Friday, September 18, 2009

Katjes Tappsy

Katjes TappsyI bought Katjes Tappsy because they’re cute.

And they’re also licorice. Actually, the completely unattractive sticker on the front of the bag informs me in English (the rest of the package is in German) that it’s Licorice Foam Candy.

They’re shaped like panda faces and I have to say that they’re fraktacularlary cute. So cute I just wanted to eat them up. And the name? Tappsy! How could you not like something called Tappsy? (It reminded me of Stampy.)

What was also fun was the fact that they’re a European candy, so they don’t use any artificial colorings and seem to have all natural flavorings. (I don’t know if ammonium chloride is consider natural or not ... I mean, it’s a mineral.)

Katjes Tappsy

The light & flexible disk are shaped like cartoon panda faces. They’re about 1.5 inches across at the ears. They come in two varieties - licorice faced and foam faced. (Panda’s don’t actually look like that, they have white faces with black eyes and ears.) The white faced ones had little noses made of a berry flavored jelly. (Real pandas also have berry flavored noses, but couldn’t find any verification of this, so you’ll just have to take my word for it and of course make mention of it in conversation until someone starts sending around emails and Snopes investigates.)

The little faces have a kind of cock-eyed smile that reminded me of Wybie from Coraline.

The licorice parts are quite mellow - a light anise flavor and not overtly sweet and a good caramel & molasses undertone. The texture is more like a chewy licorice than the foamy stuff - not the wheat based chew of the US/Australia and not quite a jelly or gummi. The foam white part is rather like a marshmallow - but smashed, just a bit more dense and not at all sticky.

I loved the licorice parts and ate the licorice-faced ones first (sadly they didn’t make up half the bag). Licorice-eared ones were just a little bland, so towards the end, I just ate their ears and tossed the face ... it’s the candy equivalent of shark finning.

I would definitely buy them again, though I would like to find them in bulk bins so I can pull out a better proportion of licorice. (They also come in a fruity version.) I looked on the Katje’s website and think there may be some other products that are more balanced to my liking like the Domino Delicious (which appears to be the first same-sex-marriage-marketed candy I’ve seen - well, besides the Rainbow Mentos).

Finally, here’s a commercial for Tappsy starring Heidi Klum:

I don’t know what’s going on in that commercial except that it’s a pretty accurate depiction of my Saturday mornings in my breezy white-clad bed, rolling around with my candy.

Finally, just a note about the calories: each piece has only 28 calories. And a whole ounce clocks in at 97 calories. So this is definitely a candy you can use a a little low-calorie treat that looks like a high calorie one.

Related Candies

  1. Van Slooten Lakrids Figurer
  2. Necco Paas Gummi Baby Bunnies
  3. Van Slooten - Autodrop Total Loss
  4. Licorice Assortment
  5. Katjes Tropical Gummis & Yogurt Gums
  6. Panda Bars
Name: Tappsy
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Katjes
Place Purchased: Cost Plus World Market (Glendale)
Price: $2.49
Size: 7 ounces
Calories per ounce: 97
Categories: Licorice, Marshmallow, Katjes, Germany, All Natural

POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:29 pm Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. These are cute, and look more like Wybie than real pandas. But I’m sure they are pretty tasty little guys. And that commercial is hysterical!

    Comment by Adriana on 9/18/09 at 2:37 pm #
  2. Laughs at the commercial smile

    Comment by ian on 9/19/09 at 3:34 am #
  3. Cutie candies. I’ve never heard of them before but I bet if Heidi Klum advertises about them, this candy must be famous raspberry

    Comment by Jackie at PhamFatale.com on 9/19/09 at 8:27 am #
  4. They do look like Wybie, funny.  Another of my favorite candies that combines marshmallow and gummi is (I believe) also by Katjes, called “Fred Ferkel”.  They’re pigs with different flavors of berry, and different colors of pink.  Yum.

    Comment by Laura on 9/21/09 at 9:02 am #
  5. Did you really need to put that link to shark finning in here?  I come to this blog to look at tasty candies, but I clicked the link and it was depressing and a little disturbing. :( It was a real downer…

    Comment by Meh on 9/21/09 at 10:19 am #
  6. OMG, the little dominoes!!!  You could actually play with them. So cute.  I want those.

    Comment by JJR on 9/21/09 at 4:22 pm #
  7. What can I say?  I’m a huge fan of yours….you managed to work in the word fraktacularlary,  berry-nosed pandas, rolling around in bed with candy on Saturday morning (don’t we all?), and especially shark finning…all in one review!  I bow to the master!  I feel like I should pay for all this entertainment!  Where should I send the check?  Keep up the GREAT work!

    Comment by Michelle F on 9/23/09 at 1:52 pm #
  8. The Wybie resemblance is scary.

    Comment by Patrick on 9/25/09 at 5:23 am #
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