Marini's is a Santa Cruz based candy store, specializing in salt water taffy, caramel corn, and candied apples, that has been around since the mid 1900's. They've expanded into chocolate making, including caramels, toffee, fudge, dipped fruit, and, uh, chocolate covered bacon. They expanded to several stores around Santa Cruz, including multiple locations on the boardwalk, which is where I encountered them.
While candy is something I enjoy, the candy looked fairly generic. I'm not one for taffy or candied applies. But ... caramel corn. I love my popcorn. So after a disappointing funnel cake on the boardwalk, I headed straight there to grab a bag to take home.
"Marini’s gourmet peanut caramel corn is made with the finest ingredients available. Direct from the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk to your door. What a delight!
Marini's makes two varieties of caramel corn, regular, or, peanut. I went for peanut, because, why not? Adding peanuts surely wouldn't hurt! Thick: upscale Cracker Jacks.
The caramel corn was good. Very good. Crunchy kernels, well coated. The caramel was dark and intensely flavorful. There was an equal distribution of little clusters of several pieces, and single kernels.
The peanuts were actually really good peanuts, small size roasted Spanish peanuts. Some were raw, others were coated in caramel. They were a bit lost though, and mostly sunk to the bottom of the bag, as they didn't seem to have been added while the caramel was still hot to make them stick to the popcorn. Minus a point for that, but, otherwise, this was good caramel corn.
I was a bit horrified by the nutrition stats for the small bag. They think this is 12 servings, and I easily polished it off in two. Uh, the bag had 180 grams of SUGAR alone. 1440 calories. Uh, oops?
But, I really enjoyed it, both fresh, and frozen (how I generally eat my popcorn). I'd gladly get another bag.
While candy is something I enjoy, the candy looked fairly generic. I'm not one for taffy or candied applies. But ... caramel corn. I love my popcorn. So after a disappointing funnel cake on the boardwalk, I headed straight there to grab a bag to take home.
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| Peanut Caramel Corn. $6. |
Marini's makes two varieties of caramel corn, regular, or, peanut. I went for peanut, because, why not? Adding peanuts surely wouldn't hurt! Thick: upscale Cracker Jacks.
The caramel corn was good. Very good. Crunchy kernels, well coated. The caramel was dark and intensely flavorful. There was an equal distribution of little clusters of several pieces, and single kernels.
The peanuts were actually really good peanuts, small size roasted Spanish peanuts. Some were raw, others were coated in caramel. They were a bit lost though, and mostly sunk to the bottom of the bag, as they didn't seem to have been added while the caramel was still hot to make them stick to the popcorn. Minus a point for that, but, otherwise, this was good caramel corn.
I was a bit horrified by the nutrition stats for the small bag. They think this is 12 servings, and I easily polished it off in two. Uh, the bag had 180 grams of SUGAR alone. 1440 calories. Uh, oops?
But, I really enjoyed it, both fresh, and frozen (how I generally eat my popcorn). I'd gladly get another bag.
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