Monday, October 16, 2006

Sandy Candy

About a month ago I went off to visit another candy factory. This one is out in Covina, CA and is run by David Klein, inventor of the Jelly Belly jelly bean, so I know he’s got an inventive mind. His current candy life involved a product called Sandy Candy.

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Sandy Candy is like sand art, but it’s made from candy powder (ala Pixy Stix). You can buy

kids

kits and then pour the different candy powders into tubes and bottles, creating tasty, colorful layers.

While there on site he showed me some new products he’s working on, which involved using large panning machines (they look like cement mixers). But of course the bulk of his operation is devoted to the Sandy Candy which is HUGELY popular with clubs and groups.

The kit comes with the candy powder in little bottles (like travel-sized shampoo). Just flip the top and tip them over to fill up the little tube. You can make your candy tube according to the flavors (which are marked on the bottoms) or by color (the bottles are milky-translucent, so the actual product is brighter in the tube). The powder itself is far smoother and finer than Pixy Stix which have always been a bit grainy.

imagePeach (peach)- a nice tangy tingle on the tongue and a good floral/fruity taste.

Tangerine (light orange)- come to mamma! Tart and citrusy with a little more zazz than a normal orange flavor. Goes well with most other flavors, which is a bonus.

Blue Raspberry (medium blue) - really nice. Tangy and floral and not as artificial tasting as it looked. And it’s seriously, deeply blue.

Watermelon (pink) - a sweet flavor, it’s fruity but has a very odd and very distinctive bitter aftertaste.

Banana (light yellow) - a sour banana, not just sweet. Good flavor but a little odd to have the tangy bite to it.

Root Beer (light brown) - I am in LOVE with this flavor. It’s soft on the tongue but has a nice spicy mellow feeling to it. It doesn’t mix well with most of the flavors.

Black Cherry (gray) - nice and tart with less medicine flavor and more of the lighter cherry notes. The color is not really black, but kind of a sparkly charcoal gray.

Pear (medium green) - tangier than I expected with only a slight hint of pear.

Green Apple (light green) - good and tart and with a strong artificial taste that I come to expect from green apple. A winner.

Wild Berry - (purply gray) - smells like cotton candy and tastes like strawberry and raspberry. Fruity and with a little tart zing.

Cotton Candy (light blue) - sweet and slightly tangy but with no other flavor. Not really cotton candy in my book.

Grape (medium purple) - very sweet and with a good fake grape flavor that one expects. Not tangy though.

Lemonade (medium yellow) - super tart but not much flavor. A winner.

Wild Cherry (medium red) - nice and tart with a good blast of cherry flavor. Not at all different from black cherry except for the color.

Fruit Punch (medium blue) - sour and floral with a very ordinary punch flavor going on.

Bubble Gum (blue/purple) - sour ... why is it sour? I should be sweet with a hint of cotton candy or strawberry or wintergreen in there.

Tart Apple (white) - pretty much green apple, but not green.

Cherry Cola (medium red) - definitely cola and definitely cherry. Blech. (Just not my thing)

Wild Berry (medium purple) - yes, berry! Sweet and tart and floral and really tasty. A winner.

Key Lime (light green) - lime with a slight soft flavor to it but still some tang.

Lemon Lime (light green) - lemon and lime, reminds me of Koolaid (and not in a bad way). A little tangy but with good flavor.

When you combine all of the above you’ll find your tongue becomes and dark green/black color.

Phew! You might think that’s all, but it’s not. That’s just what was in my two tower assortments. Other sweet flavors include: Sweet Cherry, Orange Creme, Sweet Vanilla Cola, Chery Creme, Sweet Fruit Punch, Sweet Lemonade, Cola Blue, Lime Creme & Strawberry. Personally I think the Banana and Cotton Candy flavors should be sweet, not tart, but who am I to argue?

Then there’s more! Another line includes Candy Pebbles, which are kind of like Wonka Nerds, but a little smaller. They’re about the size of sesame seeds with a good light crunch and zap of flavor. What’s really cool about these isn’t just that they can be used in the Sandy Candy Art, but that you can use them for other things. I think they’d be great as an actual flavored cupcake topper instead of lame plastic tasting jimmies.

