Kids and adults alike would love to be at this place. Wouldn't it be fun and fantastic to watch these chocolate ball people march along the road and wait for the green chocolate ball signal on the traffic light made of chocolate? Sounds like a dream, doesn't it? Well it's not far away. Stock yourself up with some milk chocolate balls and start building your own chocolate ball city. When you're done playing you'll have a delicious snack to enjoy!
We have just added our new section Summer Camp Gifts with freshly made candy gifts to send to your child while enjoying his summer in camp. We have a beautiful selection of summer and sport themed nut gifts. Is your child homesick? Send him the 'I Miss Home' Gift. He will feel the warmth of home sweet home right there in his bunk. Want to make your child happy with a surprise gift? Try our Smile Candy Gift. Whatever you choose, your child will be most grateful to you!
We our proud to introduce our brand new line of Gumballs-by-Color for any color-themed candy event. Our selection includes White Gumballs for Wedding Showers. Our cat Bob, can't get enough of them and we're sure you won't either. Besides their elegant colors, they boast the delicious flavor of classic bubble gum - the flavor you grew up with.
JUST ARRIVED! Our all new item called Chocolate Covered Sunflower Seeds. Our variety boasts a huge selection of over 12 colors. Come check it out today!
Enjoy this video on How To Make Edible Fruit Bouquets and Arrangements. Using Dried Fruit and chocolate.
Full Transcript
What I'm doing is demonstrating how this particular piece is made. You can use any kind of fruit or chocolate to create your own masterpiece.
We're going to start off with a ceramic base, such as this. We're going to need a six inch Styrofoam ball. The key to this is that the ball is about two inches larger than the actual base itself. A glue gun to glue the leaves to the base. A flower shaped cookie cutter. A pack of toothpicks, very common. We got ourselves a wire cutters, here, so that we can cut the flowers.
Again, you can use any kind of fruit that you prefer, any kind of shape or design; it's the individual's artistic expression. For this particular one, as you can see here, having the straight lines are very important. So what we'll do is, we're going to start off at the bottom, with a line all the way around the diameter of it. With the first line will be our dates. And then, our second line will be chocolates, which again will go around the circumference of the bowl, and we'll follow that line continuously, building up. And at the point of finishing it, well, we'll finish it with flowers, as we have our roses, here.
So, what we'll do is, we're going to start off here with preparing the base. I've already started with a few leaves here, using the glue gun. Once you have the glue gun heated up, you basically want to put a few little drops, bring it on the side, and cut some leaves, here. And just apply them on, like this. What's best is when you cut your leaves, to try to have them all universal size. So again, we'll take the Styrofoam ball, I'm going to glue this down to the base, here. Okay. Just takes a few moments for the hot glue to set.
Before I dip this in the chocolate, I'll give you...I'll show you how it's actually cut. Take our dried pineapple piece, like so. Use our cutter. What we're going to do is, we're going to just gently, but furiously, push down and cut through the pineapple. Now this particular fruit, because of the sweetness and the sugar levels in it, sometimes you'll get stuck to the cutter. So you might actually have to use your hands, and gently just remove the excess pieces. This could be set aside, for later use. And then we'll just gently push the pineapple out of the cutter.
By using the dried kiwi that we have here, we have another cutter to make a nice little round cut; to fill in the center of the pineapple. Now we'll take this piece, here. Then gently but firmly, just push through, take the extra, the excess, put that aside for later use.
The dried apricots here, what I'll do is, give you the exact same example. And then we're going to use the flower cookie cutter. And, mind you, you can use any shape or any size of cookie cutters for the same process; it's just depends on what flowers, or what objects you prefer to have on your Fruitopia. What's great about working with your food like this, if you have any mistakes, you can eat them.
Okay, so what we're going to do is, start with these medjool dates. You just gently, but firmly, push them in. Okay. And you can see how it's a lot of fun. Then we add the crusts. Again this is a great way...I don't know, most children don't appreciate fruit. I know most children appreciate chocolate, though. So this is a great way to incorporate healthier eating for desserts for a lot of young children.
As you see, on this finished product here, artificial leaves on the bottom for the base, and artificial flowers on top give it a little color and some beauty. And any flower from any craft store can be sufficient, we'll just place it here, on top.
On April 5, this couple was escorted by their three boys down an aisle lined with lollipop trees at Dylan’s Candy Bar in New York.
