What kind of candy am I stealing?

August 30, 2015 4:58 PM

I have been swiping mystery candies from a dish where I work. They aren't mine and they aren't there for me to eat. But I find myself alone with the dish sometimes and they get eaten.

I've eaten too many for it not to be noticed, and I don't want to confess my crime and ask the candy's rightful owner. I really love these candies, but I don't know what they are and therefore, can't buy my own. They are about the size of peanut M&Ms, oval, and are dark chocolate inside. On the outside, they resemble smooth, matte-surfaced berries. Some are the color of blueberries and some are the color of cranberries. The coating is only about half as thick as the coating on an M&M. Anybody know what these are?

posted by cellura p to Food & Drink (26 answers total)

Smarties?
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 5:07 PM on August 30, 2015

I beg your pardon, I meant, Skittles? (Smarties are the U.K.)
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 5:09 PM on August 30, 2015

Skittles are chewy fruit-flavored candies, not chocolate. You're getting confused with American Smarties, which are powdery and fruit-flavored, while UK Smarties are similar to M&Ms.

Serious question, cellura p: You say some of the chocolates are blue and some are red. Do the red and blue candies taste the same? Also, is it a pure chocolate flavor, or is there another, perhaps berry, flavor along with the chocolate?
posted by Faint of Butt at 5:12 PM on August 30, 2015 [4 favorites]

Chocolate lentils maybe? They vary widely in quality and are usually pastel but come in other colors - I have had some great ones that have a smooth Chocolate mint center, and also some terrible ones that are chalky and flavorless.
posted by sarahnicolesays at 5:16 PM on August 30, 2015

Could you sneak a picture? That would help.

Seems like there's at least a few different kinds of candy-coated chocolate ovals out there.

You could check out the candyblog site for more.
posted by nat at 5:25 PM on August 30, 2015 [2 favorites]

Leftover Easter candy?
posted by janerica at 5:50 PM on August 30, 2015

What you're describing sounds a whole lot like chocolate-covered blueberries or cherries. Sometimes there is dried fruit inside, sometimes it just has a flavoring. For instance, check out these Brookside chocolates. These have chewy centers so I assume you would have mentioned that. Or these Marich chocolate berries.

Also, if you do want to confess, that would be a good excuse to say, "I feel bad about eating these and I want to replace them for you... would you tell me what they are?"
posted by chickenmagazine at 5:52 PM on August 30, 2015 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: The flavor seems to be dark chocolate with possibly a very slight fruit flavor, and both the dark purple/blue ones and the deep red ones taste the same to me. They resemble most the picture in janerica's reply, as they have a matte, almost powdery looking surface. They aren't egg-shaped though (not bigger on one end.) I won't be back at that work site for another week, but if I still haven't figured it out I might take a picture!
posted by cellura p at 5:57 PM on August 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

Sounds to me like Trader Joe's chocolate covered fruit -- picture makes it look mostly white and orange, but in my memory there's a lot more blue and pink ones than pictured.
posted by Mchelly at 6:03 PM on August 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

Sunspire Sundrops?
posted by Beti at 6:03 PM on August 30, 2015

Could they be Harry and David candies?

Harry and David Blueberries They come in milk and dark chocolate.

Berry Trio
posted by Fairchild at 6:04 PM on August 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

Could they be Little Secrets? They're sold at Target and Whole Foods.
posted by bcwinters at 6:09 PM on August 30, 2015 [3 favorites]

Do you know who owns the candy? Can you just casually ask them, without admitting to your crime? "Wow, those look great; what are they?"
posted by snap, crackle and pop at 6:17 PM on August 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'm back to post a photo. I think bcwinters might have a winner. The poster's description matches dead on to Little Secrets. Candy shell, matte, powdery, with dark chocolate inside. Here is a photo of the candies. The dark chocolate raspberry flavor (larger dark pink and purple candies) is on the left, center.
posted by Fairchild at 6:20 PM on August 30, 2015 [2 favorites]

I also think they're Brookside Acai candies. Dark chocolate with a hint of fruit. I understand why you find them irresistable!!!
posted by Hermione Granger at 6:25 PM on August 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: All of this candy looks great, but none of the replies show the right thing. When I posted this I figured it was something new but fairly common that I just didn't know about since I don't buy candy for myself usually. They are really similar in appearance to berries - with a sort of dark color showing through a frosty matte surface - like when you look at a bowl of fresh blueberries.
They aren't shiny or a pastel opaque tint like many coated candies are. The coating is thinner than the coating on M&Ms and similar "chocolate lentil" candy. I'm really not sure if there's a fruit flavor to them or if I'm just tasting a quality dark chocolate with fruity notes that looks like a berry and thinking that I'm tasting some fruitiness.
posted by cellura p at 6:30 PM on August 30, 2015

Are there dried berries in the center? If so, Trader Joes has something like that.
posted by salvia at 7:05 PM on August 30, 2015

I also think Brookside
posted by Seboshin at 7:57 PM on August 30, 2015

No, Brooksides are chocolate on the outside, not the inside.
posted by zennie at 8:30 PM on August 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

I am picturing something that looks like this, but this is not chocolate filled and is more of a hard candy.
posted by SLC Mom at 8:48 PM on August 30, 2015

Maybe they're leftover custom-colored candy from a wedding or similar event. Can you narrow down a similar selection from a place like Candy Warehouse? That helped me track down the type of candy at my sister's wedding.
posted by WasabiFlux at 9:15 PM on August 30, 2015

This might be super dumb, but could you leave an anonymous note 'fessing up to candy theft and asking what kind of candy it is so you can replace it (and then buy an extra bag of it and leave it by the dish.)
posted by kagredon at 9:20 PM on August 30, 2015 [5 favorites]

I think you should totally leave a note. Something like "I have to confess that I have snuck more than a few of these from your desk. I'm both completely ashamed and totally in love with them. Please tell me what they are so I can buy you more and finally get myself my own stash. -cellura p"
posted by radioamy at 9:36 PM on August 30, 2015 [17 favorites]

Chocolate Pastels? There are cranberry and blackberry ones listed.
posted by amanda at 9:51 PM on August 30, 2015

Ooh, how about Hershey's Special Dark Pieces? They're brown and red, but look from the first shot to be less shiny than M&Ms, though about the same size as dark chocolate M&Ms (smaller than peanut M&Ms).

By "oval", which cross-section did you mean? Is it circular in one cross-section? If you hold it so the symmetric axis (where the M would be on a regular M&M, or the line through the narrow and wide ends of an egg) is vertical and look at it side-on, is the oval squished (lenticular shape) or stretched (like a peanut M&M; or egg, but not necessarily smaller on one end)?
posted by WasabiFlux at 10:00 PM on August 30, 2015

It sounds like the generic name for this type of candy is dark chocolate lentils. Do they look sort of like this? The image is from Koppers Chocolate - they have several types of dark chocolate lentils.

Also, where are you (or rather, where is the candy) located? If you're not in the US, most of these answers are probably way off base.
posted by insectosaurus at 9:56 AM on August 31, 2015