Kits can be ordered with the mini bottles for home use or with big ketchup-sized bottles for large events. They look like a great fundraiser for a school fair or just an activity to do with kids where they get to eat what they create. The little 6 inch tubes that came with mine are a good amount of candy, about the size of five single Pixy Stix, so they’re not going to get too amped up.

If you’re someone who always wanted to order Pixy Stix by the pint, your search is over. I ate the whole Lemonade bottle while typing up this review. And part of the Root Beer ... hey, they’re both drinks, aren’t they?

If anyone out there has ever used these, please let me know how it went. It looks super-simple and now that I have this huge kit, I wish I had some kids around to play with it.

There are two ways to order. For retail orders go to SandyCandy.com. For wholesale orders go to NiftyCandy.com. The extra large kit shown here is $50 and has 50 candy straws and includes 20 bottles of different flavors. Smaller kits are also available.

I give the whole kit a 7 out of 10. I really love the concept and think that it’s great fun for kids, especially if you spring for the fun shaped bottles. The variety of flavors is great, especially the fact that there’s Root Beer in there! The only drawback is the difficulty of ordering and the packaging isn’t really that all that exciting. (If I could just order single bottles of my favorite flavors, well, I’d be in trouble.)

POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:57 am Tracker Pixel for Entry     CandyReviewSour7-Worth ItUnited StatesShopping

Comments
  1. Your probably trying to buy kits not kids but then I suppose that’s between you and your particular country’s child slave legislation.

    Also i’d like to say. That’s a whole lot of flavours.

    Comment by leigh on 10/16/06 at 10:37 am #
  2. How cool is this?  Now Tibetan monks can eat their sand mandalas instead of just blowing them to the wind.

    http://www.pitofmystomach.typepad.com

    Comment by pitofmystomach on 10/17/06 at 12:53 am #
  3. Is there a taste difference between the purply-gray Wild Berry and the medium purple one?  Or are they different shades of the same flavor?

    This sounds great for those who love flavor combination experiments.  I’m sure the tangerine and the lemonade would taste delicous together.

    Comment by Jesse on 10/17/06 at 11:16 am #
  4. Cybele's avatar

    Jesse - hah! I put it on there twice! (I had two kits, so I just lined up all the bottles and tasted them.)

    Leigh - they’ve got more flavors too! When I was at the factory he was coming up with a new one that foamed.

    pitofmystomach - that’d be so cool! Of course I’m not sure how you’d eat it ... just kind of kiss the ground?

    Comment by Cybele on 10/18/06 at 6:48 am #
  5. This sounds like it might make for a good Christmas gift for my niece and nephew. With any luck it will make the kids hyper and they will drive my sister crazy LOL. Sounds mean but trust me, I owe her!

    Comment by sports fan on 10/19/06 at 7:06 am #
  6. I am a professional wedding/event planner.  I have set-up Sandy Candy tables at a couple of weddings I’ve planned, for the kids.  They LOVE it.  Even the parents hover around and want to make one. It’s great that it is an activity, craft, take home gift and yummy all at the same time!

    Comment by Risa on 1/17/07 at 8:26 pm #
  7. I am a professional Sandy Candy retailer.  I’ve been selling Sandy Candy in Central Florida for 5 years at arts and crafts shows, school carnivals, street fairs, etc.  It’s very popular with kids and I have a following in Orlando.  I’ve been selling this fun and yummy product since it was only Sandy Candy; Roxy has since added Roxy Candy Pebbles and Candy Winks.  Candy Winks are like crushed up S’weet Tarts and have a wonderful flavor.  (Yes, I taste EVERY SINGLE FLAVOR once my order comes in.)  Kids are often amazed that they get to EAT their artistic creation once it’s been capped.  And like your event planner in the previous comment, I often have parents and grandparents making Sandy Candy art too.  They enjoy it as much as the kids.

    Comment by Marcia Rowland on 3/28/07 at 8:50 am #
  8. I bought Sandy Candy from this company http://www.birthdayboutique.com/sandy_candy.htm along with a really cool spy party kit, but that’s another story. I put the link in on this form so I hope it works, but I don’t know if I did it right. Anyway, the Sandy Candy was a big hit with the kids and I thought this was the neatest company for kids parties. I ordered and had my kit in two days. Awesome!

