Friday, January 27, 2006

Razzles

Razzles are an oddity. They seem to be the jack-of-all trades of the candy world. Billed, “First it’s Candy ... Then It’s Gum!” I have to admit it doesn’t do either particularly well.

image

The package for these Razzles is particularly attractive, and that’s often enough to get me to buy something. That’s the wonder of candy, even if you’re disappointed, you’re rarely out more than a dollar.

The package, of course, makes the Razzles look better than they actually are. They’re not the sassy looking, colorful pieces on the package. Theyr’e rather grainy looking and kind of crumbly. Chewing them gives a burst of sweetness followed by some tart. I chose three orange ones for my first Razzles in probably 20 years. They were disappointingly bland, but did turn into gum more faithfully than I remember when I was a kid. The gum has a nice lingering essence, but little sugar to jazz it up. This is not bubble gum either, in case you were going to make some attempts.

Orange: bland and lacking in any zesty punch. Lemon: Solid, good mix of essence and tart. Grape: not as chemical as some others, had an odd sort of ginseng/root flavor to it. Blueberry: pretty good, kind of grapey and kind of like raspberry. Raspberry: nice and flowery tasting with some good tart bite to it and a little hint of cotton candy but it doesn’t wear well, the flavor is gone before the sugar is.

The color when it becomes gum is far more vibrant - the lemon became a lusturous saffron yellow and the dirty looking grape became, um, inky and the blueberry was positively turquoise.

image

These had a pretty powerful smell of chemicals. And they are SOUR. This package had more defects in it - three of the candies were noticeably darker than the others and just didn’t seem “right” so I didn’t eat them.

Lime: puckeringly sour with a good hint of lime essence. The sour stays with the gum well after the rest of the flavor is gone. Blue Raspberry pretty much like the regular raspberry but intensely sour with a rather salty taste to it as well (I know there’s no sodium in there). Orange: straight up sour with some nice fruity flavors. Lemon: I figured this one was going to be really sour after those lime ones and I wasn’t disappointed. Much better than the regular Razzle, if you could just buy these, I think they’d do very well. I didn’t get any Cherry ones in this batch for some reason, so I can’t comment on that flavor.

I don’t think Razzles have won me over. They’re a nice novelty and the gum part isn’t bad, but the candy part is pretty awful. It’s not smooth and the flavors are uneven. The appearance is also kind of off-putting. I wonder if they’ve ever considered candy coating them like a Spree or Chicklet.

UPDATE: for even more confusing “candy/gum” see CandyAddict’s recent review of Japanese Wata Gum

Name: Razzles and Sour Razzles
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Concord Confections owned by Tootsie Roll Industries
Place Purchased: Candy Town (San Pedro)
Price: $1.25
Size: 1.4 ounces
Calories per ounce: 94
Categories: Gum, Canada, Kosher

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:51 pm Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. I’ve been trying to recall the name of these things for years, or at least, the name of a product LIKE this. I like them, actually.

    Comment by El on 1/28/06 at 3:13 am #
  2. i don’t see why they keep these things on the market and not the marathon bar… why oh why…

    Comment by jayfish on 1/28/06 at 12:27 pm #
  3. Oh yeah, I remember trying these as a kid.  I had no idea they were still around actually. The idea just seemed so cool in theory, but I never could get into it back then… I think I had a hard time with any candy-gum mixture (hello, blowpops).  It just seemed like the two should be mutually exclusive.

    Comment by Bryan on 1/30/06 at 4:27 pm #
  4. Wasn’t the Marathon bar just Snickers re-named? And then they re-re-named it to Snickers?

    Comment by El on 1/30/06 at 7:15 pm #
  5. That’s a different Marathon bar. The US Marathon bar was a…well, what, ten-inch long confection of thin caramel coated with milk chocolate. I remember it fondly, and it’s got a modern British analogue whose name eludes me at the moment.

