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5-Pleasant

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Jolly Rancher Strawberry and Green Apple

While most hard candy is considered “old people candy”, Jolly Rancher really sets itself apart as an intense sweet for all ages.

Jolly Rancher Strawberry & Green Apple

Most of us encounter Jolly Rancher candies as little twist wrapped pieces in a bowl. So when I saw this little rectangular pack at Target, I thought it was an interesting way to format the iconic candy. Jolly Rancher Strawberry and Green Apple Hard Candy has 1.2 ounces and 9 pieces inside. Each is wrapped in a piece of clear cellophane, easy to carry, easy to share and with just two flavors.

Jolly Rancher Strawberry & Green Apple

The pieces are different from what I’m accustomed to with Jolly Rancher candies. They’re not little rods, they’re squares. The ingredients are also slightly different. The original Jolly Rancher hard candies are not aerated, there are no bubbles in them and they’re ever so slightly soft, like some sort of viscous solid. The ingredients list corn syrup first, then sugar. In these little squares, it’s sugar first, then corn syrup. Looking at the candies, they’re not glassy transparent either, so it appears they’ve been aerated slightly.

I started with Green Apple, because that’s the iconic flavor that Jolly Rancher is known for. It’s a tough flavor, because part of its profile is its artificiality. It was definitely tangy and caustic at first, like some sort of chemical peel for my tongue. That faded quickly into the familiar acidic green apple flavor. What was most surprising was the crunch ... I could crunch it. Because the pieces are small, you can crunch away immediately and there’s not tooth-cement issue. Still, the artificial flavor has a sort of of “sour but maybe bitter and salty at the same time” flavor going that was not as good as I recall the truly authentic version having.

Strawberry is quite tart at the beginning and reminded me immediately of sorbet (which often has an extra little pop of lemon juice in it). The flavor is bold and pretty well rounded and only has a slight note of metallic artificiality to it. It’s fresh tasting, overall. I like the crunchy, it’s not too much candy.

My roll had three Green Apple pieces and the rest were Strawberry, so the flavors are not evenly distributed. (Lifesavers always had an order to them, though you might not get a roll that started with the same flavor, they always went in the same progression once you started.) The way the package is made, you have to tear the outer wrapper to get to the inner pieces ... they seem to be glued in there.

I felt these were missing one of the key attributes of Jolly Rancher hard candies, the smooth, syrupy dissolve. Without that, the flavor was just passable, nothing terribly exciting. I might feel differently if they had the Fire Stix in this format, as there really is no other cinnamon hard candy roll out there (since Reed’s disappeared), even if they don’t have the same texture as regular Jolly Rancher. But they’re not a great value and difficult to unwrap.

These are made in Mexico. There’s no nutritional information on the wrapper and nothing, at this time, on the Hershey’s webpage for Jolly Rancher that lists it for this particular version of the product. There is also no statement about allergens, but does contain soy.

Related Candies

  1. Dilly Dally Pickle Candy and Barrels of Yum
  2. Assorted Charms Hard Candies
  3. Jolly Rancher Caramel Apple Lollipops
  4. Jolly Rancher Crunch n Chew
  5. Jolly Rancher Awesome Twosome Chews
  6. Napoleon BonBon
  7. Foxes Five Flavor
  8. Jelly Belly: Lollibeans


Name: Jolly Rancher Strawberry & Green Apple
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Hershey’s
Place Purchased: Target (Eagle Rock)
Price: $.89
Size: 1.2 ounces
Calories per ounce: 100
Categories: Candy, Hershey's, Hard Candy & Lollipops, 5-Pleasant, Mexico, Target

POSTED BY Cybele AT 3:10 pm     CandyReviewHershey'sHard Candy & Lollipops5-PleasantMexicoTarget

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Russell Stover Eggs: Carrot Cake, Birthday Cake and Wedding Cake

Russell Stover Carrot Cake EggI’m not surprised that Russell Stover is expanding its cake-themed candies, as they already have a Cookie Dough Egg and multiple holiday version of Red Velvet Cake. This spring they’ve introduced three new eggs all with cake themes: Carrot Cake, Birthday Cake and Wedding Cake.