    Comment by Susan on 9/20/07 at 5:08 am #
  9. I’m so glad to hear all the positive comments about the Sandy Candy.  In addition to weddings, it’s great for bar/bat mitzvah’s because it’s Kosher Parve.  When you get a second, take a look at my classified ad in eBay.  Just do a search for Sandy Candy.  I list some of the events Sandy Candy would be appropriate for.  And if you know of a company that’s trying to attract parents that will be toting kids along, have Sandy Candy for them.  The product can be provided in larger bottles and tubes.  Someone like myself can bring an entire setup.  Also, I watched Dr. Oz a couple of nights ago on Discovery Health Channel and he did an experiment with sugary foods.  Sugar does not make kids hyperactive.  How about that?  Blows the myth to smithereens.  Happy trails everyone!

    Comment by Marcia Rowland on 9/20/07 at 7:48 am #
  10. This sounds like a fantastic product! We need to have more fun with our food, and especially with candy.

    Is this the same company that was (or is? ) called Sour Tooth? The black cherry flavour mentioned sounds a lot like one of the flavours I ran into a number of years back. The sand came in little test tubes; at the time, it was called The Crave, and the aforementioned black cherry flavour was called Black Dog.

    I’ve been searching everywhere for it since then, since it’s the only powdered candy flavour that’s really caught my tastebuds since I was a kid, but I haven’t been able to find it anywhere. If this is the same stuff, that would be fantastic to know. If it’s not, do you have any idea where I can find the stuff I’m talking about?

    Thanks much!

    Comment by Jo on 1/25/08 at 8:08 am #
  11. Hi Jo.  Nope, it’s not The Crave/Black Dog.  I do have one kid at one of my regular community events that also loves the black cherry flavor.  They fill up an entire container just with black cherry.  Some people really do love just one flavor and will stick with it, every time they stop by.  If you would like to purchase just one bottle of the black cherry from me, please contact me thru eBay.  Thanks so much for your comments.  Have a sweet/tart day.—Marcia

    Comment by Marcia Rowland on 1/25/08 at 9:44 am #
  12. Ooo… Might just do that.

    Out of curiosity, do you have any idea where I can find the candy I was mentioning? I initially thought it might be the same thing because the company that made it—Sour Tooth—is listed as being in Covina.

    It’s one of the few sours I really like. Tear Jerkers are the other. When I’m in the mood to make candy, it’s generally hard and sweet—dark chocolate-dipped sponge toffee, sugar glass, things like that. Never tried making sours. I figure I’ll leave that to the professionals.

    Thanks again. Your blog is fantastic, by the way!

    Comment by Jo on 1/27/08 at 5:39 pm #
  13. Unfortunately I don’t know where you can purchase Black Dog candy.  I hadn’t heard of it until you mentioned it.  Good luck with your hunt.  Best, Marcia.

    Comment by Marcia Rowland on 1/28/08 at 2:39 am #
  14. Thanks for posting about this candy, like the person before me. The one candy that I have craved since childhood has been Crave in its legendary Cherry flavor. It was the perfect fine-grain blend of tartness and sweetness. I have researched for it in the past years and found that the company(Eat Me Now foods) had problems with its packaging, its test tube vial. Some of the other flavors had white powder with sugesstive names which some thought was similar to a test tube of cocaine, so it triggered a lot of angry adults to ban it. It had its end pretty much in 1999. But enough of my rambling, thanks for finding another alternative to a lost favorite.

    And to Jo, I know what you mean, there are no close cotenders to The Crave. You should also look into the Moon Dust or Dinosaur DNA Dust tubes made by the HOTLIX company, it looks exactly the same! I’m not sure about the taste though but it’s worth a shot. : )

    Comment by amarie on 2/08/09 at 1:12 am #
  15. you really missed the boat on this one it should have been a 10 and one half. I have been using this since last year and have it in the high schools and recreation depts of the city- they love it—Kudos to Roxy and David

    Comment by rose carrasco on 9/18/09 at 6:14 pm #
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