Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Oriental Trading Company Candy Shot Glasses

DSC07203rThe final item that I hadn’t reviewed from my Oriental Trading Company order is the set of Candy Shot Glasses.

It wasn’t an impulse purchase, it was just one of those things that I’ve been looking at on their website for well over six months (along with the later disappointing gummi bracelets). The idea fascinated me, but I had trouble grasping the concept that you would put liquids in an effectively dissolvable container.

The little shot glasses are exactly the same size as a regular shot glass. They come in three flavors (two of each in the box of six). They were packaged nicely to prevent breakage. They were in a sealed plastic bag, then wrapped in some bubble wrap, then inside a box that had little cubbies for each of the candy glasses.

image

Mine arrived in one piece, however, as you can tell from this photo the candy itself wasn’t as “candy-like” as I expected. The yellow one was the only transparent one, the rest were rather opaque and a bit chewy. I’ve seen this happen with ordinary hard candies. They get exposed to a little moisture which eventually penetrates and softens the outer layer of the candy. It doesn’t usually change the flavor, just the texture. Instead of shattering like glass, it bends a bit.

They also appear to have “melted” a bit. I ordered them in January, so it’s not as though I exposed them to any heat. Again, I figured this was because of the age of the product and/or the exposure to moisture. (Check the photo on the OTC site to understand what I was expecting.)

The shot glasses come in three flavors:

Lemon (Yellow) - not quite lemon drop flavored, it was a mild citrus flavor without much tartness.

Apple (Green) - fragrant and floral with a small burst of tartness when you chew it up.

Cherry (Red) - sharply medicinal with mild sour bite.

I invited over Amy (the neighbor who spits things out) and we tried a variety of liquors in the cups. I had Ouzo (an anise liquor from Greece) in a lemon cup, my husband had Limoncello in a cherry cup and Amy had vodka in the apple cup.

My first advice is to use it for drinks that are not chilled. Tequila shots are probably most appropriate. We keep our Ouzo, Limoncello and Vodka in the freezer, so the candy glass gets a layer of condensation on the outside, which then means that it gets sticky.

The flavor of the glasses does not seem to pass to the liquor easily, so the only way to combine flavors is to chew on the glass. I nibbled on the rim of mine and took little sips of Ouzo. I think lemon and licorice go well together, so it was rather nice. Ouzo isn’t a syrupy-sweet liquor like Limoncello, so the addition of the little sugar crunch was kind of nice. It’s a little much with Limoncello.

I left one of the glasses with some liquor in it on the counter (on a plate) overnight. It did not dissolve the glass as I thought, which is a plus. It did make the vodka rather syrupy.

Overall I don’t think I throw the right kind of parties for these to be a welcome addition to my hostessing (I’m just not a “shot” person). However, if you’re the type who does shots (especially tequila) and can get an assurance from OTC that they can send you some fresh unclouded ones, they might be fun. And hey, no dishes to do afterwards!

Name: Candy Shot Glasses
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Oriental Trading Company
Place Purchased: OTC Website
Price: $4.95 plus shipping
Size: unknown
Calories per ounce: unknown
Categories: Hard Candy, China, Oriental Trading Company

POSTED BY Cybele AT 8:11 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. Oh, that’s too bad, I had high hopes for those, they seemed really cool.  Oh well, I guess I get to save on shipping

    Comment by Karen on 3/14/07 at 8:43 am #
  2. That’s dissapointing. I wanted these to be good. You don’t know of anybody else who mades candy shot glasses who perhaps has better quality control.

    Comment by leigh on 3/14/07 at 4:18 pm #
  3. It’s so sweet that you thought the goods would resemble the ones in the ads, just like frozen pizzas and every other food does.

    Which is why I rely on Candyblog for pictures of candy.

    Comment by Russ on 3/14/07 at 8:40 pm #
  4. where do you find this stuff?!  amazing.

    Comment by Linda on 3/15/07 at 4:56 am #
  5. so the only way to combine flavors is to chew on the glass.

    made me laugh out loud for some reason! Did you try them with hot drinks? (tea, hot chocolate, etc) I wonder if that would dissolve them. I’ve been meaning to make the candy cane shot glasses ever since I read about them here (over a year ago), thinking it might be a fun way to get slightly minty hot chocolate.

    Anyway, these might be kind of fun for a kid’s party, especially if they don’t know what “shot glasses” are really intended for! (Don’t want the other parties giving you the evil eye… :^)

    Comment by Tricia on 3/15/07 at 6:29 am #
  6. Cybele's avatar

    Tricia - I didn’t try them with any water-based drinks, but my guess is that they would dissolve (especially with a warm drink).

    As for the other destructability quotient ... when we were done drinking from them Amy wanted to smash hers on the ground, so we went outside and she slammed it onto the concrete driveway ... it shattered into a bazillion ant-friendly bits.

    Karen & Leigh - yeah, I don’t know if calling them and asking for “fresh” ones would do any good. OTC is known for importing unique items, and I haven’t seen anyone else carry these.

    Russ - aw, I usually get the candy to look like the package.

    Linda - it’s all just a lot of web surfing. (You can get lost on Oriental Trading Company’s website for a long long time.)

    Comment by Cybele on 3/20/07 at 8:34 am #
  7. Oriental Trading Company is owned by the right wing Carlyle Group.  They have a long history of recalls for safety issues like lead.  Those candy shot glasses were made in China.  Were they tested for lead or melamine?  You risk the lives of your family and friends every time you purchase something from Oriental Trading.  Also keep in mind the kind of people that work for the Carlyle Group including former US President George H. W. Bush, former British Prime Minister John Major and former US Secretary of State James A. Baker III along with George Soros.

    Comment by Super Liberal on 1/07/10 at 1:28 pm #
  8. Cybele's avatar

    Super Liberal - thank you for the information about the company.

    I mentioned quite freely in the review that the candy was made in China. (And well before the melamine contamination scandal.)

    Just a note, unless China has devised some new way to make hard candy, it’s unlikely that these would have melamine in them. Melamine was added to milk products and other protein ingredients in order to bulk them up but still pass test that are done for nitrogen as an indicator of their protein density.

    Hard candy is simply sugar and corn syrup with minute amounts of coloring and flavorings. Further, sugar is cheaper than melamine. (Or lead, for that matter.)

    Comment by Cybele on 1/07/10 at 1:36 pm #
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