I'm happy to report that the first packages of The International Candy Exchange have successfully crossed the Atlantic!
Several months ago, Dan's niece Pippa, came up with a wonderful idea. I love candy and she loves candy (really, who doesn't?) , so why not exchange candy between America and the UK? I'm always excited to have new UK products for this blog column, so I was immediately sold on the idea. It's like having a pen pal, but with sugar. Everything is better with sugar.
I mailed my box shortly before Christmas and unfortunately am remiss in having taken pictures of it. Funny enough, I bought most of the candy from our local Cost Plus, which is the same place that I went for the UK import products to start this column.
In addition to imports, Cost Plus sells a good assortment of regional American products. Among the items that I found for the exchange, were New Orleans Pralines and chocolate covered macadamia nuts from Hawaii. I put these in with some standard American offerings, like Hershey's Bars, Junior Mints and Reeces Pieces. I was told that the Reeces were a hit and need to bring some over on our March trip.
Dan came home from work on Friday with a box labeled Royal Mail. Royal anything is pretty darn exciting for an American.
Inside the box was a bag.
And inside of the bag was a whole bunch of yummy candy!
In addition to one of my favorites, Cadbury Creme Eggs, there were a ton of candy bars that I have never even heard of. Dan and I are both Leos, so we naturally gravitated towards the Lion Bar first.
The Lion Bar just might be my new favorite import candy bar. It's the right combination of crunchy and chewy, having a wafer, peanut and caramel interior. Giving it extra crunchy is a cereal, which originally was Kelloggs Special K, when the bar was introduced in the 1970's.
The formula has been changed over the years as the manufacturing rights have changed to different companies, currently Nestle. The bar is also known by the name Big Cat.
We needed to find a spot to store the bounty of candy, so in a healthy move, we reappropriated our fridge fruit shoot. Apples are out, candy is in.
Stay tuned for a onslaught of candy reviews! A big THANK YOU to Pippa for coming up with the idea and for the fantastic box of candy!