Friday, April 1, 2011
Chewbies Liquid Taffy - OrangeThere was a time when tubes were the future. You know, back when the radio was being invented. This heyday of tubes continued into the mid-twentieth century and waned as things like transistors, liquid crystal displays and tubeless tires came into vogue. So maybe it’s quaint that so many candies are now being tubularized (that’s a word, promise). I noticed it a few years back with Wonka’s SweeTarts Squeez and Hubba Bubba’s Squeeze Pop. So maybe it is the wave of the future, that the confinement of candy to solid shapes was holding us back from confection perfection. Something else aside from the fanciful thoughts of the idealized candy containment drew me to Chewbies Liquid Taffy, it was the fact that it said All Natural Flavors and Colors on the front. I actually looked at it in the store before Valentine’s Day and decided not to buy it, but then when I went back for my Easter prowl, I couldn’t resist the call of finding out what Liquid Taffy could be, especially when it was all natural. I admit, the package looked an awful lot like another tube I already had in my shopping basket, which I shot a picture of for comparison. The narrow tube is six inches high and holds 2.82 ounces. I picked out the Orange flavor, but it also comes in Strawberry and Apple. The back of the package says a serving is the whole package (280 calories). It also says that the squeezable confection is made in P.R.C. Honestly, I didn’t know what that was, I thought it might be a province or territory in Canada - after all, they keep making new ones and I have trouble keeping up. Nope, it’s the People’s Republic of China. Who puts PRC on a package? Probably people who don’t want you to know their product is made in China. The ingredients aren’t quite taffy-like: Glucose syrup, sugar, water, palm oil, lactic acid, albumen (egg white), orange juice, soy lecithin, natural orange flavor, natural food color (paprika extract). Most taffy is sugar, corn syrup, corn starch, water, flavors, salt and sometimes a little butter or oil. There’s no egg white in taffy, but there is in nougat. But some other fine taffy-like candies also have egg whites, such as Bonomo’s Turkish Taffy. So again, I was inclined towards optimism. Taffy is known for its chewiness and the name of the product is Chewbies. So I’m going into this thinking that this Liquid Taffy will be chewy. That maybe it’ll be latexy and have a sort of liquid Silly Putty texture. Or maybe it’ll be like string cheese. I was hoping it had that strange quality of not sticking to things, sometimes candies with oils in them are good at that. The stuff comes out slowly and is quite soft, but a single touch to the surface and it yields stringy, hot mozzarella stickiness. How the product is supposed to be dispensed and consumed is a bit of a mystery, so I took to squeezing a dollop onto my finger. First, the scent is quite orangey. It tastes quite tangy and has a good orange flavor that’s both zesty and tart. The texture is smooth but has no chew as it’s far too soft for that. It’s kind of like a thick sauce or slightly gummy yogurt. It got me to thinking that perhaps drizzled on ice cream it might toughen up, so I created a few dollops on a piece of waxed paper and popped it into the fridge for a half an hour. This made it cold. It became slightly firmer, but really no chewier. My hopes were dashed but the reality of the product’s shortcomings. Though the flavor is decent, the price per ounce is rather high for the fact that it’s a sugar candy and the fact that it’s so sticky when dispensed is more than enough to cancel out any other positive attributes. I don’t actually need squeezable taffy, the plain old wrapped pieces will do me fine in the future. Sugar Pressure also pointed out this in a store recently: Mallo Pals - marshmallow in a squeeze tube. Maybe the squeezy future is in marshmallow. Related Candies
POSTED BY Cybele AT 12:58 pm All Natural • Candy • Review • Chews • 4-Benign • China • Walgreen's • |
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Meticulously photographed and documented reviews of candy from around the world. And the occasional other sweet adventures. Open your mouth, expand your mind.
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Oh, ick! It looks like hand lotion. I can’t imagine actually eating that.
Man, that looks and sounds revolting.
wait..you have problems keeping up with the one new territory/province that has been added since 1949?
That’s pretty gross. I’d be interested in a review of the apricot scrub for comparison. I’m guessing it could be close.
Dave - I’m not that keen on the Apricot Scrub either. I should really stick to the St. Ives brand, because it’s much more consistent. This one had too little scrub in it and far too much fragrance.
Bea - Well, it’s not just Canada. First it was West/East Germany reunifying, Peking became Beijing, Czech Republic, Russia ... then Nunavut ... it’s tough to stay abreast of these things!
I can see this as a novelty candy that would appeal to the grade-school crowd
This Liquid Taffy is a great All Natural product with no artificial colors or flavors! Major plus for me. I have seen this at a variety of retailers, Walgreens, Dylan’s Candy Bar in NYC, Sweet Factory, even Dollar Tree and Big Lots! My kids absolutely love this candy, its great for me because they dont get their hands all sticky with candy wrappers, they just squeeze the candy right out of the tube! I am glad it is not tacky, then it would be a big mess! That is probably why its not Chewy and smooth so it is easy to enjoy!
I think this candy is great, and I highly recommend you go out there and try it for yourself. My Kids love it, I love it, and even there grandmother loves it!
I love this Liquid Candy! I love the flavor of some good taffy but always hated it being so sticky! This has a great consistency and I definitely recommend it! I found it at Dollar Tree for $1! I originally saw it a Walgreens between $0.99 - $1.39 depending on where you are.
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