I love a good lollipop. It lasts forever, tastes delicious, and is not messy at all, a plus for someone whose hair acts as a magnet for food. Living in a city where I constantly use public transportation, a nice hands-free candy is always appreciated. So guess who did Balki’s Dance of Joy when she stumbled upon locally made Das lollipops at a wine and cheese store in Chicago, Provenance? The lollipops retail for under $1 each, and come in four varieties that are more geared toward adult tastes than children: salted caramel, maple bacon, ginger lemon, and pomegranate orange. They are a creation of Katie Das, a Ukrainian native that used to be a food scientist and now makes candies and caramels. If you haven’t drooled over her gourmet salted caramels at Whole Foods, Provenance, you need to. I tried all of the lollipops except for the pomegranate orange. For the most part, I was happily surprised! First, lets start with my favorite, the maple bacon.
As you can see, this lollipop had real bits of bacon in it, and plenty of it! So many times, candy that incorporates bacon has a fake flavor or barely any bacon in (like the Vosges bacon chocoalte bar) but this lollipop definitely delivered in the bacon department. You even get to chew little bacon bits out of the lolly! My only complaint is that the maple flavor is quite faint, and I really wanted it to taste as strong as maple syrup. That minor point aside, this is a great way to get a mid-day bacon fix without burning yourself with bacon grease. The next lollipop was the Naughty Ginger (ginger lemon).
This lollipop packs a punch! The ginger is incredibly spicy, and the lemon cuts through the spice nicely. It was a bit too strong for my taste, but a few other tasters absolutely loved it. The last lollipop I tried was the Caramel Me happy (salted caramel).
This was just okay. I really wanted the caramel flavor to be a bit more buttery, and for there to be more salt flavor. The texture of the lolly was a bit scratchy as well, but I assume that is because it was made from scratch. I wanted to like this one more than I did. I really did. In the end, I was pretty happy with the DAS lollipops. I would definitely hit up the maple bacon one again, and perhaps the ginger one if I had a cold or was craving something spicy. It just makes my heart happy to get my lollipop fix locally! ~LTG! ******************************** Das caramels and lollipops can be found at Whole Foods, Provanence, Sam’s Wine & Spirits, City Olive, Chicago’s Downtown Farmstand, and The Pleasure Chest, which is indeed a sex toy store. Awesome.
