Monday, July 21, 2008

All Gummies Gourmet Fruity Fish (Swedish Fish knock-off)

DSC00057-2rI was cruising through the 99 Cent Store and noticed a new line of candies called All Gummies Gourmet. I recognized the actual candies as Albanese Candy Company (and this was confirmed in the small print on the back of the package). So finally Albanese are available at stores without going into the bulk candy aisle.

This bag of Fruity Fish caught my eye. Here was a half a pound of red fish for less than a dollar? Could they be any good? A little further down the aisle and there was the good old, reliable Swedish Fish (made by Cadbury Adams), so I decided to see if this designer impostor could fulfill a penny pinchers craving.

DSC00059-2rFirst, the Swedish Fish package had only 4 ounces in it, the Fruity Fish was a full 8 ounces ... twice as much candy for the same price.

The packages are both attractive enough. The Swedish Fish is traditional, pretty much the same package I recognize from ten years ago - yellow with a little scale pattern on it. The All Gummies Gourmet packaging is rather generic - a vibrant blue and bronzy gold. The nice part is that the bottom of the package is clear cellophane and it’s easy to see the candies inside. And they do look fresh, moist and tasty!

DSC00061-2r

The detail on both is nice, they look like fish. The scales, lips and eyes on the Fruity Fish is sharper, but I wouldn’t call one better than the other. So while I consider the appearance of both to be about equal, the comparable-ness ends there.

The fish themselves are about the same size. The Swedish Fish is a bit flatter and therefore weighs a bit less. The Swedish Fish are lighter in color and smell a little like raspberries and cotton candy. The Fruity Fish are a deep red and smell like, well, black cherry flavor with a touch of bitter amaretto. I wasn’t happy about this.

DSC00064-2r

First, Fruity Fish are gummis. That’s right, they’re not jelly candies like the Swedish Fish, they’re full on gelatin-carrying gummis. (I can’t be upset, it does say All Gummies Gourmet right on the front.)

Second, they’re not any kind of berry flavor. Swedish Fish flavor is rather unique, I’ve always considered it lingonberry flavor, though it’s never been officially declared what flavor they are. The Fruity Fish are soft, chewy and have a good mix of tangy and sweet. But the flavor is black cherry, through and through.

So, these are no designer impostor as I suspected. They’re certainly a good deal, as the package heralds Big Value. But they are very jarring if you’re expecting the dulcet berry tones of Swedish Fish. Even though the Swedish Fish cost twice as much, I’ll stick with them ... but only because of the cherry flavor issue with Fruity Fish. They’re still a darn good candy.

Related Candies

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  4. Brain Candy! (gummi brains)
  5. Gummi Clown Fish
  6. Fragrant Gummies
Name: Fruity Fish
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: All Gummies Gourmet (Albanese Confectionery)
Place Purchased: 99 Cent Store (Silverlake)
Price: $.99
Size: 8 ounces
Calories per ounce: 85
Categories: Gummi, United States, Albanese

POSTED BY Cybele AT 10:04 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. I am a huge fan of Swedish Fish, particularly when you can get the bulk mix of yellow, orange and green with the classic red.  So I can’t say that’ll be experimenting with the gummi Swedish Fish look-a-likes. Thanks for taking those for a test drive.

    Comment by Elizabeth on 7/21/08 at 11:27 am #
  2. Too bad they don’t taste the same. The multicolored swedish fish seem harder to find these days. I guess a lot of people think red rocks? 6 months ago I ordered 10 pounds online. It was a good deal, but so much temptation and they were gone so fast!

    Comment by brian on 7/21/08 at 2:20 pm #
  3. Cybele, thank you so much for reviewing these!  I, too, was perusing the candy aisle at my 99 cent only store and saw the All Gummies Gourmet and wondered about them.  I had been disappointed in the past with other generic brands and, upon reading your review, my suspicions were correct.  There’s nothing quite like the original.

    Comment by Miriam on 7/21/08 at 8:35 pm #
  4. Gotta love that .99 cent store. Tasty fish.

    Comment by jMo on 7/22/08 at 10:43 am #
  5. Cybele's avatar

    Miriam - they’re not bad, especially for a “generic” brand ... just not what you’d want if you were expecting the Swedish berry flavor. Perfectly good if you’re a Haribo Cherries fan though!

    Oh, if you’re looking for the multicolor Swedish fish, try the Aqua Life line, they still have all the colors in them (including the elusive purple that was discontinued in the regular fish).

    Comment by Cybele on 7/23/08 at 10:21 am #
  6. I LOVE candy expecially Swedish Fish! My Dad got me hooked to them!!!!!!!

    Comment by Taylor Canipe on 6/28/09 at 4:16 pm #
  7. I love Albanese candies! I live real close to the factory and I always buy candy from there!

    Comment by Kyle on 4/03/10 at 8:43 pm #
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