13 Candies To Buy And 7 To Skip At Mast General Store

At Mast General Store, you can buy outdoor gear, cast iron skillets, local swag, cheeky pajamas, and candy. Lots and lots of candy. Chocolate bars, caramels, and cookie dough bites. Gummy bears, chocolate-covered pretzels, and cordials. Find all these sweet treats and more in the dozens of barrels that fill the store. When I was 10 years old, Mast General Store was the closest thing I knew to heaven on earth.

This store, which has locations across the southeast, opened its first trading post not too far from where I live in North Carolina. It was founded in the 1850s (albeit under a different name) in the Appalachian community of Valle Crucis, near modern-day Boone. As of late 2025, the chain store still specializes in antique-style goods and candies. Walking on its creaky wooden floors, you'll feel an unmistakable sense of homeliness fill your heart as you shop for candy, most of which is sold by the pound.

But what to buy? I visited my local Mast General Store in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and picked up a wide variety of candies for a taste and tell. While I was supremely pleased with much of the selection, there are certainly varieties I recommend against buying. I ranked products according to flavor and texture, and you can find a few more notes on methodology at the end of this article.

Each Christmas, my family always gave a box of Queen Anne cordial cherries to my grandfather with the warning that he shouldn't eat them all in one sitting. Queen Anne might be a top-tier brand, but my grandfather would have surely polished off a bag of these barrel-aged bourbon cordials, too.

These cordials weren't what I was expecting — I'm used to larger chocolates with more liquid inside — but I was pleasantly surprised by how the candies improved with each passing moment. With smooth dark chocolate on the outside and a slightly grainier feel on the inside, these cordials scored well on the textural front. Meanwhile, they weren't cloying, and the cherry flavor evolved gradually rather than being overbearing. Finally, the burst of bourbon flavor at the center of each cordial was unique and invigorating.

Cow Tales have always repelled me with their creamy, yet chewy texture, and strong caramel flavor. So, I wasn't sure how I would react to Mast General Store's vanilla bulls-eyes chocolate bars. These bars were inspired by Goetze's caramel creams, and Goetze's Candy is the same brand that makes those Cow Tales that haunt my dreams.

While this wasn't my favorite candy on the list, I'll still say that it's a solid buy. Perhaps my taste buds have matured since the last time I tried a Goetze's product, or maybe I just liked the more uniform, predictable texture of these chocolate bars. Whatever the reason, I appreciated how the white crème filling complemented the caramely blend of white and milk chocolate.

I love pecans. So much so that the last time I flew to India (where I live the majority of each year), I packed a 2-pound bag of Kirkland Signature pecans to add to granola and nut butter. There was no question about picking up a bag of dark chocolate pecans from Mast General Store. Sadly, I was left yearning for more.

Though there were plenty of large pecan pieces in my bag, I also encountered a substantial amount of chocolate pieces sans pecan. Meanwhile, the dark chocolate was fine, but nothing remarkable. The texture of the chocolate was too chewy, and I would have preferred the pecans to be roasted for a crispier mouthfeel and improved flavor.

Before I ever started drinking coffee, I was munching on Trader Joe's dark chocolate-covered espresso beans at swim meets. Just a dozen or so of these gems can give you a caffeine kick equivalent to that of a single cup of coffee.

These chunky bursts of energy from Trader Joe's were never uniform in size, and many of them featured extra chocolate to offset the bitterness of the coffee beans. The version sold at Mast General Store offered smaller pieces, most of which were consistent in size and lent a nice chocolate-to-espresso ratio. While I missed the chunkiness of Trader Joe's version, I also liked these dark chocolate coffee beans and could see them as an excellent addition to trail mix.

When I was a kid, holidays were joyful enough with their profusion of cookies and cheesecakes. But once the candy cane Hershey Kisses entered the picture, I had eyes for nothing else. These peppermint brownie bites reminded me of those little pleasures, especially with their crunchy texture granted by peppermint bits. Admittedly, I couldn't taste much of the cocoa in these bites, but I didn't mind its background role.

Just one of these bites was enough to satisfy my sweet tooth and freshen my mouth. The peppermint flavor was very pronounced, so be prepared. If you like the sound of this product, you might also pick up a peppermint dream brownie bar from Mast General Store.

Peanut butter and jelly bars are my favorite holiday dessert, and I ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every day at school until I was about 16 years old. Nevertheless, these peanut butter jelly cups betrayed my allegiance to PB&J with their excessive sweetness. They were so sweet that they burned the back of my throat.

Ironically, I could hardly discern the jam's flavor or texture. According to the label, concentrated strawberry juice was present, which made me even sadder because strawberry is one of my favorite flavors of jam. I also noticed that this was the only candy to be partially destroyed in the bag upon purchase, which is why I ended up with sticky fingers after eating them.