The thing that’s so odd about them is that they’re eggs. None of these flavors are particularly Easter themed. In fact, I find the idea of a Birthday Cake flavored egg for Easter downright odd. Carrot Cake is the only one that makes a modicum of sense, since carrots are associated with rabbits, which are associated with Easter.

Russell Stover Carrot Cake Egg covered in White Chocolate is only one ounce. It looks the same as the other Russell Stover egg packaging, green foil and a white emblem on the front with a little bow and the Russell Stover logo. There are elements of an amber orange and a slice of cake featured on the lower right.

Russell Stover Carrot Cake Egg

As with the other cake and dough eggs that Russell Stover started making, it’s an odd sort of bon bon. The filling actually contains cake mix. So inside is an unbaked cake mix that’s creamed together with some milk and butter to create a filling that’s then molded into an egg shape inside a white chocolate shell. Kind of weird.

It smells very sweet with a little note of cinnamon and nutmeg along with some sort of dairy milk. It’s a little flat, so it’s easy to bite. It’s extremely sweet, but the filling has a sort of cookie dough consistency. It’s a little grainy, as I can feel the sugar and the raw flour in the center. It’s not pasty, as there’s enough fat in there to let it dissolve and melt like a bon bon should. The carrot notes are a bit lost, it’s the spice cake flavors that really create the reality.

Overall, aside from its sweetness, it’s pretty good. I can’t say that I’ve ever really wanted a carrot cake bonbon, so this doesn’t fill a hole in my heart. I’d say that some pecans would enhance it, but they’re an unlikely addition at this price point.

Russell Stover Birthday Cake EggRussell Stover Birthday Cake Egg in Milk Chocolate with Sprinkles doesn’t look much like a birthday item. Sure, there’s a bow on it, but there’s a bow on all of them, and they’re not for anyone’s birthday.

This egg feels bigger than the others, though the wrapper says it’s also one ounce. The cake featured in the picture is a yellow cake with a chocolate frosting. Just as the carrot cake version lists cake mix, this one lists Yellow Cake Mix in the ingredients (also white chocolate, even though it’s covered in milk chocolate).

Russell Stover Birthday Cake Egg

The egg is not molded like the others, instead its enrobed, like the Cookie Dough Egg I reviewed last year. There are little sprinkles stuck to it, though I think there were just as many rattling around in the package when I unwrapped it.

I don’t care for sprinkles, they look pretty and all, but they’re a mess. They don’t taste good and they just leave evidence everywhere that you’ve not only been indulging, but indulging in something with sprinkles on it.

The egg itself smells a bit like dough, it has that uncooked batter note to it. The center is soft and easy to bite, the chocolate stays together, but the sprinkles rarely make it into my mouth. The milk chocolate is merely passable, it’s not strong but does have a sort of malty element that stands up to the otherwise bland battercream. Though I don’t have a cookie dough version right here, I recall this being much different except that the center is a little softer and less crumbly.

If you’re a cake person, sprinkle person or your birthday happens to fall around the time we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, this may be the perfect candy for you.

Russell Stover Wedding Cake Egg

Russell Stover Wedding Cake covered in White Chocolate is an extremely sweet confection. (I didn’t get a photo of the package, or even a particularly good photo of the candy.)

It’s a white cake center with a white chocolate coating, so the notes are pretty much vanilla and sugar. The center is a bit softer than the Birthday Cake, though still has the sugary grain to it. It’s just slightly fluffed but has an overall milky sweet flavor and a hint of the raw flour.

It was far too sweet with no actual purpose to it. The idea of wedding cake that’s all white with white frosting and no note of raspberry or marzipan is actually kind of foreign to me. This taste more like grocery store sheet cake ... which is not something I think anyone strives to emulate. I’m sure there are some super-sweet-toothers who will enjoy this, but I think it as was just too sweet and one-note.

The cake thing is lost on me. I don’t mind when things go back to the source of why we made it a cake flavor in the first place, like taking the flavor elements of coconut and chocolate and caramel from a German Chocolate Cake ... but yellow cake can stay in the realm of baked goods from no on.

