3 Candy Venues in 1 Mall

Sisters and Brothers, the below revealed treats are organized by their price of total purchase when I visited Thursday afternoon of October 8, 2009, with the White Chocolate Acolyte.  If you live in or near Indianapolis, Sisters and Brothers, you may want to hop downtown and check it out.  But all of these stores may also be in your local malls as well.

Sweet Factory is located on the third level of the mall.  I bought six of their bulk chocolates for less than $5.  This included a chocolate baby, a dark chocolate malted milk ball, a peanut butter chocolate malted milk ball, a chocolate covered honeycomb, a chocolate covered smore, and a chocolate covered peanut butter cup.  Other than the fact that the chocolate baby looked a bit creepy, it tasted very chocolaty.  The malted balls had a good balance of their flavors and what you expect from all such confections.  I’ve never had a honeycomb type of confection and found it very hard and primarily honey though the chocolate was part of the mix.  I’m glad I got one of the smaller honeycomb because the sugar rush was intense.  The smore was disappointing — stale almost powdery marshmallows and too sweet.  The peanut butter cup was basically straightforward peanut butter mound covered in a decently thick layer of milk chocolate, I liked it.  Overall, the Sweet Factory was a mixed bag but it was much cheaper than the other two stores I got candy at in the Circle Centre Mall so I don’t feel disappointed in my choice to give them a try.


Godiva is on the second level of the mall.  It was smaller than the one in the Keystone Mall and frankly one of the workers there was rude, getting very upset when took this picture and even claiming the mall did not allow photographs inside.  Odd because none of the literature in the mall said such a thing and the security guard watching us did nothing and said nothing.  Needless to say that annoyed me, Sisters and Brothers.  Look, I know that Godiva may think it is so much better than every other chocolatier but you do have to interact with potential customers with respect and since I have a membership in their chocolate club, you’d think they’d treat me a bit better even.  The other worker though was very nice to me and helped me buy their five fall/Halloween treats as well as two samples — one that they were just giving away that day “Black Raspberry Truffle” which was very good though I’m not normally a fan of raspberry and a “Dark Caramel Embrace” that was my sample with membership and which incredibly bitter and dark with that nice slip of caramel tang to make it perfect.

Then I bought five pieces of their Halloween and Fall collection.  The candy that is wrapped like a pumpkin is the aptly named “Pumpkin Spice Truffle” — it smells very spicy and tastes like a very spicy pumpkin pie topped with chocolate.  The little tombstone in the photo is actually light gray in color and says “RIP” on the front.  This is the “Caramel Apple Tombstone” which is white chocolate and a very liquid center of intense caramel with a strong hint of tart green apple.  The “Candy Corn Ghost” is more orange than the photo may suggest and it has it’s namesake’s scent to it as well as an almost perfect match in taste; thick of it as a higher class version of candy corn.  The “Blood Orange Bat’s” intense, creamy orange center overpowers the chocolate easily.  Finally I try the “Death by Chocolate Skull” is very bitter made of a bitter-sweet chocolate coating over a dark soft center.

I was really surprised at the lack of candy shops in the mall so I stopped into the American Greetings store on the third level of the mall.  Besides cards and stuffed animals, they also sold Gorant Candies, company also owned by American Greetings and apparently not doing so well according to several news stories I found from this past year.  That might be because this candy is outrageously priced and frankly the woman working there wasn’t very friendly either, attempting to persuade me to buy her candies because “even the Godiva folks come to buy these rather than their own”.  Talk up your own brand but you don’t need to slam others, let us reviewers do that, ok?  I bought four pieces that were individually priced instead of almost $20 a pound for the truffles.  I got a chocolate covered graham cracker, a white chocolate covered pretzel, two variations nut cluster idea, one with pecans and one with cashews.  The pretzel, opinion confirmed by the White Chocolate Acolyte, had a good chocolate cover but the inside was very dry, almost stale in taste and texture, I also think it was a bit too salty.  The chocolate on the graham cracker is very thick and cocoay but again the inside seems a bit stale as with the pretzel.  The cashews are very salty in their cluster, drying my mouth out as I eat it, but the pecans are just right in their cluster, both covered in a darker chocolate that binds the nuts together.  Overall, I can’t say I was as impressed by Gorant Candies as their in-store prices strongly suggested I would be.

Sisters and Brothers, may you too take the time to slowly appreciate what the Divine and human ingenuity have offered you in chocolate.

Comments

mavido79 said…
This is the first I've heard of the Gorant Candies. Not sure I'm going to rush out and try them next time I'm in the mall. And I've never really understood the allure of Godiva. It's not bad but IMHO not even close to being worth the price.