before. Different size butterscotch colored pips that interlock like flooring. I take a whiff. It smells like peanut butter. The bar smells very appetizing.

I let one pip slowly melt in my mouth.

I don’t really get the caramelized cream. I guess the caramelized creme is the white chocolate Easter Bunny taste.

It’s very sweet but very peanut-ee.

I think it taste like Reeses Cup Peanut Butter filling that collided with a white chocolate Easter Bunny……But at the end of this all melting in my mouth I got a weird collection of grainy mess in my mouth. I pull the grains out and I can see They didn’t actually put pretzels in the bar. I got pretzel dust with lots of salt and Peanut dust……did I say lots of salt? I don’t like the grainy mess of the peanut dust and pretzel dust. It’s kind of like the bottom of the pretzel bag and bottom of the peanut jar stuff that you throw away……mixed with a white Easter bunny and a Reese’s middle.

The Hershey’s Gold is slightly too sweet for me and too salty….I’m a sweets fan….I do really love sweets. I do love me some frosting now and then.

I KNOW the bar would be so much better if it had small peices of pretzels instead of that bottom of the pretzel bag or pretzel box (Bachman’s) stuff. I also would like the peanuts to be either all smooth or chunkier instead of the bottom of the peanut jar stuff.

This bar sort of depresses me. Of course I DON’T KNOW how it was made but I think it’s made from leftovers. Leftover white Easter Bunny trash, Pretzel and Peanut Trash and some sort of Reeese’s leftover Trash.

Those are my Forking Thoughts on the New Hershey’s Gold Bar and I do note that YOUR THOUGHTS on the Hershey’s Gold Bar may Differ!

I note I don’t know How THE FORK the Hershey’s Gold Bar was made. Maybe they meant it to be this way?

The Forking Truth

I love normal M&M’s and I used to love Peanut Brittle….I remember back when I was a youngster….The Planter’s Peanut Brittle Bar that used to be on candy shelves….I used to enjoy that……gosh I haven’t come across the Planters Peanut Brittle Bar in decades…..This new flavor of M&M’s seemed like a flavor I would want to try……Maybe it’s a chocolate coved peanut with the peanut incased in brittle with a nice crunch?……… (exquisitely sold at Target Stores). It sounds like it could taste good.

This is what it looks like when I open the zipper topped bag.

Kind of Chistmas-ee with different shape M&M’s just like how peanut M&M’s are.

This is what it looks like when you cut one open.

I take a whiff from the bag.

It smells sort of like a pecan pie…..? (oh nooooooooooooo the pecan pie M&M’s were horrible…)

I try one..

It’s oddly sweet with a weird bitter chemical flavor. It’s like a peanut M&M with something wrong with it.

But the peanut in it is more noticeable …the peanuts might be be bigger and also might be with more texture than from current peanut M&M’s. These peanuts inside seem more fresh. More like a fresh peanut.

Sorry I can’t eat anymore for more description. These taste tainted to me. It’s like they took really nice fresh peanut M&M’s and inserted the weird Pecan Pie Flavor into the M&M’s that’s been lying around getting old in the factory for a year or two…… I don’t know but that is what it seems like to me.

I would never purchase these again.

I’ll throw them out…they suck! Not worth the calories.

NOT WORTH A FORK!

“Yuck!”

I note that you might feel different about these Brrr-Ittle M&M’s.

I note that everything is subject to change and your Forking Experience may differ.

The Forking Truth

Hershey’s is one of the largest manufacturers of chocolate in North America. They’ve been manufacturing affordable chocolate since 1894. People of a certain age might remember the jingle from TV commercials that went……”Hershey’s the Great American Chocolate Bar”……..Until now I haven’t come across much in the way of unusual or weird flavored food in the Hershey’s Brand until now. Here is Flavor of New York Cherry Cheesecake bar embedded with crispy cookies. New York is famous for many foods but one of the New York Specialties is considered to be Cheesecake.

I open up the bar.

It doesn’t smell appetizing.

It smells like a combination of cough syrup laced with something I remember from my childhood……..my Mom’s cedar Closet with moth balls. (I don’t think people have cedar closets or use moth balls anymore)

It also doesn’t look appetizing.

Looks like a skin disease …….. maybe… chicken pox.

I bravely taste a pip.

It’s very sweet like canned frosting.

It doesn’t taste natural at all… It really doesn’t taste like any kind of food.

It taste like how it smells……Very Sweet…..main flavor is cough syrup…..laced with cedar closet moth balls.

feeling something gritty…..

Yuk…the lumps taste like crumbs of cough syrup.

My mouth feels very greasy now.

YUK! THIS IS FORKING AWFUL!

I don’t think any person in the whole wide world can enjoy this…….

Poor Milton Hershey would be turning in his grave if he could taste this bar with his name on it.

I have no understanding of how such an awful tasting product could have been manufactured.

NOT WORTH A FORK!

NOT WORTH A FORK!

My Forking Thoughts on the Hershey’s NY Cherry Cheesecake Bar.

Your taste and experience may or may not differ……(but I FORKING doubt it)

The Forking Truth

The Lay’s Million Dollar finalist winning flavors for the  “Do Us a Flavor” Contest varieties are now out in stores for us to try!  I was pretty excited to try out the Everything Bagel and Cream Cheese Kettle Cooked Potato Chips from Lay’s. Everything Bagels are so bold with flavors. Those bagels are crusted with onions, garlic, sesame seeds and poppy seeds. All them flavors really wake you up and I thought that this would be a very easy flavor to pull off.

I start by opening the bag and take a whiff.

It smells like something fried.

It smells a little bit like fried onion rings.

I smell a slight sourness……

I pour some chips on to a paper towel.

I notice that the chips are very small and came from tiny potatoes. Many of the chips are folded and some are sprinkled with poppy seeds.

These chips are greasy. My paper towel is getting oily.

They are very crunchy with some potato flavor.

They do have some sort of flavor that’s similar to buttermilk with a hint of onion.

Almost ranch………..Almost Onion Dip……….some sort of cheese flavor?

Some chips are almost flavorless and some have stronger flavors.

I don’t get any sesame seeds….I don’t get that burnt onion taste…I don’t get the pops of garlic either.

Some of the chips taste almost a weird buttery flavor with poppy seeds…like a poppy seed crunch with a slightly tangy buttery dip-like like product.

Not so good………Not horrible…….disappointing!

1/2 a Fork…………

Crispy Taco and Fried Green Tomato are also out for a limited time.

Give them a try if your up for it!

Your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth