Tuesday, May 6, 2008

SparX

SparXWhile it’s pretty easy to find sugar free mints (even ones sweetened with sorbitol or some other natural sugar alcohol), it’s pretty hard to find little candies in other flavors.

Enter XLear with their SparX candies, all sweetened with xylitol. Xylitol is a natural sugar alcohol with the same sweetening power as sucrose but one third fewer calories. It’s made from birch bark, corn cobs and occurs naturally in plenty of other places and is even metabolized by the body in everyday fruits & vegetables.

They come in three different flavor varieties:

  • Fruit (Apple, Banana, Grape, Peach)
  • Citrus (Lemon, Lime, Orange, Tangerine)
  • Berry (Blueberry, Blackberry, Raspberry, Strawberry)
  • Each little flip top plastic tube holds 30 grams (about 1.06 ounces).

    Fruit SparX

    The little pastel bits are naturally colored and about the size and shape of the old Tart n’ Tinys.

    They have a light little shell on them, it’s a bit soft on the tongue at first and a little slippery. The little pellet inside has a cooling effect, a little tart boost and a sweet finish. The flavors are very light, not really that noticeable - not as powerful as SweeTarts.

    Citrus has a distinct flavors, a little more tart than the others. Berry is all about the floral flavors of strawberry & raspberry, I couldn’t tell them apart that well, they weren’t at all tangy, but felt very fresh. The Fruit blend had the banana, which I thought was fun (especially for someone who likes Runts), grape was like concord grape (with a slight chewable vitamin aftertaste) and apple was similarly similar to apple juice. Peach was, well, peachy enough (not my favorite, but not too powerful so I didn’t pick them out of the mix).

    I thought they could have been a bit more flavorful, but that’s because I wanted some super-duper cavity fighting replacement for SweeTarts, but that’s not what these are. They’re not really candy for popping mindlessly, I don’t think. Just a little freshening, mouth cooling treat.

    Each little candy has about .6 calories each, meaning the whole package has about 68 calories total.

    Xylitol, like other sugar alcohols, can cause intestinal distress and I did notice a bit of gassiness after eating these (probably the equivalent of a whole tube over two days). I’m told that if you slowly ramp up, your body acclimates. Brian reviewed them a couple of years ago and didn’t get along at all well with the xylitol and neither did many of the commenters, so start slow with these before you go eating a whole package.

    The ingredients are natural enough, though I’m not sure what the source of the natural colors are (so I can’t say if it’s vegan or not, but there’s also beeswax in there, so it may not meet all vegan standards). They also contain some other mineral items like calcium glycerophosphate (which is a source of calcium and phosphorous) and magnesium sterate.

    Xlear products can be ordered directly from their website and found in many vitamin, health foods and stores like Whole Foods. The price isn’t bad for one of these fringe products, they usually retail for $1.50 or so per tube. It’d be cool if they offered these in bulk, so you could refill the tubes.

    Note: do not allow dogs to consume products with xylitol (well, really don’t let your dogs eat any people food) as it can be toxic.

    Related Candies

    1. SparX
    2. Canada Wintergreen
    3. Runts
    4. VerMints
    5. Soda Can Fizzy Candy
    Name: SparX: Citrus, Fruit & Berry
      RATING:
    • 10 SUPERB
    • 9 YUMMY
    • 8 TASTY
    • 7 WORTH IT
    • 6 TEMPTING
    • 5 PLEASANT
    • 4 BENIGN
    • 3 UNAPPEALING
    • 2 APPALLING
    • 1 INEDIBLE
    Brand: XLear
    Place Purchased: samples from ExpoWest
    Price: $1.50 retail
    Size: 1.06 ounces
    Calories per ounce: 64
    Categories: Chalk, United States, All Natural, Sugar Free

    POSTED BY Cybele AT 11:27 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

    Comments
    1. If you hit up an Asian grocery, you’ll be able to find a huge selection of fruit flavored candies made with xylitol.

      Comment by Eris on 5/09/08 at 3:06 am #
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