I had no hesitation in tossing a Cheerwine float chocolate bar into my basket because, as a North Carolinian, I am proud of the cherry-flavored soda that originated in our state. Milk chocolate, cherry, and vanilla were advertised on the front of this bar's wrapper, and these are exactly the flavors I received. If anything, this tasted more like a classic cordial cherry than the cordials I described earlier.

The bar itself had a red tint, reminding me of red velvet cake. We can thank Red 40 for that, but whether the artificial color is a dealbreaker is a debate for a different day. I was blown away by this bar's flavor, which was shockingly similar to Cheerwine. Its texture was also pleasingly soft, thanks to the white crème filling.

When I picked up a bag of Mast General Store's lemon twist bites, I was expecting something along the lines of Lemonheads or lemon drop candies that I would be able to suck on for the next 15 minutes. After all, the exterior shell of these candies appeared hard and lacquered. I was disappointed to find that the mouthfeel of each little sphere was, well, weird. The hard shells soon gave way to soft interiors, and I discovered that the candies were overwhelmingly creamy.

Though these candies were strongly reminiscent of lemon loaf, they lacked the citrus fruit's signature tartness. With their strange texture and absence of any notable zing, these candies were my least favorite of all that I tried.

I grew up eating s'mores on countless camping trips, own a pair of s'mores earrings, and am wearing s'mores-themed socks as I write this very article. Despite my passion for the rustic dessert, I've found s'mores-inspired products to be hit or miss. For instance, I loved Maman's s'mores cookies, but I struggled to enjoy Chewy s'mores granola bars, even when I was younger and interested in all things sugar.

These peanut butter s'mores bites, though, impressed me with their flavor and texture. First and foremost, these bites don't hold back on the marshmallow flavor, and you'll need to have a sweet tooth to enjoy them. Meanwhile, the graham crumbs lent a wonderful textural variation to the inside of each candy, contrasting nicely with the peanut butter coating. Notably, these bites do not contain any form of chocolate, but I think they would perform beautifully atop chocolate cupcakes as a decoration.

If you were to ask me to name a handful of old-fashioned candies and confections, chocolate-covered raisins would be right up there,with fudge and salt water taffy. Raisinets might have a tough time competing with Snickers and Reese's when Halloween rolls around, but I think they are just as deserving of praise and affection.

Although these dark chocolate raisins were fine in flavor and texture, I would skip buying them again. Nothing about these raisins stood out, making them one of the least memorable products on this list. The raisins were plump, but the chocolate could have been of better quality. You'd be better off buying chocolate-covered raisins at Sam's Club, where they are considered one of the best Member's Mark label desserts. Or you could make these sweet treats at home by melting chocolate and a bit of butter or oil, then drizzling it over raisins.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal made me gag as a kid, so I wasn't expecting to enjoy these brown sugar cinnamon pretzel poppers. I thought these balls would be crispy and crunchy like the cereal I still avoid, but they were actually quite creamy on the outside. After the white confectionery coating melted away, the pretzels provided a crunchy twist for the last few bites. However, it was one that I enjoyed, especially because the salt helped offset the pretzel poppers' prior sweetness.

If you like white chocolate-covered pretzels, you may very well enjoy these. They impressed me so much that I wouldn't hesitate to try the other flavors of pretzel poppers at Mast General Store, including a matcha sesame seed variation.

I could wax poetic about s'mores again, but I think I made myself pretty clear earlier: I have high standards. This time, sadly, they were not met. It's admittedly tough to nail a s'mores chocolate bar. If it has a marshmallow filling, it shouldn't be nauseatingly sweet, and the adjacent chocolate should be sharp and bitter enough to hold its own against the sugary, creamy center.

Perhaps I would have liked this bar more if it featured dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate. But alas, I experienced a sugar overload, and I was so overwhelmed that I didn't notice that the marshmallow filling was supposedly smoked. Finally, I missed the textural variation and earthier flavors that graham crackers could have offered.

As was the case with the brown sugar cinnamon pretzel poppers I described earlier, I was unsure how I would feel about these maple French toast bites. I grew tired of French Toast Crunch cereal as a kid, and even though I like French toast and maple syrup in their original avatars, I feared becoming nauseated by a crunchy texture.

I needn't have worried, though, because these bites featured a soft and pillowy texture with just a hint of crunch on the inside. Their aroma was outstanding and hit me as soon as I tore open the package. The flavor was likewise stupendous, with maple adding complexity and the cinnamon suffusing my mouth with warmth.

I'm usually a fan of hard caramels rather than chewy ones, but these dark chocolate sea salt caramels won me over. Though I wish the chocolate had been of higher quality, the caramel was delightful and complex in flavor. Sometimes businesses go overboard with the "salted" aspect of salted caramel. That was not the case here, however; just a hint of salt complemented the chocolate and caramel without stealing the spotlight.

