Edible Instagrams! Your Pics On A Marshmallow Are A Sweet Idea from Boomf.

Thanks to my friend Scott, I now know that London company Boomf has come up with the idea of printing your Instagram photos on sweet, squishy completely edible marshmallows!

Inspired by Hefeweizen, Jelly Belly Introduces DRAFT Beer flavored Jelly Beans.

The following is the press release:
When candy makers at Jelly Belly Candy Company set out to create the world’s first beer flavored jelly bean, the question wasn’t how; it was what. Ale or Lager? Stout? Lambic? Pilsner? In the end, the company opted to pay homage to its German ancestry with a Hefeweizen-inspired ale flavor, and Draft Beer Jelly Belly® jelly beans took shape.



Beer has been a highly-requested flavor by consumers for decades. Jelly Belly is known as much for flavor innovation as perfection. The research and development team wanted to get it just right before announcing the new flavor to the world.



“This took about three years to perfect,” says Ambrose Lee (shown above), research and development manager for Jelly Belly Candy Company. “The recipe includes top secret ingredients, but I can tell you it contains no alcohol.”



The effervescent and crisp flavor is packed in a golden jelly bean with an iridescent finish. Beer connoisseurs will find the flavor profile to be clean with notes of wheat and a touch of sweetness. The aroma is mildly bready. While Draft Beer packs a flavor punch, it is alcohol free.


above: the new Jelly Belly flavor is slightly iridescent in color to emulate real beer.

“Usually the factory has a sweet and fruity aroma, but when we’re making this flavor it’s just like being in an ale house,” says Jeff Brown (shown below), vice president in charge of manufacturing for Jelly Belly Candy Company.



“Anyone who enjoys a good, cold beer will enjoy Draft Beer Jelly Belly beans for the simple fact that it tastes just as you’d imagine,” says Rob Swaigen, vice president of marketing for Jelly Belly Candy Company.

“I love the flavors in a good beer and Jelly Belly has managed to get that from brew to bean in an incredible way,” says Jackie Dodd, beer expert, cookbook author, and the voice behind the popular cooking with craft beer blog The Beeroness. “Jelly Belly found a way to fit 15 pints in the palm of your hand, they deserve an award.”



Draft Beer Jelly Belly beans are a wonderful gift for beer lovers for Father’s Day, birthdays, and even St. Patrick’s Day and Oktoberfest. The new flavor will be available at candy counters throughout the world in early 2014.

The Making Of:


Draft Beer is the latest in a long line of flavor innovations from Jelly Belly Candy Company. The company first created a non-alcoholic gourmet flavor in 1977 with Mai Tai. Since then, more flavors from Blackberry Brandy to Strawberry Daiquiri were developed, inspired by popular cocktails. Over the years, favorite flavors like Piña Colada (1983), Margarita (1995) and Mojito (2010) have helped carve out the Jelly Belly Cocktail Classics® collection of six cocktail flavors.

Flavor innovation doesn’t stop with the Jelly Belly bean flavor itself. Thoughtfully combining Draft Beer with other Jelly Belly bean flavors create “beer cocktail” flavors, a beverage trend among craft beer connoisseurs, including The Beeroness blog:

2 Draft Beer + 1 Peach = Beer Sangria
2 Draft Beer + 1 Red Apple = Beer cider
2 Draft Beer + 1 Lemon Lime + 1 TABASCO® = Michelada



The new flavor will debut at Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco and ISM in Cologne, Germany. The Beeroness will host a Tweet Up at 21st Amendment, 563 Second Street in San Francisco, on January 21 to introduce the new Draft Beer flavor to her beer-loving fans.

Jelly Belly beans contain four calories per bean and are fat free, peanut free, dairy free, gluten free, gelatin free, vegetarian and OU Kosher certified. For information, visit www.jellybelly.com.

Eyescream And Friends. A Uniquely Branded Creative Dessert Experience.

Eyescream and Friends launched in Barcelona last fall (September of 2012) and brings more than yummy tasting ice cream and sweets to its customers, it brings them a unique eating experience. From the same folks behind the clever Happy Pills Candy Boutique, Eyescream and Friends is a completely integrated creative project.

Everything from the initial strategy, graphic design and marketing materials to the store interior, industrial design, packaging and signage are all part of the self-serve dessert experience.



CHARACTERS
Cute little monster characters were developed to represent each of the flavors and appear on the business cards, exterior and interior signage:




THE PRODUCT
The 'eyescream', which is imported from Taiwan, is essentially gelato, frozen at -25º C in cylindrical cubes, which is then placed in a special machine which shaves it. The final result is a silky and smooth texture of eyescream.


