joe randel's art dump

Last summer I was contacted by someone who wished to take part in my ever popular (not really), but rarely seen Snack Swap! Just to bring others up to speed, Snack Swap is an idea I had some time ago where I will swap Canadian candy and snacks with those around the globe. It started when I moved to Montreal and found that some of the treats you could get were different then in my home province. Not really thinking that snacks would be different so close to home, I got wondering what junk food is like in other places. What kinds of chip flavors to others get and so forth. So far I’ve done only a few of these and they’ve been from different parts of the U.S. so to get one from Mexico was quite a treat. I also must put forth a huge apology to the trader for not putting a post up about this when the exchange took place. It was an EPIC trade and they deserve full props for what they sent. So without any more delays… lets’ get to it.

So first off, this trader sent me lots of junk, but in that case, it’s a good thing. I want lots of junk. They said that I didn’t have to send a lot in return, they were just excited to share treats from Mexico with someone else.

See, I told you they sent a lot. I couldn’t even keep it all in one picture! I can’t say thank you enough for this swap. I was incredible. I couldn’t possibly go over all the treats I got so I’ll just cover the ones that stood out the most or where the most memorable. There was some candy that was just the Mexican version of a candy we got up here in Canada, and some that I’d never seen before ever which is always so much fun to try.

This was one that is quite similar to what we have. It’s sour powdered sugar. My kids and I enjoyed this very much. ^_^

One things that we got quite a bit of was what looked like local made candies and I know the trader asked for as much as I could find as well. Guess what these are? Rocks! Actually, they’re chocolate that is candy coated so they look like rocks. Also a cool treat.

We found some dried chocolate covered strawberries in this box. Also a great thing to receive as they where quite tasty.

Skwinkles. Ahhh… Skwinkles.  What to say about these. They were… horrible. This was the candy that made me aware that tamarind was a popular flavor in Mexico. It’s not something you find in Canada that’s for sure. Regardless, I ate them anyway. My family did not. Even the candy that wasn’t well received was so much fun to try. That’s half the fun of this whole swap in my opinion!

Kranky!!! I did like these. It’s like chocolate covered Corn Flakes. I’m totally okay with this. In fact, I’m surprised this isn’t a thing every where. Two thumbs up!

This had me seriously scared and was one of the last things I… ATE (see what I did there). No one else was willing to try it so I was on my own. “What could it possibly be” I wondered? Finally I broke it open and gave it a try. I discovered that it was a natural apple fruit leather with some coarse sugar. It was awesome! I so loved this so much and would gladly go back for more.

Another amazing treat! Normally I wouldn’t eat something with a skull on the package. That usually means bad news. But since this skull had a nice hat on, I figured I was safe. So what looked like a bar of soap was actually a coconut cake of sorts. Since I’m a big fan of coconuts (I buy them in the summer when I can) I fell in love with this snack. So good!

This was actually a brand name that I recognized. It was a standard hazelnut chocolate bar, but I do enjoy brand named stuff too. It’s interesting to see what companies will send to different locals and markets.

I still have this on my desk at work. I’m very much afraid of it and might just keep it as a keep sake of my Mexican swap.

There was so many things to try I couldn’t possibly document it all. Plus I forgot to take pictures sometimes. I know there was more then a few more tamarind flavored candies. One was in this green push tube and man… I couldn’t get it out of my mouth fast enough. Over all though, it was a total success! I loved trying all these Mexican junks foods. I can’t say thank you enough to the trader for all the stuff they sent over.

THE FLIP SIDE

So what did I send to Mexico? Lets have a look and find out.

I put in the box a good choice of Canadian chocolate bars. Note, some of these might be found in the upper States too. Some of our things make it across the border.

Ketchup chips is a staple flavor up here in the great white north. It’s strange I know and not everyone up here likes them, but they’ve been around since I was a kid and I don’t think they’re going away anytime soon.

All Dressed and Dill Pickle are also flavors that are pretty popular where I live. I’m never sure what size chips to send so I this time I sent large bags rather than small. Can’t have people run out now can we.

We Canadian’s sure do love our salty snacks. I’ve enjoyed Hickory Sticks since I was a kid and the Hawkins Cheezies actually are made in the city of Belleville, which is where I was born. So they are totally a local snack. These are peanuts covered in a chip like coating and chip flavorings added as well. What can I say… we love our chips.

Can’t have a Canadian snack swap with out butter tarts. I hope they made it through okay and not damaged or worse during the long trip.

The trader made a special request for Jelly Belly jelly beans. A friend told them about them so they had to try some. Not a Canadian candy, but still lots of fun.

Finally, a trade just wouldn’t be complete with out sending some maple flavored goods. Some maple sugar candy, maple cookies and a small jug of maple syrup. It’s like liquid gold that comes from trees. Did you know that maple syrup only comes from my part of Canada. That would be the Ontario, Quebec part. Well, not totally, I’ve been told that you can also get some in northern Vermont. But Canada supplies the world with 71% of the maple syrup and Quebec makes the most with 91% of that. Amazing!

So that’s the snack swap I made with Mexico. It was so much fun and I enjoyed trying everything that was sent. I hope they liked everything too. I don’t do this sort of thing very often, but when it happens, I’m reminded how much fun it is discovering what junk other people eat. ^_^