I have a friend in England who is going to a Star Trek convention this weekend and she has agreed to get me an autograph of Nicole de Boer in exchange for a care package of American candy.
I already know she wants some peanut butter M&Ms and some pixie sticks but what else is there that we have here that you guys over there don’t? Skittles? Gummies? Good ‘n’ Plenties? I’d like to send her a good assortment of stuff but I haven’t the faintest idea as to what’s sold internationally and what is not.
By the way, she does not like our chocolate so try to not name too many Hershey products. Thanks!
Well, if she does like good chocolate, Scharffenberger is made in San Francisco and is amazing. It is Valrhona-quality chocolate. They just came out with an 82% Extra Dark Chocolate that is to die for.
You should send her some just so she knows we can actually make decent chocolate in the U.S., not just that crappy Hershey stuff.
I’m not a Brit, but I like Hershey’s Cookies ‘n’ Creme (white chocolate isn’t real chocolate), toffee, Pop Rocks, Nerds, Bit-O-Honey, and Starburst (especially the pink strawberry ones). I also enjoy good licorice like Panda, but I know not everyone is into the black stuff.
Oh, you can’t go wrong with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (and they have white chocolate ones of those too, now). And here in Miami, we get dulce de leche M&Ms, which are as amazing as you think.
I was going to say Jelly Belly as I had never seen them in Ireland/UK before and am sometimes asked to bring back a box (the big 40 flavor one) but it seems that you can get them in the UK now… JB UK
And they give out a 100 free samples everyday to UK/Eire folk
It is certainly different, but I don’t think we should throw stones from our glasshouse; UK Cadbury’s products seem to be something that everybody raves about (and I must confess that I like some of them), but they aren’t really very good chocolate - compared to many European chocolates, they contain disappointingly small proportions of cocoa and milk solids. We do have some excellent chocolate here though (I like Green & Blacks).
My experience of US confectionery has been that the chocolate (esp Hershey brand) is a little grainy on the tongue and has a sort of toasted flavour to it; neither of these features are intrinsically good or bad. Peanuts seem to feature very prominently in American confectionery too, much more so than here.
Without being jingoistic about sweets; there really are very few US sweets that would stand up to their British counterparts. Our food may have a globally poor image (undeserved IMHO) but no one knocks our biscuits and sweets.
Not to sound snarky, since that is not my intention, but my friend obviously has a taste for American candy so it doesn’t matter much how ours stacks against yours. I just need some ideas as to what it is we have here that isn’t sold there that she might enjoy for novelty effect, if nothing else.
Reese’s products, peanut butter M&Ms, Sweet Tarts, American Smarties, and pixie sticks are all I have at the moment. Anything else?
I agree… the new gum version is ace too… Skittles that the taste lasts longer with! Hardcore skittles action I say…
Anyway… back to the OP… whenever my friend sends me over sweets I always enjoy Tropical Skittles, Apple Jolly Ranchers, Pop Rocks, Sky Bars and an after Eight Royale.
Cheap-skate! We’re talking about Nicole De Boer here!