Imagine if Whoppers and Hi-Chew Had a Fruity Little Baby

On Dulce Gaby's Chocofresky's and Waxahatchee's "Fruits of My Labor"

The Snack

Dulce Gaby’s Chocofresky’s

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That’s it. We’re done. We can stop searching. This weekend I found my favorite candy of the year at La Bodega del Dulce. And it’s still January! What luck!

La Bodega del Dulce is a small candy shop sandwiched between K&S World Market and La Conchita (get the chocoflan!) on Nolensville Road in Nashville. It is packed floor to ceiling with pinatas and literally hundreds of different kinds of Mexican candy, all sold in bulk packaging.

Bubulubu! Paleta Payaso! A Snickers-like candy bar called Nugs! And Bota, a little clay boot filled with tamarind paste?

A little clay boot filled with tamarind paste!

Dizzying array be damned, one package caught my eye as I perused the shelves, a big cellophane bag full of what appeared to be rainbow Whoppers called Chocofresky’s.

Chocofresky’s!

What a joyful word.

Imagine someone offering you some Chocofresky’s. Of course, you would want that! Even if you didn’t know what it was you would exclaim, “Absolutely! Give me some Chocofresky’s!”

So what are they?

Cross the chocolate-covered airy crunch of a Whopper with the bold fruity blast of Hi-Chew and you get Chocofresky’s. They come in strawberry (pink), lemon (green), and pineapple (yellow) and the only way to know which flavor you’re getting is to take a bite. Adventure!

Rarely are fruit-flavored candies as crispy as Chocofresky’s. Fruity candy is almost always gummy, chewy, or hard. Starbursts, Lifesavers, Runts, Skittles, gummy bears. Here’s a fruit-flavored candy that shatters like honeycomb and rains flavor upon your tongue and I have never tasted anything like it.

The lemon Chocofresky is surprisingly sharp — it tastes more like candied lemon zest than it does sugary-sweet lemon candy — and there’s an ever so slight cooling/refreshing sensation when you first crack into it.

The strawberry flavor is also tangier than expected. I was thinking it’d have a creamy Nesquik/strawberry milk vibe, but no. It has some punch! As it crunches it’s as though a billion little molecules of citric acid melt in your mouth and tickle that spot right below your ear at the back of your jaw.

The pineapple is the sweetest of the three and also my favorite — it tastes very much like Pineapple Lumps from Australia. Wonderful.

Despite having purchased a bag of Chocofresky’s just yesterday, I no longer possess any Chocofresky’s. So, wondering if I could buy more online, I did a little research and according to the candy manufacturer Dulces Gaby, Chocofresky’s come in so many more flavors! There’s a whole dessert line, including cajeta, coconut, flan, strawberries and cream, and mint. They also have “Bola Grande” Chocofresky’s, which appear to be larger and individually wrapped.

I must have them.

All of them.

This isn’t over, Chocofresky’s. This is just the beginning of our beautiful journey.

The Song

“Fruits of My Labor” by Waxahatchee

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With fruit on the brain, I can’t help but think of the Lucinda Williams song “Fruits of My Labor.” Her drawl flows like honey as she tells an old love about her bountiful new world:

🎶 “Tangerines and persimmons / And sugarcane / Grapes and honeydew melon / Enough fit for a queen.” 🎶

She paints a vivid picture, one filled with color and light. It’s everything she ever wanted, her reward for taking a risk and leaving a small town behind, but even Williams isn’t immune to occasionally longing for the past. She can’t help but think about her old flame and wish they could join her in her newfound success.

Author and music critic Ann Powers summed the song up perfectly in this rundown of Williams’ best songs, writing “Fruits Of My Labor” is, “…like the Beatles' Strawberry Fields meets an Anne Rice vampire novel.”

Last year Waxahatchee — aka Katie Crutchfield — released her own version of “Fruits of My Labor” and Crutchfield’s take doesn’t sit as heavy on the heart. It sounds as though she, too, has found the alluring world Williams sings about, but Crutchfield’s not as susceptible to the melancholy pull of what she had to leave behind in order to get there.

Like Williams, Crutchfield is taking a wistful look at what used to be, but she shines an optimistic light into some of the song’s darker corners. Still, when you find yourself surrounded by beauty, basking in the glow of everything you’ve ever wanted, it’s nearly impossible not to want to share that with the person you love.

But let’s be real, I won’t be sharing Chocofresky’s with anyone.