There are very few manufacturers today who can still produce high-quality soft filled chocolates. They are much more difficult and complicated than the simple molding of solid chocolate bars, and soft centered chocolates have a shorter shelf life. Village Candy is proud to introduce Weinrich fruit-filled bars in Blueberry, Orange, Raspberry, Strawberry and Cherry.

Germany's Ludwig Weinrich GmbH has more than a century of experience in producing confectionery, especially chocolate products. By carefully selecting the ingredients and employing modern equipment, Weinrich experts - some of them with the company for decades - maintain a consistently high level of quality. All stages of work necessary for the production of their chocolate are handled directly at the Weinrich production center in Herford Germany: roasting and grinding of cocoa beans, blending of ingredients via conching, and packaging of the final product.

Come in try these great tasting, just picked bars!

"I" is (I is what I is, and I ain't what I ain't) a rarity in the candy lexicon. I briefly pondered island punch-flavored (a Jelly Belly), iridescent, insipid (many exist, though non take this descriptive name). I don't personally know of any Irish or Italian-named candies (nor Iraqi, Iranian, Israeli or Iroquois, for that matter). So I looked closer to home to come up with the leading letter from this unusual treat. Remember, if you're the first to send us the correct guess, you'll win a very special prize (void where prohibited by cheesiness law).

Last Week's Clue
Last issue's winner was Maria DeVore (again - I know I can count on at least one reader of this drivel).

Hubba Bubba bubble gum originated in 1979, and is produced by Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company (which was recently acquired by M&M/Mars). The main gimmick used to promote Hubba Bubba is that it's less sticky than other brands, so burst bubbles are easier to peel.

The first Hubba Bubba was the traditional bubble gum flavor referred to as Original, but different, mostly fruit-based flavors have come and gone. Flavors over the years in various countries include lemon, cream soda, cola, pineapple, cherry, peach, tropical, lime, salty licorice, chocolate strawberry and watermelon. It was originally only available in chunks, typically being sold in packets of five. More recently, it has been produced in rolls of Bubble Tape, plastic Bubble Jugs of crystals, metal tins of Ouch! strips, and the newest, Glop, which is a hard glossy nugget filled with juice (and is in stock at Village Candy).

The earliest series of U.S. TV commercials for Hubba Bubba were set in a Wild West town and featured the Gumfighter, declaring "Big bubbles, no troubles." Commercials in the U.S. today use the same stop-motion style used in Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run - they're made by the same producer, Aardman. In Canada, commercials use cartoon characters named Hubba and Bubba.

Hubba Bubba was erroneously rumored to use whale blubber to make their gum as it was seen as a cheap alternative to produce natural gum. The Hubba Bubba brand was discontinued in the U.S. in the early 1990s but was obviously resuscitated sometime since.