I've been reading people's reviews of the Whitman's Sampler (actually trying to find out if anyone loves Vermont Fudge as much as I do) and the ones I found didn't really reflect how I feel about the assortment. Apparently no one else loves the Vermont Fudge. Therefore I would like to give my own review!
The Witman's Sampler
This is the basic, modern day 12 oz. box with 2 trays' (grammar?) worth of assorted chocolates. Altogether I'm not really ga-ga over it as some of the candies aren't
all that great. But I'm no chocolate snob either, so it's still tasty and worth a post.
First off we have the Coconut. Coconut ain't my favorite thing in the world to begin with (I hated it for years) but I've come to respect it. I'd never request it in my dessert, but if it's in the middle of an otherwise delicious fudgy brownie or rich cheesecake, so be it. I can even enjoy it to some extent. I think I enjoyed it here..
This was the first one I had and I only ate one (my mom loves coconut so she got the other) so honestly it's hard to remember. Another person's post mentioned it was dry, but I really don't recall. Perhaps slightly? *shrug* Let's call it "fine."
Chocolate-covered peanuts! I believe there were 7. That's lucky! One nice thing about it is that you feel like you're getting more of a treat (as opposed to a singular piece of candy).
So what can I say, really? I haven't had a lot of chocolate-covered peanuts in my lifetime but I would predict these are pretty on par with most. Also fine.
This is the Caramel piece. Nice little aesthetic stripes there. I guess it would be fair to mention the chocolate itself by now. Besides milk vs. dark, it all tastes very uniform. It definitely has its own "Whitman's"-y flavor which is pretty good. But there's something about it.. that I don't think I could take too much at once. Gah I really dunno how to describe this chocolate. Did I mention I'm really not
that good with flavors and having a definitive opinion?
Anyway, as far as the caramel goes I found it to be pretty chewy and firm. Not hard or tough, just not particularly gooey and/or soft. (Yes, everything does need 2 adjectives.) It was pretty much alright.
Dark chocolatey almonds. You may only get 3, but they are def. larger.
Having both pics seems kinda unnecessary, but one does show their relative size and the other shows the thickness of coating. I'm also a bit OCD about showing their original condition as well as their exposed innards.
This would be the Chocolate Whip. When I hear "whip," I picture a mousse of sorts (like whatever is in Lindt truffles). And the words nougat and truffle confuse me; more on that later.
But speaking of nougat, that's what this is. It's basically a round mini 3 Musketeers only slightly more dense. I think density is a good thing in this case. There's a nice chewiness about it. I liked it..!
The first of two clusters.
One thing about this chocolate I think is that it's a bit soft. Which maybe is good for some situations, but I don't prefer it in the cluster. With the nuts I wanted the chocolate to also be a little snappier. Still it was okay, but not one of the pieces I
really looked forward to eating again. And I typically do enjoy the clusters.
Well there goes my inner & outer photos OCD. With this candy it really didn't seem that important since you can still see the pretty outerness. This was the Molasses Chew and when it says chew, it MEANS chew. I actually kinda loved it ;D. I guess having to chew so much makes it super satisfying lol. And of course the flavor was very nice.
This would be the signature Messenger Boy solid milk chocolate piece.
When I ate my first piece I thought "wow, I really need some milk with this." That proved to be better in theory because I just ate the second piece with some milk, and while it tasted good after that first bite.. it also counteracted the flavor strangely so that when I took another bite it didn't taste as good. Really weird. Barring that occurrence, the plain chocolate is really yummy imo.
This isn't the best pic for the Almond Nougat I've taken to date, but it's the one I have on flickr, so... yeah. For example, based on this you would have no idea that there are actually little pieces of almond in this Almond Nougat. There are, but if you aren't aware it's quite possible to miss them altogether. This is where I get confused with the "nougat" stuff. If a 3 Musketeers is nougat but so is this creamier/chalkier type... then what IS nougat?!
