Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Who Says Chocolates Are Unhealthy?

Last month, while arranging the birthday party for my 8-year old, I visited one online candy store out of curiosity. Interestingly, I found that the website specializes in candy of all sizes, shapes and tastes. As I browsed through the site one page after another, I imagined how it could bring loads of fun and smiles on the face of my son and his friends on his birthday. Gummy and jell candy, novelty candy, sugar free candy, hard candy, jelly beans, candy bars, lollipops and suckers, mints, gum and bubblegums, powder candy - the choices are endless for kids. The website has an abundance of all sugary delicacies catering to sweet desires of every age group.

As parents, we are really careful about our children’s health. But healthy lifestyle does not mean confining yourself to a particular type of food and not beyond that. Even when it comes to children, they need a special attention in this regard. But sometimes it causes no harm if we allow our children to spoil themselves with their favorite chocolate on some special occasions to stray from the norms of organic food. And what could be a better occasion for children than a birthday!!!

I tried to make some more research on candies before making an order from the online candy store. Interestingly, I found eating chocolate can be a part of our healthy life. The essential ingredients of chocolates such as magnesium and antioxidants are some of the supplements that our body requires. The cocoa-butter that forms the fat in chocolate is a heart-healthy substance. There is no harm if we sometimes go away from our daily diet and add some candy intake. There are also sugarless candy and chocolates available for people preferring a special diet which can be available on the online candy store.

The sugary goodness that can make any one go wild is what a candy is all about. But when you purchase those mouth-watering chocolates from an online store you can enjoy the freedom of selecting them by their price, category, manufacturer and event.

Monday, March 31, 2008

Spoil yourself at Online Candy Stores

An online candy store! Don't be surprised, it is true. Chocolates have always been a popular weakness regardless of age and gender. No doubt kids have a special place for candies in their heart, but even seniors find them equally yummy. Of course, candies are not meant for kids only. There is a child in every grown-up and chocolates are the best way to pamper that child.

When you are looking for sweet, sugary, mouth-watering candy on the internet, your search will not end at any particular store. You will get a good number of sites offering you online candy shopping. The enticing land of candies catches your imagination and leaves you wanting more. Online candy stores offer a wide range of options- chocolates, jelly beans, bubble gum, hard candy, sour candy, gummy candy. You can choose your favorite ones from an extensive selection of candies and taste some new chocolates too.

Candy lovers search for excuses to buy chocolates for various occasions and hence, they look for every avenue to discover new tastes and flavors. Consequently, their propensity for new taste and flavor lands them at some online candy stores. If you are one among the millions of chocolate fans, you will find yourself going nutty to experiment on the new varieties of chocolates. Just go through the sites and surf the categories. You will be excited to find the sugary treats separated by their categories. You will find them suitable for different occasions like birthday parties, weddings and many other events you might celebrate. You can shop by manufacturer, color, event and price. Sometimes they also come with discount packages if you order them in bulk.

Select and order the candy you want to make your occasion a memorable one and yummier than ever before.

Monday, February 4, 2008

An introduction to the everyday candy!

Everyone loves candy, which is a confectionary made with a concentrated solution of sugar in water. For variety in candy, flavorings and colorants are added as required. Some people even freeze this candy to make ice pop which is great on a summer day.

Sugar is dissolved in water or milk to form syrup. The syrup is boiled till it reaches the right concentration, or till it caramelizes. Depending on the ingredients used and how long the mixture is boiled, you get a variety of candy.

Some are soft and chewy to eat while others are hard and brittle. The most famous forms of candy are toffees, fudges, jelly beans, gumdrops, caramel, cotton candy, lollipops, peppermint sticks, chocolate coated raisins and sucking candy.

It is the sugar concentration that determines the final texture of the candy. On heating the sugar syrup, it boils and starts evaporating. This leads to an increase in sugar concentration and its boiling point. Different sugar concentrations have different temperatures where high temperatures and greater concentrations lead to hard and brittle candies while lower temperatures lead to softer candies.

The different stages of sugar concentration were coined from the process used to test the syrup, before the start of thermometers. The test was carried out by dropping a small spoonful of syrup in cold water. It was the characteristics of the resulting lump that determined the concentration of the syrup.

If there are long strings of hardened sugar, it indicates ‘thread’ stage, the smooth lump indicates ‘ball’ stage with corresponding hardness described and the ‘crack’ stage indicates a very brittle candy that tends to crack from the rapid cooling of the water.

Though a candy thermometer is available today, many kitchens still use these tests for determining their candy. This is because though convenient, candy thermometers have its drawback of not adjusting automatically for local conditions like altitude, which is possible in the cold water test.