In a follow-up to our conversation with Dan Abel Jr, the Willy Wonka of the Midwest, we sat down with four boxes of Bissinger's treats to see if the old world recipes hold up.

Spoiler alert: they do.

We sampled....

The chocolates were provided by Bissinger's PR Team, but we were not compensated for this episode or the interview with Dan.

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Jocelyn and Leah sit down with Dan Abel Jr, the Chief Chocolate Officer of St. Louis-based Bissinger's Chocolate. We learn about the history of the company from the 1600s in France to the 2000s in St. Louis, Missouri, why they import oranges and chocolate from Europe and what handcrafted means to them.

In Part 2, we get into the chocolate treats.

A few links

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The night before Leah went on her summer vacation to Africa, Jocelyn came over with very special Toney's Chocoloneys and Korean candies. They also tried salt water taffy from Oregon and talked about movie podcasts.

Jocelyn went to Woodman's and brought some post-Halloween treats, so we recorded an episode.

Want to eat along with Jocelyn and Leah?

In March, Leah and Jocelyn were joined by friend Jo McCawley to celebrate Jocelyn's birthday the only way we know how - by recording a podcast episode. This episode is heavy on chat and a little light on candy, but 100% Candy Chat.

Show Notes

• Cheryl's Cookies

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If you found us through Dinosaur at The Den - welcome!

Leah and Jocelyn are back to talk about Christmas traditions and try some Secret Santa regional treats from Robert Persinger (AKA The Drop King).

We try...

Chukar Cherries

Fran's Park Bars

Aplets and Cotlets 

Happy birthday, Jocelyn! We are working on bringing Candy Chat Chicago back with weekly episodes. Here's an episode recorded in September with treats from Spain and Sweden thanks to Lily, Shai, James and Abby!

In August, Leah and Jocelyn took a road trip to Rochester, Minnesota where they bought a lot of candy. Then our friend Jamie in Germany sent a care package. Jocelyn's friend Matt went to Korea and brought us back candy.

We have so much candy, friends.

We're trying candy from Germany, Korea and Minnesota. We're talking sad documentaries and highway signs. Fast 9, AMC movie pass and so much more.

In July - JULY - Shai Korman from Friday Night Movie Podcast was in Chicago for 24 hours and he dropped into the Candy Chat Chicago HQ for a quick record. Then we sat on the file for months, because... life is hard sometimes.

It was worth the wait - Shai tells us about how our mutual friend Justin Korda changed campaigning at their high school in Montreal, his favorite parts of a nuero-psych exam and how a good joke means love.

July was when our second care package from Jamie in Germany arrived, so we started trying some treats from Europe!

Listen to Shai and his sister's on Friday Night Movie Podcast  and

Shai's first episode with us

In this extra-special episode, Leah visited her friend Caroline to interview her eight-year-old daughter about candy hierarchies and taste some classic treats. Now that Shira is 9, we decided it was time to share the conversation! Special guests Neil and Eli. (Jocelyn was very sad to miss out on this recording)

Candy we tried

• Watermelon Jelly Belly
  

Show Links

• Whatever happened to tan M&Ms?

Caroline was previously a guest on Finding Favorites talking about how to prepare for Passover.