Related Candies

  1. Brach’s Carrot Cake Candy Corn
  2. R.M. Palmer Cake Batter Cup
  3. Russell Stover Cookie Dough Egg
  4. Russell Stover Red Velvet Santa
  5. Godiva Cake Truffles
  6. Cupcake Bites
  7. Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites
  8. Cookie Dough Bites


Name: Carrot Cake Egg Covered in White Chocolate
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Russell Stover
Place Purchased: Walgreen's (Studio City)
Price: $.50 (on sale)
Size: 1 ounce
Calories per ounce: 140
Categories: Candy, Easter, Russell Stover, Cookie, White Chocolate, 6-Tempting, United States, Walgreen's


Name: Birthday Cake Egg in Milk Chocolate with Sprinkles
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Russell Stover
Place Purchased: Walgreen's (Studio City)
Price: $.50 (on sale)
Size: 1 ounce
Calories per ounce: 140
Categories: Candy, Easter, Russell Stover, Chocolate, Cookie, 6-Tempting, United States, Walgreen's


Name: Wedding Cake Egg covered in White Chocolate
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Russell Stover
Place Purchased: Walgreen's (Studio City)
Price: $.50 (on sale)
Size: 1 ounce
Calories per ounce: 140
Categories: Candy, Easter, Russell Stover, Cookie, White Chocolate, 5-Pleasant, United States, Walgreen's

POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:14 pm     CandyReviewEasterRussell StoverChocolateCookieWhite Chocolate5-Pleasant6-TemptingUnited StatesWalgreen's

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Birthday Cake M&Ms

Birthday Cake M&MsBirthday Cake Milk Chocolate M&Ms are out on shelves even though Mars announced that they would be released in May 2014. The new cake flavor comes right on the heels of the Walmart-exclusive Red Velvet M&Ms that also came out this year.

The description is rather vague: Delicious milk chocolate infused with birthday cake flavor creates an exciting new treat worth celebrating. Part of my confusion comes from an actual non-standardization of birthday cake as a singular flavor. Is it yellow cake with vanilla icing? Is it devil’s food with chocolate frosting? Is it an ice cream cake with candle wax? I’m going to go with chocolate cake and white (vanilla) icing, since that’s what the red M is holding on the package.

It’s unclear if this is a new permanent addition to the M&Ms varieties, which currently include: Milk Chocolate, Peanut, Dark Chocolate, Dark Peanut, Peanut Butter, Almond, Dark Mint, Raspberry, and Pretzel plus other seasonal varieties. They currently come in two package sizes, the stand up bag holding 8 ounces shown here and the single serve version.

Birthday Cake M&Ms

The candy coated chocolates are quite big and very bright in primary red, yellow and blue. I noticed that they had the same cracking and dusting problem I experienced with my Red Velvet M&Ms earlier this year. I don’t know if it’s because they’re bigger or that the specialty versions just get treated more roughly than regular versions. I polished them individually for their photo shoot. (Really.)

Birthday Cake M&Ms

They do smell sweeter, with a little more of a vanilla note than regular M&Ms. They’re not that different from regular Milk Chocolate M&Ms, except that they’re bigger. They’re not that good though, the novelty of the flavor wears off after about five of them. They just seemed sweeter ... the chocolate certainly isn’t great. I’ve noticed that the quality of the chocolate is one item that Mars has not been focusing on over the years, instead it’s been the added flavors, colors or special printing you can get on the shell.

I did try them compared to the Red Velvet M&Ms, since they’re both based on cakes. What I noticed is that the Red Velvet tasted more like buttered popcorn but also had a bit more of a tangy note. The Birthday Cake, on the other hand, has an Angel Food Cake note of baked sugar and vanilla.

I’ll stick to the Almond M&Ms, just in case anyone was wondering which M&Ms to have at my birthday party.

Related Candies

  1. M&Ms Milk Chocolate Red Velvet
  2. Godiva Cake Truffles
  3. Dove Cookies and Creme + Ghirardelli Cookies Jubilee
  4. M&Ms White Chocolate Candy Corn
  5. Cupcake Bites
  6. Crispy M&Ms
  7. Recipe: Peppermint Stick Layer Cake


Name: Birthday Cake Milk Chocolate M&Ms
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Mars
Place Purchased: CVS (Park LaBrea)
Price: $3.99
Size: 8 ounces
Calories per ounce: 140
Categories: Candy, Mars, Chocolate, Kosher, M&Ms, 5-Pleasant, United States, Sav-On/CVS

POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:50 am     CandyReviewMarsChocolateKosherM&Ms5-PleasantUnited StatesSav-On/CVS

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Amy’s Organic Andy’s Dandy Creamy Candy Bar

Amy’s Organic Andy’s Dandy Creamy Candy BarAmy’s Organic Andy’s Dandy Creamy Candy Bar is another bar in the new organic line from the famous ready-made food company.

The package describes the bar as Whipped Creamy Center with Caramel Covered in Chocolate. So, rather like a Milky Way Midnight bar.

The back of the package spends a lot of space telling you about what ingredients are in there, what ingredients may have been near the other ingredients and what ingredients are never in anything they make. It’s free from GMOs, preservatives, peanuts, eggs and gluten. Made from 99% organic ingredients (salt and water are the only non-organic items). It contains soy and dairy (made with rBHT free cows), but it’s also manufactured in a facility that processes tree nuts, wheat and seeds.

Amy's Organic Andy's Dandy Creamy Candy Bar

The two bars are a nice size. They’re one ounce each (a total of 2 ounces for the whole package). For comparison, a Milky Way Midnight bar is 1.76 ounces. The price for the bars is steep, I paid $2.49 for this, so twice as much as a regular Mars candy bar but actually larger. Inside the wrapper (which was devilish to open) the bars are set in a tray which protects them pretty well.

The bar just out of the package smells rich, like woodsy cocoa. Biting into the layers, it’s soft, not quite foamy but very forgiving. The fluffy center is less than creamy. It’s more like the nougat center of a 3 Musketeers. It’s airy and slightly grainy. It smells a little, well, cheesy. The caramel is unremarkable. There’s a malt note to the whole thing, but overall the center is quite sweet.

The dark chocolate is good, it’s at least bittersweet and cuts through some of the sweetness. The overall effect of the sort of the brewers yeast flavored center with the overt sweetness and lack of toasty caramel notes left me unimpressed. Granted, Milky Way has never been a huge favorite of mine, so the alternate versions I’ve had over the years are trying to measure up to something that I don’t care for in the first place. At this point, I’d say the other offerings in the Andy’s Dandy bar line are going to be more satisfying.



Name: Andy’s Dandy Creamy Candy Bar
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Amy’s Organic
Place Purchased: Mother's Market (Laguna Woods)
Price: $2.49
Size: 2 ounces
Calories per ounce: 120
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Amy's Organic, Caramel, Chocolate, Ethically Sourced, Kosher, Nougat, Organic, 5-Pleasant, United States

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:08 pm     All NaturalCandyReviewAmy's OrganicCaramelChocolateEthically SourcedKosherNougatOrganic5-PleasantUnited States

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Milka Milkinis

Milka MilkinisMilka is a popular brand of chocolate confections that originated in Switzerland and is now run by Kraft under their Mondelez snack division. The bars are kid friendly, and marketing with attention to their high milk content. They also have a touch of hazelnut paste, too. The box says that Milka is Europe’s #1 brand of chocolate.

Milka comes in dozens and dozens of varieties. In Europe, they can take up six or eight feet of aisle space with their products (photo) and often retail for less than a Euro for a 100 gram bar (photo).

Milka Milkinis are a milk chocolate confection with creamy filling. The box holds eight slender, foil-wrapped bars and weighs 3.08 ounces.

Milka Milkinis

I’ve seen these at Target for a while, usually for about $2.50 a box, but the 99 Cent Only Store also has them for only a buck.

Of course you get what you pay for. Though it says milk chocolate, that’s used as an adjective, not a noun. It’s a confection made from:

Sugar, fractionated palm oil, whey, cocoa butter, skim milk, chocolate, milkfat, cream, hazelnut paste, soy lecithin, artificial flavor, sunflower lecithin, natural flavor.

