Vol. 1 - Tricks & Treats Hard Candies

[thekittenkat]

GHOULISH
Black cherry, and coconut amaretto, gently laced with saffron.

BLUE PUMPKIN FLOSS
Puffy clouds of pumpkin candyfloss with a trickle of blackberry juice.

AUTUMN CIDER
Fermented apple juice, brown sugar, spice, lemon zest, butterscotch liquor, and orange slices.

Beautiful tin with a lovely vintage Halloween picture.

The hard candies inside are yummylicious without being too sweet or too overpowering in flavour. If you like old-fashioned candy, please don't miss out!

[Larinessa]

These are great. Ghoulish is my fave (naturally) but blue pumpkin floss is right behind. Sorry I can't be more detailed, other then these taste like I imagined the perfumes would!

[Aldercy]

(I'm going to review the flavors one at a time, so I'll come back and edit...)

 

The tin is lovely, and the packaging is good. Everything's very securely sealed in there. The candies are about the size of a nickel, but last a long time. It's fairly clear which flavors are which by the coloring. Autumn Cider is exactly the golden color of cider. Ghoulish is black-red. And Blue Pumpkin Floss is a dark red-purple with white spots on one side and opaque grey-blue on the other. I tried Blue Pumpkin Floss first just because it looked so weird.

 

For at least thirty seconds after popping it in my mouth, I thought "What was I thinking spending $11.50 on 15 pieces of candy?" It didn't really taste like anything at all except something dully powdery. I was so disappointed because tastes based on BPAL scents is pretty much the greatest thing I can think of and I wanted so badly for it to be great. And then it was.

 

Blue Pumpkin Floss suddenly kind of blooms in your mouth and becomes ridiculously complex. I have to admit, I didn't like the perfume version at all, but the candy version is amazeballs. It's not ultra-sugary, so you can really taste all the delicate flavors without the SWEET! interfering. It tastes like pumpkin pie. Not like "pumpkin pie spice." Like pumpkin friggin pie. Like the gooey hot squashy filling and, shockingly, like the crust. It's like that gum in Willy Wonka that tastes exactly like all kinds of foods it isn't. I can only taste the hint of berry if I put it on the very tip of my tongue. It really is like experiencing BPAL with a different sense, and it's so so fun. I already desperately hope that they continue to make these for other updates. I'm going to go look through all my BPAL and contemplate which scents would be good to eat.

 

ETA: Autumn Cider is not as mind-blowing as Blue Pumpkin Floss, but it's good. It too has a strange tastelessness for a minute in the beginning... I think they just need a moment to warm up and start to melt before the flavor actually does anything. It's definitely apple juice, not apple. Clear, sweet juice (tastes fresh to me, not fermented). With a lot of brown sugar and a lot of zingy spice. It's not cinnamon, but maybe nutmeg? And something almost like pepper but not. I don't get any butterscotch or citrus.

 

ETA: Four months later... Did I not ever come back here to review Ghoulish? What the hell. Okay. Ghoulish, like the others, needs a moment to warm up and start to taste like anything. When it does, it tastes very much like lukewarm, sticky sweet amaretto and then a little bit like dried coconut flakes and dark cherry goo. This is the sweetest of the bunch, due to its notes. There's also something strangely "hot" about it, that's hard to describe. Like a faint alcohol burn in your throat. I don't really get any saffron. This one is very decadent and sensual, and I'd say I'd rank it second after BPF and before AC.

 

Also, since I'm obviously amending this in the middle of February, I can attest to the fact that these hold up well. I've been ever so carefully rationing them!

Edited February 16, 2013 by Aldercy

[izile]

LOVE! First, all the candies shared the same base, the same kind of old fashioned hard sugar candy where there's almost a rough dryness when you first put it in your mouth - but it doesn't last terribly long.

 

Goulish was the first one I started with, and it was really good. I love cherry candy, and the cherry flavoring is a really nice dark cherry. I got a liqueur flavor, but I don't think I ever recognized it as coconut, more than regular amaretto.

 

Blue Pumpkin Floss - probably my least favorite. The flavors seemed to fight a bit more than in the other candies and came off overly potent and not that well balanced. Didn't get nearly as much blackberry presence as I would like.

 

Autumn Cider - really nice! It was the sith's favorite. I liked the blend here of apple and spice, with nice citrus highlights. The butterscotch wasn't as dominant as one might think (it's normally a very potent flavor) but balanced nicely to give an over all impression of a real Autumnal mulled cider with the blend of flavors.

[allidavie]

All three of these tasted wonderful. They do take a second to warm up and really become flavored, but I adore that they are so dense that they are almost impossible to crunch up. They last for a really long time and are great for people like me who could chew through a bag of Werther's in about ten minutes.

 

I was expecting to dislike Ghoulish, because I hayyyyyyte cherry-flavored things, but it turns out I only hate artificial fake cherry flavor. The flavoring used here tasted like actual bing cherries, macerated and soaked in amaretto and Ghoulish may well have been my favorite of the three. Autumn Cider was wonderful, tasted like mulled apple juice (juice more than cider, with a ton of spices but not that kind of thick apple cider-y taste) and I barely got any of the butterscotch, which was fine by me. More like hot buttered apple juice? Blue Pumpkin Floss was very tasty, but the taste didn't read as pumpkin necessarily to me. I got a lot of the blackberry, and a marshmallow-y like sweetness that I think was the cotton candy, along with some pumpkin pie spice-like flavor. But not much of the pumpkin.

 

All in all, I really liked these and am glad I tried them. However, the price is kind of steep and I think part of what you're paying for is the adorable packaging that I'm sure I will save but will have trouble reusing. I'd love to see candies either offered in bulk w/o the tin altogether, or offered in a taller, smaller diameter tin that would be big enough to stand either imps or bottles upright for easy reuse. I realize that's unlikely to happen since Confounding Confections probably wants to use the same tin for the whole line. But I must really like them, since I am totally tempted to get some of their other stuff through Etsy.

