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Photos: The Best, Weirdest And Most Disgusting Candy At The Sweets & Snacks Expo

By Rachel Cromidas in Food on Jun 1, 2016 7:15PM

Chicago played host to the behemoth trade show known as the Sweets & Snacks Expo for another year this past week, and we were on-hand to sample (okay, stuff our faces) with the newest and "most innovative" products to be found on the trade-show floor.

We rounded up about 50 of the most intriguing and peculiar featured products, including freeze-dried crickets, Sriracha-flavored coconut and cheddar cheese-dusted Pop Chips, and pulled in three taste-testing experts to weigh in. Full disclosure: those "experts" also happen to be our Food Editor Anthony Todd, Associate Editor Mae Rice and me, whom we could call Chicagoist's very picky eater-in-chief.

You can click through the gallery above to read our reviews of each product, and check out our top five (below). You may also notice some trends emerging; we did: Coconut chips and coconut oil were big this year, as was the label "non-GMO." Popular flavors ranged from "sweet chili" and "chili lime" to Korean BBQ, Jalapeño and bacon. All bacon everything? We'll take it.

Chicagoist's Top 5 Favorite Sweet & Snack Expo Takeaways:

*Snickers Crisper
*Spicy Revenge Bacon
*The Little Kernel Truffle Popcorn
*Nudi Snacks' Sweet Thai Chili Coconut Chips
*Wonderfully Raw Chili Pumpkin Seed Crunch Brussel Bytes