Will Your Halloween be UNREAL?

Promo Photo from Unreal

How many of you hand out treats at Halloween?

How many of you host a Halloween party?

How many of you just love getting the treats for yourself?

Once more I'm honored to be chosen through the Tryazon program to share a chocolate product with local friends and with all of you reading The Chocolate Cult. I have talked about UNREAL products in the past but for the first time, UNREAL is offering Halloween specific treats so that they can be part of your Halloween experience. I received samples of the Unreal products in exchange for giving them out to friends and writing an objective blog post about them; no other form of compensation was received.

We received five types of Unreal treats to look at.

Original Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups (Halloween) come in the yellow bag that has 10 cups in it. Note that these cups weighs 14g vs the 34g Reese's Pumpkin single serving which you might also give out for Halloween. So it isn't really fair to compare the 80 calories in this cup to the 150-200 calories per other peanut butter cups which are later. It measure 1.5 inches across and is 0.25 inches thick, again smaller than the Reese's cups which probably come to mind when you think peanut butter cup. The cups contain 30% fair trade certified ingredients as well as some organic ingredients like cacao and powdered sugar but it also contains palm oil. If you are allergic to peanuts, chocolate, milk, or sunflowers you don't want this. The cup has a domed top but otherwise looks very similar to any Reese's cup. It has a strong chocolate scent with an edge of sweetness and roasted peanuts before you even take a bite. Taking a bite makes a soft sound as I push through the thick edges. Immediately I taste sweet chocolate then a burst of very intense roasted peanuts that fade into more chocolate and sweetness as I chew it. The inside is creamy and thick and a touch gritty but not unpleasantly so. The peanut roasted flavor is really the biggest difference between this and an average peanut butter cup but the chocolate also has a strong aftertaste. I really like it. The folks at my little party that I shared these with liked these though they agreed with my assessment that these were smaller than a traditional peanut butter cup.

Candy Coated Milk Chocolate Gems (Halloween) are similar to M&Ms because they are small, round, chocolate, candy-coated pieces, 14-15 pieces to a small 12g bag. These have fewer calories than the previous treat coming in at 60 calories for a pouch. The first ingredient is milk chocolate with organic ingredient, 40% of the ingredients are certified fair trade. Since this is milk chocolate it has dair if that is an allergy concern for you. I'm a bit concerned when I read the ingredients and see red cabbage juice -- I'm allergic to cabbage so I'm taking a risk trying these out for you all, let's hope I don't have a negative reaction. The colors are muted tones of yellow, purple, blue, and green in the pouch I opened so maybe I didn't get any of the red cabbage dyed ones. Yes, the dyes are natural not some code number like you'd see on most similar candy. The pieces make a loud crunch when I bite and chew them, the sweetness is much less than I expected, the chocolate is more intense but that sweetness returns to the forefront at the end of each piece. The four colors I tried do not taste different to me at all, and I do not believe that they are supposed to taste different based on the packaging information. I like these just not as much as the previous treat and sadly not as much as M&Ms. Of my guests who tried the Gems last night one claimed he could taste a difference between the colors but when I pressed him to try a different color he didn't mention that it tasted different. Two people found the muted colors off-putting even though I explained this was natural not artificial dyes and the tones were duller. One asked if they were dark chocolate even after tasting them; I think for here the lower sugar content equal a darker flavor than she is probably used to.

Halloween Themed Unreal in Pumpkin Plate

All Unreal samples in Halloween Pail

The other three samples I'll mention here but I'll review them in greater detail in later posts. These are in everyday bags so no decorative theme to set them up as a Halloween, Christmas, or other holiday treat. This includes the Dark Chocolate Coconut Peanut Butter Cups in a blue bag, the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups in a red bag, and the Milk Chocolate Crispy Quinoa Peanut Butter Cups in a green bag. Each cup is 14-15 grams and has 80 calories but again this makes them smaller than most other peanut butter cups so compare weight equivalents or merely portioned pieces as you think you'd use them.

I introduced these products to a group of friends last night.

I gave each person a baggie containing one of each treat, most of them tried one or two while with me but also took some home with them. We talked about what Unreal is and my guests seemed interested. Sadly I haven't seen most of these treats in my local stores but you can order these online using the links above.

So tell me. Would you consider buying and handing out or serving up Unreal treats for Halloween?