A serving is 4 bars, or about 1.5 ounces, which tallies to 260 calories - a whopping 173 calories per ounce ... a peek at the rest of the nutritional panel reveals that’s 17 grams of fat, 10 of which are saturated and account for 50% of your RDA of saturated fat. (I don’t usually mind as much if it’s cocoa butter, but I do mind palm oil).

The bars are about 3 inches long and about 2/3 of an inch wide. They’re rather flat and have four segments with the Milka cow icon on each.

Milka Milkinis

The chocolate coating is quite thin, as you can see from the cross section. This candy is mostly filling. The filling does have a good milky flavor to it, there’s a light hint of malt or a mellow note of something more minerally (there’s 8% of your daily RDA of calcium). There’s also a bit of salt in there, about 75 mg per serving, which is odd because the ingredients don’t list it. It’s soft and kind of pasty. It’s not like a chocolate bar, not quite like fudge. More like a bar of frosting.

I didn’t love them. They were okay, I can see children enjoying them, they’re attractive and the small portion of the individual bars at least makes it easier to moderate intake. If I wanted this sort of creamy thing, I’d probably opt for the Lindt Lindor truffles, even though they’re more expensive.

Milka contains hazelnuts and dairy products, as well as soy. (It’s confusing that they use both soy and sunflower lecithin, maybe they’re in transition.) They’re made in a facility that also processes wheat and almonds. There’s no statement about peanuts at all. Mondelez is currently buys 50% of their palm oil from certified sustainable sources and should be 100% by the end of 2015 (source). They have no stated plans for their cacao sourcing, though some is sourced through Rainforest Alliance and noted as such on their packages.

Related Candies

  1. Milka Bars, Milka Drops and some Li’l Milka
  2. Milka L’il Scoops
  3. Milka NAPS Mix (Assortment)
  4. UK vs US Cadbury Dairy Milk
  5. Lindt Lindor Truffle Eggs
  6. Milka Alpenmilch


Name: Milkinis
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Kraft
Place Purchased: 99 Cent Only Store (Silver Lake)
Price: $1.00
Size: 3.08 ounces
Calories per ounce: 173
Categories: Candy, Kraft/Mondelez, Mockolate, Nuts, 5-Pleasant, Poland, 99 Cent Only Store

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:24 pm     CandyMorselizationReviewKraft/MondelezMockolateNuts5-PleasantPoland99 Cent Only Store

Monday, November 11, 2013

Good and Delish Maple Cream Charms

Good & Delish Milk Chocolate Maple Cream CharmsWalgreen’s has a house brand of candy called Good & Delish which includes bars, chocolate clusters, mints, chocolate sticks and Belgian chocolate gems.

One of the items I’ve been eying for almost a year are the Good & Delish Milk Chocolate Maple Cream Charms. It’s hard to find good maple creams; my favorites were once the See’s Maple Cream, but now that my walnut allergy has developed, they’re off my list of edibles. It seems like these Maple Cream Charms are too good to be true. They were on sale for $2.99 for an 8 ounce bag. The ingredients looked good: real milk chocolate, real vanilla and whole milk without any weird fillers.

I was a little concerned that they were just going to be a sticky mass inside the bag, however, they’re individually wrapped. They’re even marked, so you could buy several bags of different candies from this line and be able to mix them in a candy dish and still be completely sanitary.

Good & Delish Milk Chocolate Maple Cream Charms

The pieces are nicely domed and a little over an inch at the base and an inch tall. They’re each about a half an ounce and come in at 75 calories each.

They don’t smell like much other than sweet. I didn’t get any maple hints, but perhaps a more woodsy note to the milk chocolate.

Good & Delish Milk Chocolate Maple Cream Charms

The filling is only lightly tinted on the caramel side. The fondant (made with egg whites) is soft and slight grainy. But there’s no hint of maple, only sweetness. It’s more sweet than possible for the size of the candy. The milk chocolate is similarly sweet but at least has the light milk notes, though not much in the way of cocoa flavors.

