These little chocolate-coated candied cherries have been a staple on Canadian chocolate-bar racks for decades. While other candies and chocolate bars have spent oodles of dough rebranding themselves for the new, more x-treem (shudder) generation, there’s something soothing about seeing a sweet treat that hasn’t bothered with 3-D type, gimmicky claims or fancy foil-plastic packaging. In short, I’m glad the Lowney Cherry Blossom still exists.
The Pitch: Nothing. There’s not a single word on the box explaining what it is, or entreating you to place one on the checkout belt. One photo does all the talking.
The Look: Beautifully vintage. Hasn’t changed in years. The old-school box is decorated with a cross-section photo showing sweet, sugary goo oozing from around a candied maraschino cherry contained in a thick outer shell of nut-flecked chocolate.
The Taste: Sweeeeeeeeeeet! Lip-puckeringly, tooth-achingly sweet, to be precise. The chocolate shell (with peanut and coconut embedded) is hard and thick, with a taste and texture not unlike a Neilson chocolate macaroon. The maraschino cherry inside is soft, sweet and lightly waxy, and the syrupy goo is in parts thick, and in other parts runny. The contrasting textures are wonderful. The cherry taste isn’t very strong, leaving the sweetness of the filling and the chocolate to dominate.
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RATINGS AND DETAILS
Cost: $1.25 for a 45 gram single-candy box at Calgary Co-op.
Value for cash money: Good.
Availability: No idea. They’re made for Hershey Canada, so I’d expect they’re easy to find throughout Canada.
Nutrition?: Per 1 piece (45 grams): 210 calories, 10 grams of fat, 40 mg of sodium, 1 gram of fibre, 2 grams of protein.
The verdict: A Canadian candy classic. Messy to eat, but worth it – if you can handle the sweetness.
have always loved these…..bought a case on recent holiday and brought overseas with me. yum!
Do you happen to remember that 70s TV advert? It was animated, and there might have been some famous band singing the jingle. Do you know what band? Have you found the vintage commercial on YouTube anywhere? I always loved that one!
These not-so-little morsels of cherry-bomb delight were briefly available in America, and when a friend was going to Canada decades later and asked if I wanted anything, I actually shrieked ny order.
Cherry Blossoms. YUMMMMM.
Frankie: yes, I remember the 70s TV advert (it wore a groove in my preadolescent brain), and if you’re still consulting these comments 4 years on – which you almost certainly aren’t – you can see it on YouTube RIGHT HERE: