Wrigley’s which now runs the Starburst franchise of products just came out with a new variety, called Starburst Flavor Morph. They come in both the long single serving pack, a king size and the 13 ounce bag I picked up at Target over the weekend.

The package says that they have Flavor Changing Beads, which sounds kind of high tech and kind of like a feature of cosmetics/hygiene products.

The newest Starburst offers more than just a variety of flavors in each pack - now, consumers will get to experience a variety of flavors in every square. The candy, which features flavor changing beads, morphs from orange to orange strawberry or cherry to cherry lime.

So, basically, instead of four flavors in the package, there are just two.

Cherry -> Cherry-Lime is wrapped in red with white waves on the little waxed paper wrapper. They’re dark pink and at first do taste just like the traditional Cherry Starburst. The Cherry Lime notes come in rather late, and the advertised flavor beads aren’t evident as pops or crunches. The lime notes were actually a welcome transition in the flavor of the chew, the citrus goes well with the very traditional artificial cherry flavor.

Orange -> Orange-Strawberry looks just like an Orange Starburst, but with a few little flecks. However, it smells like a Strawberry Starburst. So the flavor morph in this instance was not really transitional ... the flavor was absolutely orange and strawberry the whole time. I liked the combination, it’s different from the usual citrus or strawberry combinations.

I haven’t been excited or converted from the classic Fruits package by any of the new Starburst introduction in the past 10 years. This version is no different, it’s a novelty. It’s missing the usual variety and the flavor combinations while appealing aren’t radical enough. While it doesn’t say Limited Edition on the package, I don’t expect them to stick around very long.

Starburst are marked as a gluten-free product. They do contain gelatin, so are not appropriate for vegetarians/vegans and are not Kosher. There are no statements about nuts or other allergens on the package though other sources say they’re nut free. A serving of 8 pieces contains 20% of your daily RDA of Vitamin C. I found them expensive as well, $3.14 for a 13 ounce bag of sugar candy is a bit steep.

Related Candies

1. Haribo Maoam Fruit Chews
2. HiCHEW World Fruit: Dragonfruit, CamuCamu, Durian & White Peach
3. Starburst Sours (New)
4. Starburst Retro
5. Starburst Baja California & Tropical
6. Starburst Berries & Creme and Fruit & Creme
7. Starburst
8. HiCHEW Assortment
9. Starburst Icy Bursts
10. Storck Mamba Chews

Last year Ritter Sport sent me a one of their Europe-only bars, Ritter Sport Espresso. I even bought one when I was in Germany in February. Now they’re selling them in the United States, which only makes sense since we’re the largest coffee consuming country in the world (source).

The bar is Fine Quality European Chocolate made with Natural Ingredients. The bar isn’t explained or teased much on the front, just with robust Arabica coffee and the back just gives the description as Milk chocolate with a coffee cream filling. It also has snowflakes on it, which leads me to believe that it’s a limited edition winter bar and might not be available year round.

The ingredients list is short, but not as pure as I’d like it to be when it’s advertised as being made with natural ingredients. (Just because it’s natural, doesn’t mean I want it in my chocolate bar.)

Ingredients: sugar, palm kernel oil, cocoa butter, chocolate liquor, lactose, milk, skim milk, espresso powder, cream, butterfat, soy lecithin, natural flavor.

There’s a caution about shared equipment for peanuts, almonds, hazelnuts, other nuts and wheat. (Plus it contains soy and dairy ingredients.)

It’s real milk chocolate for the bar part, but the filling is primarily a sugar and oil paste. Palm kernel oil doesn’t have quite the same political reputation that palm oil does, nor the trans fatty content that partially hydrogenated oils. Still, I do not consider that to be a cream, even if cream is added to it. But let me set aside my ingredient rantings for a little tasting. Because I was really looking forward to this bar.

I don’t know what it is about the way that Ritter Sport bars are packaged or handled, but they’re always pristine when I open the package. (Sometimes the bars are broken, but not scuffed.)

The scent is dreamy. There’s a milky dairy note (a little caramel and butter) but the perfect level of coffee to it - rich and woodsy.

The chocolate is a little soft, and the center is even softer. The chocolate melt is cool and smooth, the center is a little grittier because of the coffee powder. The milk chocolate is quite sweet and the filling is less so, with a light salty note to it though there’s not actually any salt in it.

The espresso flavors are not quite ... because of all of the milk notes. It’s more like a dry cappuccino than an espresso, which would be made with a dark chocolate (dairy free would have been great for vegans). I expect there’s a bit of caffeine in here, since there’s real espresso powder, I made sure to eat mine early in the day.

It’s not the perfect coffee chocolate bar, but for about $2.00 or so, it’s achingly close I had to give it a 9 out of 10. The coffee flavors are pure, not flavored, and it’s not junked up with other caramel or hazelnut flavors. I wish it was really a ganache cream made with butterfat in there, but then it wouldn’t be $2 and probably wouldn’t be a shelf stable. Next step would be fair trade (but they do have a pretty good track record for ethical sourcing).

Related Candies

1. Ovation Cappuccino Sticks
2. Ritter Sport Olympia
3. Javaz - Milk & Dark Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans
4. Ritter Sport Peppermint
5. Ritter Sport White Chocolate with Hazelnuts
6. Ritter Darks
7. Pocket Coffee
8. Ritter Sport Capuccino and Rum Trauben Nuss

Name: Hershey’s Rolo Minis
Brand: Hershey’s
Description: Rolo Minis are bite-sized and unwrapped versions of Hershey’s chocolate-covered caramels. They are available in 2.5-ounce king size packs and in eight-ounce reclosable bags.
Introduction Date: March 2012
Notes: These look like a great idea for movie theater snacking or baking projects. I wonder if they’ll be sold in large bags or theater boxes as well. (A king size bag is actually ideal for a movie.)

Name:
Brand: Hershey’s
Description: Milk Chocolate With Almonds Pieces are whole almonds covered in milk chocolate and coated in a candy shell. They pack in eight-ounce pouches that ship in 12- and 20-ct cases.
Introduction Date: March 2012
Notes: These look suspiciously like Almond M&Ms, but I’m not going to complain if I can actually find these reliably. I’m curious what the quality of the chocolate will be. I was fond of the Almond Joy Pieces (which had coconut bits and crushed almonds in milk chocolate). The brown and cream colors feel like they’re more natural, but it’s not like it doesn’t take just as much artificial coloring to make brown as red or blue.

Name: Hershey’s Bliss Dark Chocolate with Caramel
Brand: Hershey’s
Description: Individually wrapped Hershey’s Bliss Dark Chocolate With Caramel is also new, packing in 8.6-ounce bags.
Introduction Date: March 2012
Notes: The Bliss line just keeps looking more and more like Dove Promises. I’m not saying that it’s bad to have a little competition, but I’d like to see some differentiation, Hershey’s should do the kinds of flavor combinations that Dove isn’t doing.

Name: Lindt Holiday Friends
Brand: Lindt Chocolate
Description: Escape to Lindt’s winter wonderland with the help of our lovely enchanting characters: Bear, Snowman & Santa.  Lindt Swiss Maitres Chocolatiers have passionately created the most traditional characters in the finest Lindt chocolate.
Introduction Date: currently available
Notes: Lindt also offers miniature foil wrapped versions of these characters, plus some reindeer for Santa. The bears are on par with the reindeer and iconic bunny they do for Easter. It stands to reason that the bear could be a year round item now.

Name: Warheads Sour Twists
Brand: Impact Confections
Description: The latest Warheads product is pretty twisted. Sour Twists feature a twisted extruded chewy candy with a fruity center and just-right sour coating. Three delicious flavors of lemon, green apple, and watermelon are twirled in every twist, which can be eaten as one, or pulled apart and enjoyed one flavor at a time.
Introduction Date: available now
Notes: Super sour fruity licorice. I like that the twists can be untwisted. It looks like they have a good corner on this part of the market with a truly sour product.

Name: Jelly Belly Snapple Mix
Brand: Jelly Belly
Description: Jelly Belly Candy Co. has teamed up with Snapple to create a new line of Jelly Belly beans with Snapple Juice Drinks. The candymakers began at the source, Snapple Juice Drink concentrates in five tangy and sweet Snapple flavors: Fruit Punch, Mango Madness, Cranberry Raspberry, Pink Lemonade and Kiwi Strawberry. The gourmet jelly beans burst with Snapple goodness. Jelly Belly Snapple Mix flavors are made from real fruit juice and purees. These jelly beans have no artificial coloring; the colors come from natural fruit and vegetables.
Introduction Date: available now
Notes: I like that Jelly Belly is expanding their all natural line of jelly beans. I’ll be on the lookout for these in stores.

Name: Tropical Cotton Candy Swirlz
Brand: Taste Of Nature
Description: Watermelon, banana and pineapple/coconut cotton candy comes in 3.1-ounce bags and join the company’s five existing flavors.
Introduction Date: unknown
Notes: I’ve never been fond of pre-packaged cotton candy, it’s completely lost its fluff by the time it gets to the stores. But I can say, from personal experience, that pineapple and pina colada cotton candy is a great combination.

Images courtesy of the respective manufacturer.

Related Candies

1. Candy Tease: October 2011
2. Candy Tease: Mars 2011 Announcements
3. Candy Tease: Sweets & Snacks Expo 2011 Part 2
4. Candy Tease: Sweets & Snacks Expo 2011 Part 1
5. Hershey’s Almond Joy Pieces
6. Hershey’s Bliss
7. Lindt Chocolate Bunnies (Dark & Milk)

When I saw a tweet from The Impulsive Buy that there was a new kind of M&Ms, I was on the case. Marvo tracked them down, they’re called Cinnamon M&Ms and they’re an exclusive to Target stores right now (though some folks have them on eBay as well).

The bags are slight, with only 9.9 ounces compared to the standard 12 ounce bag of Milk Chocolate M&MS for the same price.

The package features the Green M&M in a white knit cap & scarf holding some cinnamon sticks. The illustration shows that the candies come in three deep red colors.

The pieces vary in size and slightly in color. The deep red and maroon are almost indistinguishable in lower light situations.

Ciinnamon on the left, Milk Chocolate on the right

The pieces are larger than the regular Milk Chocolate M&Ms. The color is not quite as dense or shiny as the regular M&Ms. They’re a little dusty colored, like the color coating isn’t as thick or they aren’t as polished. It appears that the shade of brown and red are identical to the standard Milk Chocolate red and brown, but the maroon is new.

The flavor, as Marvo pointed out in his review, tastes like it’s concentrated in the shell of the candy, not in the milk chocolate. Some shells taste more cinnamony than others, but the red tastes the most like cinnamon. It’s not a “red hot” sort of flavor, it’s more of the ground spice flavor. It’s woodsy and rich with a slight heat to it, but nothing that’s too warm. 

The largest pieces feel like they’re layered; as if they start out as a regular sized M&M, then get another layer of chocolate to supersize them. (They used to make Mega M&Ms, maybe this is just the same equipment being put to use.)

The flavor is different but not radical. It’s subtle and pleasant, but masks the also mild chocolate flavors from Mars very sweet milk chocolate. The candy shell is fun to crack and the textures work exceptionally well in this instance because of the ratios with the larger chocolate pieces.

I can’t say that I’ve been longing for these all of my life; and I can’t say, especially at this price, that I’d buy them again. Like the Coconut M&Ms, they’re only vaguely different but the cinnamon, like coconut, is a polarizing flavor. Either you like it or you don’t. So there will be folks out there that won’t.

I can say that these go very nicely with coffee, the cinnamon adds that fall, harvest essence to the whole event. So settle down with the morning paper and toss a few Cinnamon M&Ms onto your saucer for a little extra bump.

For traditionalist, the Milk Chocolate Mint M&Ms are also returning for Christmas.

Related Candies

1. Crispy M&Ms
2. Pretzel M&Ms
3. Wonka Exceptionals Domed Dark Chocolate
4. Limited Edition M&Ms Coconut
5. Limited Edition Strawberried Peanut Butter M&Ms
6. Mint Chocolate M&Ms
7. SweetRiot: flavor 70 cinn
8. M&Ms Line

When I heard that Jelly Belly was making chocolate covered jelly beans, I simply assumed that mint would be in the initial mix. But when I tried my first box of them, it was all fruity. It makes sense that mint would be sold separately, as they can overpower other flavors.

I found the new Jelly Belly Mint Jelly Bean Chocolate Dips on sale at TJ Maxx. They were a much better deal than I usually see for the Dips, only $1.69 for the bag. They look like an ideal candy for snacking at the movies. The fact that they’re a chocolate covered jelly candy means that they’re a bit lower in calories than a regular chocolate bar. It’s only 106 calories per ounce, instead of the typical 140-160 calories per ounce for straight chocolate products.

The Dips are rather interesting because they’re just the center of a jelly bean covered in chocolate, there’s no candy shell. This creates a smoother experience, but there is a more subtle experience. Gourmet jelly beans are usually constructed of two parts - the lightly flavored center and the intensely flavored shell.

They’re beautifully panned, the chocolate coating is consistent and shiny. They smell like dark chocolate: deep and slightly smoky. The chocolate turns creamy very quickly when I chewed the beans. The center is firm and chewy, but has not hint of the grainy coating that typical sugar shelled jelly beans have. The mint comes out quickly, it tastes like a peppermint and spearmint mix. But the longer I chewed, I started getting another flavor - the sweetness of the chocolate dissipated and suddenly it was tangy. The jelly center has citric acid in it, so instead of being like the a chocolate covered Spearmint Leaf, there’s this weird tartness. It’s like there’s a mojito note to it, without the citrus zest. Or a cough drop.

I just didn’t like it. If I kept eating them, the aftertaste didn’t get a hold of me until the last one was left ... but that’s no way to enjoy candy. I’ll stick to Junior Mints or for this candy, the fruity flavors.

Related Candies

1. Jelly Belly Candy Corn Jelly Beans
2. Jelly Belly Chocolate Dips
3. Spearmint Leaves
4. Mint Cremes from the Makers of Jelly Belly
5. Dots Elements: Earth, Air, Fire & Water
6. Jelly Belly Ice Cream Parlor Mix
7. Hot Tamales Ice