They’re terribly disappointing, given the packaging and the ingredients. I guess I shouldn’t have expected so much for a candy that’s only $8.00 per pound at regular price.

I was thinking these were also made by Harry London like the Cornflake Clusters, but they have a different Kosher certification, so now I’m stumped. It could be Bloomer’s in Ohio, which also does all natural chocolates at quite an affordable price. It appears that there are a lot of different sources for the Good and Delish line, so it’s hard give the brand my full confidence. Some of the Belgian bars and treats I also recognize from good companies as well, like their Belgian Crisps (they look like Pringles made out of chocolate).

Here’s another review: Hunting for the Very Best: Delish is Delish

Have you tried anything else from the Walgreen’s Good & Delish line you’d like to recommend or steer others away from?

Related Candies

  1. Walgreen’s Good and Delish Milk Chocolate Cornflake Clusters
  2. Zitners: Butter Krak, Peanut Butter, Double Cocoanut & Butter Cream Eggs
  3. Brach’s Maple Nut Goodies
  4. Cream Drops versus Creme Drops
  5. Caramilk Maple


Name: Good & Delish Milk Chocolate Maple Cream Charms
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Good and Delish
Place Purchased: Walgreen's (Hollywood)
Price: $2.99
Size: 8 ounces
Calories per ounce: 137
Categories: Candy, Chocolate, Fondant, Kosher, 5-Pleasant, United States, Walgreen's

POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:36 pm     CandyReviewChocolateFondantKosher5-PleasantUnited StatesWalgreen's

Friday, November 8, 2013

Candy Crush Jelly Fish

Candy Crush CandiesCandy Crush is a line of candy based on a game based on candy. Got that?

The candies are licensed by King.com and made by Healthy Food Brands, which also makes the Angry Birds gummi candies (snacks) and licenses the Sunkist brand as well.

The initial offerings for the Candy Crush line are: Candy Crush Sour Fruit Gummies, Fruit Mix Gummies, Jelly Fish and Color Bombs.

Earlier this week I reviewed the Gummies and Color Bombs, today I have the Candy Crush Jelly Fish.

Like the other candies, the boxes are big but they contain very little. They’re 7” x 4.25” - which is bigger than the more typical theater box that you’d see from Mike and Ike, Hot Tamales or Starburst, which are about 6” x 3.25” and holds 4-6 ounces. The Candy Crush line gives you between 3 ounces and 3.5 ounces in each box. I can’t fault the graphic design though. They’re bold and easy to tell apart but also easy to spot from a distance. The happy mermaid character on the front and depiction of the candy is great. At first I didn’t like package artwork but they grew on me this week.

Candy Crush Jelly Fish

Here’s the weird thing that you might notice right away. The flavor set listed on the box for the Jelly Fish is exactly the same as the Gummies: Blue Raspberry, Lemon, Lime, Cherry, Orange, Grape. I thought this was a great selling point, because Swedish Fish only come in four flavors. So this would be a similar candy with a different flavor variety. However, it’s pretty clear that the colors are Orange, Yellow, Green and Red. I thought maybe I didn’t get a full variety, but checking the Dylan’s Candy Bar website (which says it’s selling them exclusively in the first few weeks of the roll-out), I saw that they had the exact same description but still only showed the four colors.

Candy Crush Jelly Fish

The fish are soft with a matte finish to them. They didn’t stick together, but tended to tear and break when bent instead of just, well, bending. My assortment was in perfect ratios - four of each.

Red is Swedish Fish (Lingonberry) - lovely, sweet, floral and jammy. They’re soft and chewy and maybe stick a bit to my teeth.

Green is Lime - this is a dying flavor, so it’s rather strange to get it in a box (especially one that says that it’s going to be green apple). Tangy, zesty. Done.

Yellow is Lemon - a well rounded lemon flavor, a little on the zesty side without much of a tangy note.

Orange is Orange - this was good. Zesty, sweet with a hint of juicy tartness.

Even though the candies were purchased four days after their announced release, came in a sealed pouch inside a sealed box, they seemed a bit stale. Three of my fish were broken. Yes, jelly fish that were broken. They weren’t different from Swedish Fish. I love Swedish Fish, but there’s really no reason for me to buy these instead of Swedish Fish.

They’re expensive. Only 16 fish in the box. This is a sugar candy, not made with organic ingredients or all natural flavorings, yet it’s more than $22 per pound. It’s not even a unique set of flavors like it promised on the front of the box ... there’s no grape! (Which is missed by many in the Assorted Swedish Fish world.) The Mixed Fruit Gummies and Sour Gummies were at least in themed shapes that matched the game. These Jelly Fish had nothing about them that indicated they were anything other than a repacked existing product. Swedish Fish have either Swedish or Malaaco on them. Albanese Gummi Bears have a little A on their bellies. These have nothing that says anything other than generic. (Okay, I do recognize that in the game they don’t actually have a name on them either. But Jelly Bellies and M&Ms have little brands on them as well.)

For the entire Candy Crush line I can only say I’m disappointed. There’s really nothing here that’s new or innovative and since they’re more expensive than many other candies of similar quality, I can only surmise that the premium goes to the licensing fee.

Related Candies

  1. Candy Crush Color Bombs
  2. Candy Crush: Mixed Fruit and Sour Gummies
  3. Swedish Fish Eggs
  4. All Gummies Gourmet Fruity Fish (Swedish Fish knock-off)
  5. Gummy Fishies
  6. Swedish Aqua Life


Name: Candy Crush Jelly Fish
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Healthy Food Brands
Place Purchased: Dylan's Candy Bar (Farmers Market)
Price: $4.00
Size: 3 ounces
Calories per ounce: 99
Categories: Candy, Healthy Food Brands, Jelly Candy, 5-Pleasant, Canada

POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:45 am     CandyReviewHealthy Food BrandsJelly Candy5-PleasantCanada

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Candy Crush: Mixed Fruit and Sour Gummies

Candy Crush Splash PageOne of the most popular tablet and phone games is Candy Crush Saga, which is a variation on the “match 3 on a grid” style of timed puzzle games. (I was a fan of Bejeweled when it first came out.) The overriding theme, of course, with Candy Crush is the fact that it’s candy-themed. Why didn’t they come out with this a year ago?

The game has finally been licensed for actual eating instead of just virtual play by King.com to Healthy Food Brands. The launch of the candy line includes four varieties: Candy Crush Sour Fruit Gummies, Fruit Mix Gummies, Jelly Fish and Color Bombs. They come packaged in boxes, with between 3 and 3.5 ounces in each. I picked mine up at Dylan’s Candy Bar where they’re priced at $4.00 a box.

Candy Crush Candies

The design of the box is trippy and colorful, matching the design elements of the game very well along with more animated characters on each box. Today I’ll review the Gummies together (the others later this week).

Candy Crush Mixed Fruit Gummies

The Candy Crush Mixed Fruit Gummies box features a colorful unicorn on the front. There gummi flavors are: Blue Raspberry, Green Apple, Lemon, Cherry, Orange and Grape. Each of the candies, as you’d imagine, relates to a candy piece within the game.

The gummis are soft with a bit of a matte finish to them. Most are about 1/2 an inch in diameter, with the red ones clocking in at almost one inch.

Candy Crush Fruit Gummies

I don’t know what the pieces are supposed to be in the game, if they have names or represent some sort of real world candy.

Orange Oval is orange. It’s mild and ordinary. It’s a soft chew with a nice balance of zest, juice and tartness.

Green Cube is green apple and it’s completely weird. It tastes rather ... grassy. There are the apple juice notes and less of the fake Jolly Rancher flavor to it, but mostly it was weird. It was also inconsistently sized. Some were cubist, some were flat.

Purple Berry is grape. The shape indicates it should be raspberry, but the flavor is definitely grape, as in grape soda. Nice, not too dense and artificial but a note of the colorings does taint it with a bit of a metallic note.

Yellow Drops are lemon. These are nice, well rounded with a lot of zest, a zing of tartness and just a little sweet lemon poundcake note.

Red Stripes are cherry. Well done black cherry. It’s much more intense than the orange or purple flavors, a better gummi version of Life Savers than the Life Savers gummis.