Ask Wikipedia and...:
Nougat (pronounced /ˈnuːˌɡət/; /ˡnuːgɑː/) is a term used to describe a variety of similar confectioneries made with sugar or honey, roasted nuts (almonds, walnuts, pistachios or hazelnuts are common, but not peanuts) and sometimes chopped candied fruit. The consistency of nougat can range from chewy to hard depending on its composition, and it is used in a variety of candy bars and chocolates.
There are two basic kinds of nougat: white and brown. White nougat (which appeared in Montélimar, France, in the 18th century) is made with beaten egg whites and is soft, whereas brown nougat (called nougatine in French) is made with caramelized sugar and has a firmer, often crunchy texture.
...you get a pretty good answer.
Ah, now! I daresay it is the second cluster: the Cashew.
I believe I preferred this kind because it was crunchier and a little nuttier.
Chocolate Truffle! Yummm! It's got such a pretty coating too. This is the instance in which I get confused about "truffles" though.
Why are there these very texturized kinds and then the very smooth ones (like the Lindt Truffles I mentioned earlier). Time to wiki. Mmkay.. that didn't help very much so I'll just find out some other time.
Toffee Chip. There are actually 2 per tray instead of one. Not sure why that is, but they are pretty good. If you like Heath that's pretty much exactly what it is only with Whitman's chocolate. Now, I cordially present...
The Cherry Cordial! I'm aware that was bad. Anyway, where do I start... Well cherries are similar to coconut in that I always avoided them and this candy was the one I'd pawn off to anybody else. However I have broadened my horizons and now I find one of these to be nice. Kind of like a wooden rollercoaster; one time is almost enjoyable (if you get past that brain rattling sensation) but the second time will definitely give you a headache. One of these is
mostly enjoyable but I'd prefer not to eat any more in one sitting.
About the candy itself..! It was pretty good actually. Not overly-sweet the way some cherries are and it tasted good with the chocolate and all. There was a little bit of candy crunch crystals in there but not a clue as to whether that was intentional or it just happens. I know that grammar was off but idc. Unfortunately, the second cherry I had must've had a leak because it was pretty dried out (which means I also didn't get a good second impression).
Vermont Fudge. It's what I keep raving about. Apparently the filling was maple-flavored, but I wouldn't know. All I know is they were damn good.
Soft filling. Fudgy, but not like actual fudge. Fudgy in a fudge filling sort of way lol. Mostly the flavor was just really delicious. I'm pretty sure this and the Chocolate Truffle are my top 2. The rest are good (or at least fine) but those are my recommendations :D.
Yatta!
So thanks to my best friend I'm now hooked on this site
Sporcle.com. And it all started with
Pokémon... But hey, now I have at least once successfully named all 151! Anyway it's fun stuff, but will also make you feel ignorant if you don't know the names of very many countries O_o.
Also, I'm addicted to Late Night with Bill Maher. I started watching during the election and got sucked in. I'm also addicted to Ellen, but that's nothing new. I sent her an e-mail that she should visit
Engrish.com (because it is amazing and hilarious) so I hope she does, though I'm not counting on it lol.
In closing:I mainly created this blog for myself because I don't expect (m)any readers. Especially not of this long-ass blathering review haha. But if it helps someone who wants to know what they're getting themselves into before buying one o' these yellow boxes then that's a good thing. ^_^
My sis got me a Digital Food Photography book for my b-day! Nice! It only makes me sad because it's not like I have those sorts of resources (HQ camera; good lighting) so I feel like even MORE of a novice reading it. But I do find this stuff freakishly interesting. Now I just have to add it to my list of things to read, along with: The Two Towers (and RotK), rereading Harry Potter books 3-7, Paper Towns, the Nicholas Flamel series I haven't even started, and WoWWiki pages like the geek that I am. Seriously, I've learned most of the history of the night elves a.k.a. kaldorei and who the Highborne were and what actually happened in Warcraft history!! And I love how this is so much more interesting and 100% more useless to me than real history...
