Crown Caramel Corns and Peanuts Snack

The Corn Cowboy is back!

The Attraction

Like all great love stories, it all started rather unexpectedly when I picked up a bag of these scary looking corn puffs. Then after that, I tried Crown's new offering, Caramel Maple Corn. Then last week I stepped into different Korean grocery store and saw these on the shelf. Can Crown possible complete the trifecta?

The Review:
As much as I love Crown's Big Caramel Corn Choco (does that sound dirty?), I think I had my fill(that last bit didn't help). When I saw this flavor, which I believe may be the original flavor, I had to give it a shot.

I open the red bag and detect no obvious scent. Perhaps slightly oily, but what can you expect from a fried snack. I take a peek inside and see that these curls have a slight glaze on them. I suppose its from the sugar or caramel. I can't help but wonder will these just taste ordinary after trying the two other flavors? I also don't see any peanuts in the bag. Are these really peanut flavored as well as caramel flavored? (there are actually about 10 peanuts at the bottom of the bag)

These look harmless enough...

I pickup a caramel corn and bite in. These curls are crunchy, but are different from the chocolate and maple variety I had previously. These seem smaller and not as "puffy". Flavor-wise, they initially start off like a mild Cracker Jack, but not nearly as much caramel or sweetness, then as you continue to chew the peanut flavor notes become slightly more pronounced. Oddly enough it reminds me of Capt Crunch. What flavor is Capt Crunch?

Whoa...I'm so shiny!

The Sweet:
Not too sweet, not too caramel, not too much of anything.

The Bitter:
It's seems ordinary at first.

Conclusion:
It's difficult to explain how I feel about these Crown's Caramel Corns and Peanuts. Maybe the best way is like saying these are like Tom Hanks. He's not the planet's hottest man, nor the most buff, nor the flashest dresser, nor the most outspoken. He just quietly does what he does well and lets his acting speak for itself. In many ways these corn snacks are the same way; they don't wow you at first, you can't figure out why this would be so popular, but as you have a few more, you find yourself having another, then another...until there's almost none left in the bag.

Video of the Week 

And you thought the UPS wasn't great

I'm all for efficiency and as little wasted motion as possible when it comes to work...but these guys take it to a whole other level. They would probably call me a wuss and a slacker for only carrying two of those sacks...which is about all one could carry safely. (who needs that?)

Crown Caramel Maple Corn

Here we go again!

The Attraction

A few weeks ago, I reviewed another Crown product called "Big Caramel Corn Choco", and to my surprise, despite it's "unusual"appearance, I fell in love with that product. I have since purchased that snack multiple times, so it was only natural when Crown had a new Caramel Maple Corn offering, I was hot to try it out.

The Review:
The expectations were high when I brought this sucker home. I will say that the color difference really made a big impact in the way I viewed this snack. Seeing the chocolate version really turned my stomach, but the lighter color appearance of these corn puffs seemed way more palatable.

They look tiny 3/4 donuts

I crack open the bag and and sure enough, the scent of maple syrup fills the air. This was very similiar to the Choco version of this snack. This is looking good. I pickup a corn puff and take a bite.

Much like the first version I sampled, there is a tremendous crunch with my initial bite and as the flavor profile takes shape, the maple syrup essence comes screaming through. There is nothing subtle about these flavors. "Hi, I'm maple syrup flavor! What's your name, fool!?"

This could spell trouble!

The Sweet:
Crown just keeps on hitting it's stride, flavor-wise

The Bitter:
It's on the sweeter side, but's it's still damn good.

Conclusion:
Why should I have ever doubted this? With the amount that I loved the chocolate flavored version of this snack, was there anyway I wouldn't have enjoyed this maple syrup version? On it's own, it's solid and this review isn't about comparing the two against each other, but...

..if you had to twist my arm, the chocolate version is still the winner, but if Crown keeps cranking out new flavors, I will gladly be there to try them out in hopes of finding a new love.

Video of the Week 
Working on it!

Tunnock's Caramel Wafer Dark Chocolate

Don't I look so dignified!

The Attraction

As I noted a few weeks ago, one of the best parts of the holidays are people coming back bringing treats from other parts of the world. My second review in regards of that plunder comes from Scotland...enter Tunnock's Caramel Wafer!

The Review:
I'm generally not a fan of  sugar wafers like these. I'm not sure if I had too much at some point in my life, but even seeing wafers turn me off. Add the fact that these are dark chocolate and that's strike two, but because they come from outside of the States, I tried to put that all aside and keep an open mind as to what I was about to taste.

I slowly unwrap the wrapper and observe the "wafer" for a moment. This looks pretty serious.

This looks better than most sugar wafers I've had

I take a bite or try to rather as I attempt to sink my teeth into the wafer, it becomes apparent that I really need to commit to this bite. This sucker is pretty hard considering what it is, but when it finally yields, there is the crunch of the wafer then the hit of the chocolate from the coating and slowly the flavor of the caramel that is delicately inserted between each wafer layer comes seeping through midway into my bite. Actually, I think that layering affect of the caramel and sugar wafer creates that super strong snack structure that I had to power my way through.

These Tunnock's Caramel Wafers are actually reminiscent of a super strong, denser-stuff-inside Kit-Kat. The caramel is sweet enough where I don't even notice the dark chocolate flavor. Although that's a good thing, I don't know what to quite make of it all just yet.

Taste better too!

The Sweet:
Taste-wise, it reminds me of a Kit Kat

The Bitter:
You really have to bite into this sucker.

Conclusion:
There's nothing really wrong with Tunnock's Caramel Wafer Dark Chocolate as a snack, but being that I grew up eating Kit Kats, I'm accustomed to that the texture and density. I can see how if you grew up eating these, then tried a Kit Kat, you might think that a Kit Kat was just too wimpy when you bit into it. Although Tunnock's taste great, I would prefer to stick with my tried-and-true "wimpy" version and keep most of my teeth in the process. 

Video of the Week 
In case you didn't have enough of the "House Fire Woman", this week, we offer you the "songify" version with autotune. It's actually really good. I dare you not to sing along or tap your toes.

"The building in on fire, fire!"