Amy's Gourmet Apples

"NO TRICKS, ALL TREAT." Amy's Gourmet Apples has been chosen as the "Best Overall" in The Wall Street Journal, this was conclusive after taking 5 top retailers of gourmet apples and having their products undergo a taste testing panel. The article is cited from The Wall Street Journal and can be viewed below.

CANDY APPLES used to come in two varieties: red and sticky, or caramel and sticky. But lately this Halloween treat has added a few new tricks. Many candy-makers are pitching caramel apples as gourmet desserts, wrapping them in pricey chocolate, rolling them in dried cranberries, pecans or macadamia nuts and, last but not least, adding double-digit price tags. As with so much else Halloween, they've become big business. Illinois-based Affy Tapple makes about two million apples with the Mrs. Prindables brand every year. (Sales also include "themed" apples for everything from weddings to Hanukkah.) This month, Williams-Sonoma introduced a line of Halloween-themed apples wrapped in dark chocolate from California boutique maker Guittard; one offering weighs more than two pounds, costs $19.50 and, at 140 calories per slice, is meant to serve 17.

Epicurean Event

So this Halloween season, we picked caramel apples from five retailers and convened a tasting panel of "experts" namely, sweet-toothed parents who wanted more this year than their kids' leftover chocolate bars. The prices raised eyebrows, and it took some work to find apples that evoked real enthusiasm. But after eating our way through five samples, we decided that, done right, the candy apple can be an epicurean event. Our first lesson: A pretty caramel apple is not necessarily a great caramel apple. Take Mrs. Prindables' $29.95 Halloween 4-Pack. It was a smart presentation, with dark and orange-colored white chocolate and Halloween wrappings. But the chocolate had a waxy, commercial taste; one panelist decreed that Mrs. Prindables were more for show. Our next try, from Fudge House, didn't score on taste or presentation: At $6.75 a piece, its caramel chocolate swirl and caramel walnut apples had bitter-flavored walnuts and middling chocolate. Erin's Gourmet Apples made a stronger visual statement. Each Triple Striped Caramel Apple ($16.95 a piece) weighed 1.5 pounds, including an outer shell of dark, milk and white chocolate. But in place of the traditional, tart Granny Smith apples, Erin's used sweet Fujis. "Three layers of sweet," complained one panelist. (Williams- Sonoma, whose apples weren't available in time for our test, also uses Fujis.)

Nuts to That

That award goes to Amy's Gourmet Apples-specifically, its Gourmet Pecan Turtle Caramel Apple with Dark Belgian Chocolate and Gourmet Dark Belgian Chocolate Dunked Caramel Apple. These apples struck the right balance between tart and sweet and were gloriously decadent at the same time. "I really taste the dark chocolate," said one panelist. "The nuts make it," said another. In other words, this was a grown-up Halloween confection. No tricks, all treat.

- Charles Passy, The Wall Street Journal

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The $19 Apple: Treat or Trick? - "#1 BEST OVERALL" Goes to Amy's Gourmet Apples.
"NO TRICKS, ALL TREAT." Amy's Gourmet Apples has been chosen as the "Best Overall" in The Wall Street Journal, this was conclusive after taking 5 top retailers of gourmet apples and having their products undergo a taste testing panel. The article is cited from The Wall Street Journal and can be viewed below. CANDY APPLES used to come in two varieties: red and sticky, or caramel and sticky. But lately this Halloween treat has added a few new tricks. Many candy-makers are pitching caramel apples as gourmet desserts, wrapping them in pricey chocolate, rolling them in dried cranberries, pecans or macadamia nuts and, last but not least, adding double-digit price tags. As with so much else Halloween, they've become big business. Illinois-based Affy Tapple makes about two million apples with the Mrs. Prindables brand every year. (Sales also include "themed" apples for everything from weddings to Hanukkah.) This month, Williams-Sonoma introduced a line of Halloween-themed apples wrapped in dark chocolate from California boutique maker Guittard; one offering weighs more than two pounds, costs $19.50 and, at 140 calories per slice, is meant to serve 17. Epicurean Event So this Halloween season, we picked caramel apples from five retailers and convened a tasting panel of "experts" namely, sweet-toothed parents who wanted more this year than their kids' leftover chocolate bars. The prices raised eyebrows, and it took some work to find apples that evoked real enthusiasm. But after eating our way through five samples, we decided that, done right, the candy apple can be an epicurean event. Our first lesson: A pretty caramel apple is not necessarily a great caramel apple. Take Mrs. Prindables' $29.95 Halloween 4-Pack. It was a smart presentation, with dark and orange-colored white chocolate and Halloween wrappings. But the chocolate had a waxy, commercial taste; one panelist decreed that Mrs. Prindables were more for show. Our next try, from Fudge House, didn't score on taste or presentation: At $6.75 a piece, its caramel chocolate swirl and caramel walnut apples had bitter-flavored walnuts and middling chocolate. Erin's Gourmet Apples made a stronger visual statement. Each Triple Striped Caramel Apple ($16.95 a piece) weighed 1.5 pounds, including an outer shell of dark, milk and white chocolate. But in place of the traditional, tart Granny Smith apples, Erin's used sweet Fujis. "Three layers of sweet," complained one panelist. (Williams- Sonoma, whose apples weren't available in time for our test, also uses Fujis.) Nuts to That That award goes to Amy's Gourmet Apples-specifically, its Gourmet Pecan Turtle Caramel Apple with Dark Belgian Chocolate and Gourmet Dark Belgian Chocolate Dunked Caramel Apple. These apples struck the right balance between tart and sweet and were gloriously decadent at the same time. "I really taste the dark chocolate," said one panelist. "The nuts make it," said another. In other words, this was a grown-up Halloween confection. No tricks, all treat. - Charles Passy, The Wall Street Journal Close Window