    I have recently been jonesin’ for some Razzles, and was ready to give up hope. I don’t think I’ll ever get down to San Pedro (it’s waaaaay outside my territory) but there are a couple good candy stores in the Westwood village right by my office. I predict I’ll need to talk a walk up there tomorrow… smile

    Comment by Bruce Anderson on 2/01/06 at 3:55 pm #
  6. Cybele's avatar

    El - Bruce has it right. In the states there was a bar called the Marathon that was a braid of caramel covered in chocolate, made by Mars. The UK version is from Cadbury and is called Curly Wurly.

    Bruce - oddly enough I saw Razzles last night at Dollar Tree (down in Carson) - in a big bag of snack size packs.

    Comment by Cybele on 2/01/06 at 4:09 pm #
  7. You beat me to it. I have been eating on a pack of Razzles for a few months now and I was goingto review them. I had an idea on another way to review them though. May do that soon. smile

    Brian

    Comment by Brian on 2/01/06 at 5:45 pm #
  8. Cybele's avatar

    Brian - I seriously considered doing a head-to-head on the Razzles ... NBC vs ABC (that’s “not been chewed” and “already been chewed”).

    The colors on the Razzles once you chew them up are pretty spectacular. That GumWad.com guy should really consider switching to Razzles.

    Comment by Cybele on 2/03/06 at 3:39 pm #
  9. I LOVE razzles me and my friends love them! I can only find them in one store up north, but rumor now is that u can get razzles at the local Walgreens! Well have to cheak that one out! I LOVE RAZZLES RAZZLES ARE GANGSTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love razzle to death razzles are the best candy in the world!

    Comment by Kim on 2/15/06 at 3:20 pm #
  10. Oh, Razzles, be still my heart.  These little joys will always be the love of my life.  Sure - they crumble strangely and take a while to get going - but I find that so pleasing to my palate!  I always eat them too fast, though…that’s probably because their flavor is pretty fleeting.  I miss their old package design but I’ll admit that the new one is pretty schnazzy and eye-catching.  I have very little love for the sour variety, but I’ll eat them in a pinch.

    Comment by Jesse on 3/29/06 at 3:49 pm #
  11. How can you not love Razzles? First it’s candy, then it’s gum! Razzles Rock!

    Comment by Mike on 6/03/06 at 5:02 am #
  12. I loved the old razzels. the new ones suck.

    Comment by keri on 7/27/06 at 11:29 am #
  13. Razzles saved my life!! & they are such a classic taste of the 80?s and if you don?t like them then you should just suck an egg?RAZZLE DAZZLE MOTHA FKRZ!!( (in an British accent))

    Comment by Beccaboo on 5/02/07 at 5:04 am #
  14. they are better then Drugs ((in a california accent))

    Comment by Beccaboo on 5/02/07 at 5:08 am #
  15. hmm…..you guys are so lucky that you’ve tried ‘em razzles. I’ve always wanted to taste ‘em ever since I saw 13 going 30 movie. *sigh* It sucks here in the Philippines (if you were to base the variety of candies we have.) because the only foreign sweets that you can easily buy is MnM’s, Snickers, Hersheys, and some other…..chocolates…..yuck! Chocolates SUCK!!!!

    -secret-

    Comment by Candy/Gum Lover. on 3/07/08 at 7:43 pm #
  16. what do razzles taste like, i ssaw them on 13 going on 30! i want themmm!

    Comment by holly x on 4/23/08 at 12:15 pm #
  17. candy/gum lover good news! i bought one pack of razzles at candy corner at SM marikina. maybe it’s also available at other candy corners

    Comment by gum lover only on 9/18/08 at 12:45 am #
  18. i actually love razzles, and i like how it turns into gum! what an amazing idea! the rasberry ones are my absolute FAVORITE!!!

    Comment by ashli on 1/15/09 at 6:21 am #
  19. Does anyone recall in which movie a couple walking to a park / fair & the guy pick up one color on Razzles & throw the rest cause she only eat that color!?!? it’s a movie that came out 1-2 yrs ago.

    please help… it’s driving me crazy!

