I am amazed at the varuety of chocolate and candy available in the USA. Is most of it available in all states or does it vary ? Does anyone know?
What I get really frustrated with here is the mediocraty (have I spelt that correctly??). For example, take Metlis Chewy Sweets. Over here, we get fruit and mint varieties. That's it. In France I was able to get wonderful licorice ones and better still - cinnamon ones. Why can't we get those here? It's the same with chewing gum. Mint- or endless fruit varieties. Everywhere else does loads of other flavours - including hot cinnamon.
The UK confectionary trade is safe and boring and, I think, foolish. Whenever I visit a new city or town, I also look for a 'traditional' sweet shop - the type that sells old fashioned sweets in jars. These shops are always crammed with people wanting something different - something from years ago - and i am told endlessly that what people buy most of is herby flavoured stuff, cinnamon flavoured stuff, licorice flavoured stuff and so on. Now, good luck to these shops - they are making a good living but availability is so limited. There's no such shop where I live and the multiples only want to stock horrible serve yourself sour jelly type sweets.
I am rambling and not sure I am making any sense so I'll sign off now as we are going to London later today for a few days' break.
Happy new year to you all.