Blue Dots are blue raspberry. This is quite nice, they’re understated and rich. There’s a floral note to begin with, then a sort of black-tea seediness that really sells the berry flavors. They’re a little tart, so it’s kind of jammy. I’m not usually a fan of the blue varieties of raspberry, but this one is good.

The gummis are good, the flavor variety is different from the standard Haribo or Life Savers gummi combination, so there’s that going for it. The pieces are quite small, so you can get quite a few flavor combinations in a single handful if you’re into that.

Candy Crush Sour Fruit Gummies

The Candy Crush Sour Fruit Gummies are just a sour sanded version of the fruit mix. The flavor variety is the same: Blue Raspberry, Green Apple, Lemon, Cherry, Orange and Grape. This box has a green theme and a friendly alligator on the front.

Candy Crush Sour Fruit Gummies

(Nope, there are no plays on this game board.)

Orange Oval is orange. Sour orange is actually less flavorful than the regular one. It seems less about the zest flavors are more about Tang.

Green Cube is green apple. It’s hard to say much about these since I only had two of them in my bag. They have the same weird grassy flavor combined with apple juice but this time it’s quite sour to start then too sweet at the finish.

Purple Berry is grape. Shazaam! These are a curious little, poppable version of grape soda.

Yellow Drops are lemon. These retain all of their zest but get the extra zing of the sour sand. Very well done without being too acidic.

Red Stripes are cherry. These are quite tart, which brings out more of the wild cherry flavors and less of the dark berry notes of the black cherry. (As if there’s much of a difference.)

Blue Dots are blue raspberry. The seed flavor that’s kind of like iced tea doesn’t quite work in the super sour version. It’s still floral and tart, but towards the end it gets into something that’s trying to be sincere but just feels sarcastic. It’s too sweet with a sort of vanilla note to balance with the earlier tartness.

Candy Crush Sour Fruit Gummies

Of the two candies, I preferred the Mixed Fruit. The sours just weren’t as good as many other sour gummis I’ve had. As far as whether or not they meet my expectations of what the candy from the game should be, I kind of though the candy pieces were different kinds of candy - that some were like Runts, others hard candies and some might be jelly beans.

According to their website, Healthy Food Brands is the international marketer of “better for you” confections and chocolate products. The Candy Crush Fruit Gummis are made with white grape juice from concentrate, along with sugar and corn syrup, a touch of sorbitol (a sugar alcohol that bulks up the product but adds less sweetness than sugar) and a bunch of artificial colors and flavors. They’re made in Mexico.

This isn’t the first game-app-themed gummi I’ve tried from Healthy Food Brands, as they also make the officially licensed Angry Birds Gummis. Those packages were also made in Mexico but marked as peanut free and gluten free. I don’t know why this product couldn’t also qualify for that notification. There’s actually no allergen statement at all on the package. If you have questions, they list only a mailing address… no email, no website. Not exactly what I’d say fulfills something called a healthy brand.

Related Candies

  1. Candy Crush Jelly Fish
  2. Candy Crush Color Bombs
  3. Haribo The Smurfs Gummi
  4. Angry Birds Fruit Gummies
  5. Sky Bar Twilight Saga - Eclipse
  6. Au’some Snerdles Super Mario Power Up Box
  7. Sunkist Fruit Gummies
  8. Wii Candy Dispenser & Nintendo Gummis


Name: Candy Crush Mixed Fruit Gummies
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Healthy Food Brands
Place Purchased: Dylan's Candy Bar (Farmers Market)
Price: $4.00
Size: 3.5 ounces
Calories per ounce: 85
Categories: Candy, Healthy Food Brands, Gummi Candy, 6-Tempting, Mexico


Name: Candy Crush Sour Gummies
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Healthy Food Brands
Place Purchased: Dylan's Candy Bar (Farmers Market)
Price: $4.00
Size: 3.5 ounces
Calories per ounce: 92
Categories: Candy, Healthy Food Brands, Gummi Candy, Sour, 5-Pleasant, Mexico

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:10 pm     CandyReviewHealthy Food BrandsGummi CandySour5-Pleasant6-TemptingMexico

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