If you have a candy thermometer and enough patience, you might choose to recreate these sweet bites at home. You can use this recipe for chewy salted caramel candies as a starting point, then enrobe each square in dark chocolate before sprinkling on sea salt.

Tepid oatmeal has never been a food I can stomach, and these oatmeal cinnamon raisins reminded me of just that. They tasted like oatmeal cinnamon raisin cookies, but without enough boldness in either texture or flavor. The ingredient list looked good on paper: White chocolate, dark chocolate, raisins, rolled oatmeal, and ground cinnamon were all accounted for. But in combination, these candies seemed a bit cold and bland.

If you're craving oatmeal, cinnamon, and raisins, just bake a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies instead. Rather than having the oats and raisins meddle with one another, you'll be able to discern their unique textures and flavors — something I missed in this product.

As soon as I opened this package, a waft of nostalgia hit my senses. It took me back to opening countless boxes of Funfetti cake mix as a kid, and I couldn't wait to try my first bite.

Be warned: You do need a sweet tooth to enjoy these bites, as is the case with many other products on this list. That said, if you like crusting buttercream, which becomes textured and sugary after being applied to cakes or cookies, you'll love these bites; they tasted and felt like a mash-up of cookie dough and frosting. Overall, I was impressed and would be happy to try the other cookie dough bite variations available at Mast General Store.

I love Snickers and was once saved by a few bars while hiking the Mountains-to-Sea Trail (coincidentally, near the original Mast General Store). Whether it's chocolate peanut butter haystacks or chocolate peanut butter cheesecake bars, sign me up for the sweet and salty vibes.

These double-dipped milk chocolate peanuts lived up to my expectations. They tasted like a simpler version of Snickers, and as such, the chocolate and the peanuts stood upright on their own without nougat or caramel interfering. In fact, this product had one of the shortest ingredient lists out of all the products I tested. Eat it by the handful, or add it to trail mix for a sweet twist.

My gaze fell upon these almonds in December, but the first word that came to my mind was "Easter." In pastel hues of yellow, pink, blue, green, purple, and cream, these Jordan almonds added a burst of color to a basket otherwise filled with various shades of chocolate brown. I wanted to like them. I wanted them to live up to their cheery disposition. Unfortunately, this was not the case.

These almonds couldn't decide whether they wanted to be chewy, crunchy, or crispy. I didn't find them to be particularly flavorful at first, though they did have a pleasant aftertaste. Finally, if it matters to you, several artificial colors are used, including Red 3 and Yellow 5.

Crispy chocolate is usually an instant hit in my books, and Mast General Store's Poppy hand-crafted popcorn chocolate bar was no different. While I've enjoyed chocolate bars with puffed rice (hello, Nestlé Crunch) and even puffed quinoa (as featured in Raaka's green tea crunch bar, one of my favorite unusual chocolate flavors), I've never consumed chocolate flecked with bits of popcorn. Since chocolate-covered popcorn is also an instant hit in my books, I didn't think I would have a problem.

True to my expectations, this milk chocolate bar was splendid in flavor and texture. The caramel popcorn was perfectly sized, and it became more apparent as the chocolate gradually melted away and left me with its divine flavors. The popcorn was not overbearing, and it was supported by crisped rice for additional texture.

I wasn't sure whether I would enjoy these chocolate-covered pretzels from Mast General Store. For reasons unknown to me, the chocolate coating appeared dusty, possibly indicating a harmless condition known as chocolate bloom. Perhaps the chocolate melted slightly en route to the store, or maybe it was not tempered well in the first place. Regardless, it was not aesthetically pleasing, so I'm glad that I still approached the taste test with an open mind.

Thankfully, the flavor of these milk chocolate mini twist pretzels was not affected by the bloom. They tasted like classic chocolate-covered pretzels, striking the perfect balance between sweet and salty. Even if the chocolate didn't stand out as being of a spectacular grade, it didn't need to for these pretzels to shine. Satisfying on multiple fronts, this product would function as an ideal airplane snack.

I selected a wide variety of products, most of which did not have specific brand names included on the labels. Nevertheless, bulk products like these are usually produced by candy companies like Zachary Confections. I included four of Mast General Store's chocolate bars, and they were the only products that I did not pull out of barrels. In an effort to boost diversity, I strove to include white, milk, and dark chocolate options, as well as only one or two variations from categories like cookie dough bites and brownie bites.

When judging whether each product was a "skip" or a "buy," I referenced my experience tasting other similar products when applicable. For example, I have eaten other brands of chocolate-covered pretzels and therefore had several points of comparison. Products with conflicting textures usually received a "skip," while those that pulled off bold choices earned a "buy." Finally, I gave lower marks to products with artificial-tasting flavors, regardless of what was on the ingredient list.