[sharkdiver]

Ooo...these are delish! I am actually pretty blown away by how complex these flavors truly are...I was also a little skeptical, that the falvors could possibly be that complex, but they really are!

 

Goulish - when I first popped it into my mouth, I instantly tasted a bit of the coconut flavor...as the pp's have mentioned, it does take a minute to "warm up in your mouth" for the flavors to start coming through, the cherry, which I agree, was not generic cherry flavored candy, but a definitive black cherry flavor with the hints of coconut peeking through, and as it continues to slowly melt, it seemed the amaretto and the saffron came forward more from the inner layers of the candy. the Saffron almost brought forward a creaminess to the flavor, and the amaretto was very subtle mixed in with the black cherry.

Blue Pumpkin Floss: the blackberry popped forward when i first put it in my mouth, followed by a blast of...pumpkin pie!? how did they do that? I could taste the flavor of the pumpkin, as well as the nutmeg and pumpkin pie spice. as it continued to melt, the pumpkin pie flavor stayed in the for front, with the blackberry becoming more like an after taste. very unique! I would never have thought to pair these two flavors together, but they work!

 

Autumn Cider - I agree with the others who said this is definitely more of a spiced/mulled apple juice than an apple cider flavor, though it is delicious! I can taste the butterscotch and the lemon zest (though the lemon zest is well behaved.) all together, the flavor reminded me of apples that were being slowly cooked down into applesauce with cinnemon, brown sugar, and a bit of butterscotch

 

I think of the three, Goulish was my favorite, followed by a tie between blue pumpkin floss and Autumn cider - I liked those two equally, and they were so different, it's hard to compare! I am also now tempted by Confounding Confections's Etsy offerings, especially the Seafaring collection!

Edited October 23, 2012 by sharkdiver

[violetblue]

These are all delicious!!! I love the tin too!

[cherrycherry]

I bought these mainly for the tin, but the candies are delicious also and nearly gone since I opened them yesterday, hehe. Very nice and cannot wait for Vol 2!

[Gwydion]

AUTUMN CIDER: Apple cider dominant, but the mulling spices are strong and perfectly balanced. I love the citrus zing, the brown sugar sweetening, and the touch of butterscotch. Omnomnom. This would be the perfect hot cider if it were liquid and is delightful as a candy.

 

BLUE PUMPKIN FLOSS: The pumpkin has some lovely mulling spice. It is more pumpkin pie than candy floss. The blackberry is softer, but delicious. These are nice, but I admit to loving the Autumn cider more.

 

 

GHOULISH: Black cherry dominant, but the coconut Amaretto isn’t kidding. I think the almond is a close second to the cherry, with coconut third. The saffron is an interesting touch, understated, but a little bit wicked. Omnomnom.

[ajansuz]

The tin is really cute. The artwork is old fashioned and muted enough in color that it could blend with a lot of different things. The candies inside are individually wrapped but also in a larger bag together. The ones I've sampled so far haven't been at all stuck to their wrappers, always a plus.

 

The Blue Pumpkin Floss was easily my favorite flavor. Like all of the candies, you have to get past that small outer layer of tapioca starch to get to the flavor. I'm sure that's WHY they weren't stuck to their wrappers which was a good thing. It quickly develops into something complex and buttery. It's very rich pumpkin, almost cotton candy rich, without the burn you can get from too much sugar. The blackberry comes on more slowly. The deeper you get into the candy, the stronger the fruit. It's a very natural fruit flavor, juicy and the slightest bit tart. The texture of the candy stays silky and dense down to the last tiny suck. Definitely not a crunching candy. Don't cheat yourself.

 

Ghoulish was next for me. I could taste the coconut really well, kind of a tropical liqueur with deep cherry juiciness. I couldn't pick out saffron other than to say there is a spicy quality to this candy, kind of an extra little zing you wouldn't expect. It gives the impression of being very sticky without the actual texture. The flavor doesn't fade or go cloying from start to finish. It lasts a nice while in the mouth.

 

I liked the Autumn Cider least, although I still liked it. I tasted very little apple or cider in this. It was mostly mulling spices and orange peel, not very complex. I couldn't taste butterscotch at all. It was light and refreshing, though, something I'd be more tempted to reach for on a warm day than a cool one.

 

I can't wait to see what they do with Vol. 2.

[grrrlennyl]

Blue Pumpkin Floss: This tastes like cotton candy and something boozy to me. I don't get pumpkin at all. It's very interesting.

 

Ghoulish: So boozy. I'm getting tons of amaretto. There's definitely cherry there, too. It's really dark. I can get some saffron, which is very interesting.

 

Autumn Cider: Super spicy cider. Definitely nutmeg in there somewhere. There's a lighter citrus note, but it's pretty faint.

Edited October 31, 2012 by grrrlennyl

[zankoku_zen]

Texture: hard candies, made the old fashioned way. Meaning: you have to suck on these. ALOT.

 

Autumn Cider: Apple cider, hints of cinnamon and allspice, light citrus blush. I found this pleasant, but the flavor was a little muted.

 

Ghoulish: Very strong almond/amaretto and coconut, and then cherries. It's sweet, but with a hint of saffron. Enjoyed this much more than Autumn Cider.

 

Blue Pumpkin Floss: Pumpkin, cotton candy and blackberry. Complex, sweet without being too sweet, and pretty strong.

 

Out of the three, I have to say that Ghoulish was the strongest in flavor, but none of the candies were so sweet that you were sick of the taste before they were gone.

Edited November 14, 2012 by zankoku_zen