    Comment by Hani on 4/28/09 at 12:04 pm #
  20. I love Razzles. I just tried them on Tuesday and I am an addict!! But there are only a few places that sell them so next time I see them I might buy the whole box. I like the sour the best! Razzle Dazzle!

    Comment by candy luver on 5/24/09 at 3:22 pm #
  21. i have luved razzles since i first tried them, they are like the best candy ever!My dad used to buy them all the time when i was like 7, and then i saw them on 13 going on 30 and i went out and looked for them everywhere. Now the only place that i can find them at is Fuzzywigs in the mall, the White Fence Farm, and Walgreens but today, i bought a pack and i only got 8 razzles in the entire package… usually i get like 20-30 in each pack… it sucked i really felt like the razzle company ripped me off!

    Comment by gotta luv em on 7/13/09 at 3:46 pm #
  22. Okay, so i absolutley LOVE razzles! They are so addicting! The sour ones are the best, and i can only find them in the candy store in uptown and i actually saw them in a candy store near seal beach! I usually eat the whole package in one day, and end up with the roof of my mouth torn up, but what the heck, they are just so delicious. One thing i do not like about them is how they color your mouth. The color they change your mouth is atrocious! Even after brushing your teeth or eating its still an ugly greenish blue color. The color doesn’t stop me from eating them though!

    Comment by Love on 7/20/10 at 3:35 pm #
  23. Does anyone remember the hard candy I thought it was called blue razzels or razzlers? It was a hard candy haven’t seen them in yrs

    Comment by dustyn on 9/11/13 at 10:39 pm #
  24. hi i want some razzeles

    Comment by nothing on 4/12/14 at 10:25 pm #
  25. Look for a canday.  Same idea as razzles but it’s not razzles.  They were smaller, harder, had a shiny coating and also turn to gum.  They game in packages with a single colour.  Red Orange and Purple.

    Comment by Canadian on 8/02/14 at 3:05 pm #
  26. Sorry.  meant to say “I was looking for a candy” in post 25. I can’t remember the name

    Comment by Canadian on 8/02/14 at 3:06 pm #
  27. Razzles are the king of candy - chew for a bit and spit em right out and pop another one in. gives your jaw a workout. Best candy ever. go to town on those things. get at em’ relentlessly. Eat as many as you can. If i could own stock in them I would - razzles needs to go independent and start an IPO. now.

    Comment by BEz on 11/06/14 at 11:08 am #
  28. I want my tounge to be permantley red (-:

    Comment by Vanessa looper on 1/22/15 at 8:35 am #
  29. I got a pack 40 minutes ago, the grape flavor goes away too fast,the orange is kind of sour, the raspberry tastes like a fresh flower or something

    Comment by Dren Retupmoc on 6/23/15 at 1:46 pm #
Commenting is not available in this channel entry.

Next entry: KitKat Tsubu Ichigo and Hershey’s Strawberries ‘n’ Creme

Previous entry: E. Guittard Single Origin Tasting Kit




 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ABOUT

FEEDS

CONTACT

  • .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
  • Here are some frequently asked questions emailed to me you might want to read first.

EMAIL DIGEST

    For a daily update of Candy Blog reviews, enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

CANDY RATINGS

TYPE

BRAND

COUNTRY

ARCHIVES

Meticulously photographed and documented reviews of candy from around the world. And the occasional other sweet adventures. Open your mouth, expand your mind.

 

 

 

 

Facebook IconTwitter IconTumblr IconRSS Feed IconEmail Icon

COUNTDOWN.

Candy Season Ends

-2538 days

Read previous coverage

 

 

Which seasonal candy selection do you prefer?

Choose one or more:

  •   Halloween
  •   Christmas
  •   Valentine's Day
  •   Easter

 

image

ON DECK

These candies will be reviewed shortly:

 

 

image