Day 229

"Burunduchek" Russian Candy: Today's new food once again features Russian candy that I found on my recent trip to the Classic Russian Deli on Covington Highway. Despite the market's overall lameness, I did manage to find a handful of new foods to make the trip worthwhile. I've noticed that these little individually-wrapped candies are quite popular in Eastern European markets, and a lot of them have been really tasty so far. They usually feature chocolate as an ingredient, which is fine by me since I love it. I wasn't sure what this one was about, but I liked the cute little squirrel featured on its wrapper.

 As usual, it took me quite a while to figure out what this particular candy was actually called, since there usually isn't much English written on Eastern European products. I managed to find a web address on the wrapper (www.avk.ua) that was easily translatable with Google, and they appeared to be a popular candy manufacturer with lots of different products.  It took some work, but I finally deduced that this one was called "Burunduchek," described as "sweets of praline with addition of crushed roasted peanuts in candy glaze." Hmm, OK.

After unwrapping, the candy looked like a little chocolate tube, with a fairly solid exterior. I took a bite, and it pretty much tasted like plain milk chocolate with a slightly crunchy, grainy chocolate interior. Maybe the crunch was provided by the pralines? Anyway, it wasn't bad, and the whole thing was gone in a couple bites. Not much new to report in the flavor department - it was just milk chocolate with a gritty, crunchy center.

I still have a few items left from my European-style shopping trips, so keep reading over the next few days for more Euro action.