613. Crystallized Ginger

I find that ginger is one of those flavours that really divides people - you love it or hate it, and I am firmly in the first group. I adore ginger everything - ginger beer, gingerbread, ginger tea, and this, crystallized ginger. As far as I’m concerned if you combine ginger and sugar you cannot possibly go wrong. This was good ginger as it was nice and sweet on the outside, but it gave way to a super spicy, tongue-tingling centre. Yum.

613 down, 1183 to go

610. Marrons Glaces

Marrons glaces are candied chestnuts - basically chestnuts that are just soaked in a sugar syrup until they are just these soft but hard, sticky but crunchy balls of super sweet nuttiness. I was kind of dubious as I’m used to having chestnuts savoury - either in a stuffing or with brussel sprouts, or my favourite way where they are just roasted and then covered in a metric ton of salt. They’re supposed to be a delicacy, and can be pretty expensive though so I guessed that there had to be something good about them. It turned out that they were actually really nice, something similar to a praline but with a much softer texture and a hint of that unique chestnutty flavour. They are very sweet though so you would not want more than one at a time.

610 down, 1186 to go

575. Candy Floss/Cotton Candy

Now this was much more like it. After my fish pie, my friend and I decided to share one of the Seaside Sweets Platters for dessert. We have never had a dessert like it; it was amazing, kind of like something Heston would serve up on his Feast shows. Basically it was gourmet versions of a bunch of traditional British seaside treats. From left to right: Mini toffee apple, champagne jelly, cotton candy, pirate punch, marshmallows with chocolate sauce, turkish delight ice cream, and fruit rock with biscuit sand in the front. It looked so pretty it was almost a shame to eat it.

I also had cotton candy in the more traditional way - sat on the beach whilst making a sandcastle and watching the donkeys walk by.

575 down, 1221 to go

314. Turron de Jijona

When I read this on the list I was so excited. I knew that turron was a Spanish kind of nougat and nougat is one of my favourite foods in the world. Oh my was I disappointed. I was expecting it to be what you generally think of as nougat - chewy, honeyed deliciousness, but it wasn’t. It was like a solid paste of pureed nuts, and it was greasy but dry at the same time. Needless to say I have had one mouthful and the rest of the packet has so far gone uneaten!

314 down, 1482 to go

297. Florentine

Another treat from work, these florentines met with my approval for two reasons. Firstly there was a choice of both milk and dark chocolate (I can never decide which I prefer). And secondly they were just crammed full of hazelnuts and almonds with no fruit peel in sight. Florentines have long been my favouritist biscuit. Well, I say biscuit. They’re hardly an actual biscuit considering they have no flour in but I’m not entirely sure what else to describe them as and you always find them in the biscuit aisle of the store… Anyway, they have long been my favourite whatever-they-are and I always make sure we have a big box in the house at Christmas. The combination of the roasted nuts, crunchy caramel and chocolate is just divine.

297 down, 1499 to go

170. Turkish Delight

I’ve always loved Turkish delight, in particular the more solid, see-through kind which I’ve eaten since I was little. I’ve since had the white, opaque stuff which tends to taste more milky rather than fruity, and although I like it, the classic stuff is still my favourite. The proper classic rose, lemon and peppermint flavours in particular, which were the flavours I bought on this occasion from the market. It’s just so sweet and chewy and gooey, yum.

170 down, 1626 to go