The bride wore a borrowed dress made of candy wrappers that was designed for “Project Runway.” The Rabbi then led them in their vows beneath a wedding canopy of giant Whirly Pops and candy colored balloons.
Their 50 guests dined on peanut butter and jelly tarts and candy sushi (coconut rice, Swedish Fish and Fruit Roll-Ups) while the couple danced to “Sugar, Sugar.”
The wedding ceremony in the Candy Store
The Bride walking down the aisle in the Candy Store
Ever wondered how the yummy Jelly Beans are made? Watch this amazing video and you will go thru the entire process of how jelly beans are made.
Enjoy
Full video transcript
The Jelly Bean is colorful, but its beginnings are a bit of a gray area. It’s believed that this bean’s jelly center dates back to Biblical times in Turkish delight. Many centuries later, the outer shell was added and the jelly bean was on its way to sweet success.
To make jelly beans, liquid sugar is heated in a kettle to about 175 degrees Celsius. Glucose is added, and then starch. An agitating device mixes it all together. Elsewhere in the factory, starch spills out of a drum onto large trays. A leveler moves back and forth to even out the starch. The trays then move forward and a brush knocks of the excess to be recycled. A molding board now presses down into the starch. It makes 756 jelly bean impressions per tray. The impressions in the starch will sever as molds for the jelly bean centers. Nozzles inject the sugar and starch mix cooked in the kettle into the starch molds. This system can make almost a million jelly bean centers every hour.
Next, the conveyor belt system taken the jelly bean centers to the drying room where they stay for 24 hours. This solidifies them and they become chewier. Arms flip the trays of centers and starch and dump them into a drum that will separate them. When the trays flip back they are refilled with starch and the molding process begins again.
Meanwhile, the dried jelly bean centers, now separated from the starch, tumble unto a wire mesh conveyor system. It transports them to a steam belt which dampens them. This readies the for the next step: sugar coating. The jelly bean centers go into a sander drum, which tosses them around while nozzles spray them with sugar.
In another part of the factory, liquid sugar flows out of a kettle into a tub. Blue food coloring is added to the syrup. This mix, called the engrossing syrup, is added, along with some flavoring, to the jelly bean centers as they tumble around in a tilted spinning pan. Sugar is added to the sticky blue mixture. This process is repeated four times in order to build up a coating around the gummy center. The next day, when the beans have hardened, hot syrup is added and the beans are tossed around again. This polishes the jelly beans.
There’s a lot of sweet stuff here: 124,000 Jelly Beans in each pan. A little wax is added: nice, and as the pan spins, the beans rub against each other, distributing the wax. This adds gloss to the polish. Then the pan stops spinning, and the jelly beans air dry for 24 hours to allow the glaze to set.
After three-and-a-half days, this big batch of jelly beans is ready. They move in a multicolored mass along a series of conveyors. They fall into a scale system that divides them into portions. Then a trap door opens, and they drop down a shoot to the packaging department. Once they are in the bag, the jelly beans are ready to sweeten your day.
National Jelly Bean Day is a time to enjoy tons and gobs of jelly beans. Anyone who loves jelly beans, knows that jelly beans are not just for Easter. But, they are also enjoyed year round. The flavors are limited only by the imagination of candy makers. If you've never enjoyed the multitude of flavors in a box of gourmet jelly beans, the we suggest you check out our huge selection of Jelly Beans.
For your enjoyment here are some interesting jelly bean pictures.
Jelly Bean art of President Reagan
Jelly Bean art of Princess Diana
This amazing Jelly Bean summer display at the Rugby Ralph Lauren Store, was supplied by Oh Nuts.
The FDA and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) are investigating Salmonella contamination in pistachio products sold by Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc, Calif. The company has stopped all distribution of processed pistachios and will issue a voluntary recall involving approximately 1 million pounds of its products. Because the pistachios were used as ingredients in a variety of foods, it is likely this recall will impact many products. In addition, the investigation at the company is ongoing and may lead to additional pistachio product recalls.
The contamination involves multiple strains of Salmonella. Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Thus far, several illnesses have been reported by consumers that may be associated with the pistachios. It is not yet known whether any of the Salmonella strains found in the pistachio products are linked to an outbreak. The FDA is conducting genetic testing of the samples to pursue all links.
FDA is working closely with the pistachio industry and recommends that consumers avoid eating pistachio products until further information is available about the scope of affected products.
FDA will provide a searchable database of affected products at http://www.fda.gov/pistachios/ and will continue to update the public.