Each eyescream order comes with 2 sugar candy "eyes" and two toppings:



FLAVORS:
• Cheesecake
• Vanilla
• Chocolate
• Yoghurt
• Wildberry Yoghurt
• Strawberry
• Mango

They also have Sorbets for those who are lactose-intollerant in Strawberry, Mango, and Watermelon flavors.

TOPPINGS:


You can choose 2 toppings to combine with your favorite eyescream. The toppings are a large variety of delicious syrups which combine nicely to enhance any of the eyescream flavors:
• Chocolate
• Condensed Milk
• Dulce de Leche
• Passion Fruit
• Strawberry
• Mango
• Kiwi
• Honeydew Melon

PACKAGING
Each serving is presented in smart eco-friendly packaging that functions as a plate to hold the eyescream and two toppings.





THE STORE



They built wooden low cost boxes for self-service, concentrating all the consumer experience. A fragmented facade, constructed from a large sign with "legs" has the ability to break down into a number of signs, when open to the public. One for external identity and another, when opened, works as informative product menu.








The bottled water served in the store, Tears of Joy, was also designed by Estudio m:




Eyescream and Friends
Paseo de Joan de Borbó, 30
08003 Barcelona, Spain

Branding and Design:
Agency: Estudio m Barcelona
Graphic Design: Marion Dönneweg
Interior Design: Merche Alcalá
Client: Joad López, Federico Mendoza
Naming: Jorge Virgós
Production: Sandra Coll
Photographer: Daniel Loewe

How The World's Best Selling Valentine's Day Candy, Conversation Hearts, Are Made.

Note: This is a partial reprint of a post from two years ago.

It's that time of year again. Valentine's Day. When happy shiny couples give one another cute warm fuzzies while the rest of the world either remains hopeful or bitterly dejected. Either way, one can't get away from the classic "Sweethearts" by Necco come mid-February. From the candy to Keds, iPhone apps to fragrances, talking hearts abound.

First, some Necco history of the candy:


Today's best-selling Valentine candy -- Sweethearts Conversation Hearts--the pastel sugar hearts with the quirky sayings, were as much a part of your childhood as they are for today's kids. New England Confectionery Company manufactures over 8 billion hearts each year to keep up with demand for this American icon.



Still it's hard to believe that the concept behind today's Conversation Hearts got its start when Abraham Lincoln was still President. Mottoes seemed to have come into prominence with cockles, a small crisp candy made of sugar and flour formed in the shape of a cockle or scallop shell. The early cockles contained mottoes, which were printed on thin colored paper and rolled up inside.

In the 1860's, when Daniel Chase, the brother of New England Confectionery Company's founder, Oliver Chase, began printing sayings on the candy. He experimented first with hand tools, and then devised a machine in which the cloth was replaced with a felt roller pad, moistened with vegetable coloring, usually red, which pressed against the die. The die printed the words on the lozenge paste and the double purpose machine cut the lozenges.

Below are images of the process today:





above: the making, baking and packaging process today

Grown-ups were entertained and passed the hearts around at parties. For weddings, there were wedding-day lozenges with humorously foreboding prophecies such as: "Married in satin, Love will not be lasting" "Married in Pink, He will take to drink" and "Married in white, You have chosen right."

The present day Sweethearts® Conversation Heart dates back to 1902. Back then, besides hearts, they also produced various shapes such as postcards, baseballs, horseshoes and watches.


above: Richard Krause, the President and CEO at the New England Confectionery Company, 2009 (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

In the early 1990's, New England Confectionery Company's Vice President Walter Marshall decided to update the sayings each year and retire some. His first --Fax Me--created a lot of attention from Sweetheart fans. As a result, each year we receive hundreds of suggestions from romantics, candy lovers and school kids for new sayings. From old tech, "Call Me" to new tech, "E-mail Me," Sweethearts® keep the pulse on the heartbeat of the nation.



Conversation Hearts have been used in various ingenious ways over the years-- to propose marriage, to teach children statistics and reading, to decorate cakes, and as borders for frames.


above: the anatomically correct human heart made of the candies by Lego brick artist Nathan Sawaya.

You can see many Conversation Heart inspired products, from iPhone covers to jewelry, at the following links.

Zazzle
Etsy
Red Bubble

Sweethearts and Conversation Hearts Candy and Items on Amazon

Eye Candy: The Sweet Photos of Craig Kanarick

Craig Kanarick of Rockmade combined his passion for photography with a sweet tooth and created a now sought-after photographic collection of candy.

The monochromatic candy Digital c-prints below by Craig Kanarick are limited editions of 20 and cost $850. apiece. They are printed on archival paper and mounted behind gallery plexi glass. They measure 24" x 24":










Craig has a lot of other beautiful candy photography in other sizes and price ranges, see them here.