Monday, April 23, 2007

Starburst Baja California & Tropical

Starburst Baja CaliforniaI’ve never been to Baja. I hear that the experience in the lagoons where the Grey Whales nurse their calves is amazing. I also hear they make great fish tacos there. But I also hear they eat these. It still hasn’t been enough to get me to drive that 200 miles south.

The Starburst Baja California commericals make it seem to be a paradise.

It might well be.

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I admit that I’m always enchanted with candy that’s named for a place.

Limon - this was strange. It started with the distinct flavor of bubble gum. I can’t explain it. Then it got very tart with a pleasant lemon-lime flavor and a slight hint of key lime.

Strawberry Watermelon -  yes, this tasted just like you’d think a strawberry and watermelon Starburst should.

Baja Dragon Fruit - as a blue flavor, I was a little put off, I can’t quite put my finger on the flavor. It reminded me of mango and a little bit of plum.

Aztec Punch - the first time I tried this I thought I got my mixes mixed and it was a cherry one. So I dug out another one and the same thing happened. It tastes like cherry. Maybe that’s what the Aztecs put in their punch.

Starburst TropicalI often shun Tropical flavored stuff because it all ends up being passion fruit, papaya and guava, which I think are good fresh fruits but not really flavors I’m keen on.

But this array in Starburst Tropical of flavors sounded pretty good.

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Mango Melon - I don’t know. It was kind of melon, kind of mango, but not the best aspects of either of those flavors. Not tangy enough, not zesty enough.

Strawberry Banana - I don’t consider strawberries a tropical fruit. If something is indigenous to England, it’s not tropical. This was bad. I wanted to like it, as I love real strawberry and banana things, but the banana was just ooky, a little too fake and a little too much like a scented candle.

Royal Berry Punch - another punch flavor. It’s like they thought that there weren’t enough specific tropical fruit flavors so they had to do these punchy things. This is nice though, a little note of coconut with some melon and citrus and maybe kiwi.

Pina Colada - very coconutty and with a good tingly blast of pineapple. It doesn’t have that buttery flavor that coconut stuff often does, but the fully-rounded notes of the pineapple are great.

If I were to create a Tropical Fruit mix, I’d keep it simple and pick from these: Pineapple, Mango, Lychee, Passion Fruit & Banana. The ultimate mix from these two packs would consist of: Limon, Pina Colada and Royal Berry Punch. No, I can’t even manage to pick a fourth. They’re all okay, but I prefer the original mix best (because of its high citrus content).

Name: Starburst Baja California and Tropical
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Mars
Place Purchased: Rite Aid (3rd & Fairfax)
Price: $.69
Size: 2.07 ounces
Calories per ounce: 120
Categories: Chew, United States, Mars, Starburst

POSTED BY Cybele AT 7:16 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. I love the California ones. They used to be just plain California fruits—plum passionfruit, red raspberry, an alternative cherry one, and the same strawberry watermelon. I was very sad when they got rid of that lineup (the raspberry was awesome), but these are pretty good too. I’m a big cherry fan (I believe I like every cherry candy ever, except for Cherry Kitkats, which were truly disgusting), so I really like the Aztec Punch, and I also like the dragonfruit ones. The limon is a nice departure from the normal citrus starbursts—a little more tart. I’m not a big melon fan, so it figures the one they’d keep is the one I liked least. Sigh.

    Comment by Dashrashi on 4/23/07 at 9:42 am #
  2. Starburst needs to start selling flavours individually. I buy Tropical Starburst JUST for the pina colada ones. So yummy.

    Comment by Lisa on 4/23/07 at 1:27 pm #
  3. Baja Cali Starburst is delicious, and the blue flavour tastes exactly like the 5 cent Tropical Fish sugar coated gummies I used to buy from the corner store as a kid. 

    As good as single flavour packs would be, I think an entire roll (tube? elongated rectangle?) of one flavour would be just too much.

    Comment by Vanessa on 4/23/07 at 4:08 pm #
  4. I agree with Dashrashi! I fondly remember the California flavors from when I was a kid (80s) when they were just referred as “California” and had the different flavor lineup. So tasty! I tried the tropical the other day just for kicks and was pretty impressed. I HATED the smoothie ones and don’t want to go near the sour ones.

    Comment by Sera on 4/23/07 at 5:20 pm #
  5. I’d be sadder about the unavailabity of the different versions of the fruit chews if the alternative flavours didn’t all sound so awful.

    Comment by leigh on 4/24/07 at 12:35 am #
  6. Semi-related… does anyone else want to throw their TV off the balcony when that “berries and cream” commercial comes on?

    Comment by Carly on 4/24/07 at 7:58 am #
  7. Cybele's avatar

    Dashrashi & Sera - I don’t recall the California mix (or Smoothies), but I’ve loved Starburst so much I never thought to try a different flavor set until I got the blog.

    Lisa - I’ve heard raiding the bulk bins is a good way to get just what you want. (I’ve never seen anything but the traditional flavors in bulk though.)

    Vanessa - you may be right. I wonder if the additional appeal of Skittles is that there are five flavors instead of four.

    Leigh - maybe we’ll win your envy when I get a hold of the Retro Flavors (I really doubt it though).

    Carly - I think TiVo has rescued many TVs from that fate in the past ten years! (My pet peeve has always been that local mattress commercial that keeps saying “I’ll match anyone’s price or your matress is free!” Of course he’d rather match the price than give it to you ... stupid commercial.)

    Comment by Cybele on 4/25/07 at 11:54 am #
  8. Dragon fruit is an actual fruit. Funny thing- it’s not blue. Which is why, for the life of me, I can’t figure out why Starburst decided to make a dragon fruit flavored candy blue.  The candy does taste a lot like dragon fruit anyway. I always though the Aztec punch one tastes exactly like fruit punch (as in Hawaiian punch).

    The outside (peel) of a dragon fruit is hot pink (yes, I mean HOT pink) and there are “lobes” tipped with green (the fruit resembles a round flame like if a dragon was breathing fire-hence the name). The inside of the fruit, once peeled or cut is a slightly translucent white with lots (LOTS) of little black seeds studded in it. Here’s a pic: sweetcucumber.com/photos/Fruits/Fruits-Images/0.jpg

    There is another variety of dragonfruit that has dark red/purply flesh rather than white. Also referred to as pithaya, the fruit is juicy and soft when ripe- it’s like eating kiwi with all of the crunchy little seeds only a but firmer. It has a tart flavor. It is obviously a tropical fruit (you can find it in Asia and South America).

    Comment by Trish on 4/26/07 at 3:28 pm #
  9. omg…lychee that’s a great Idea…I like the pineapple part of the pina colada one too…they should make plain pineapple. I remember those cali starbursts as well.

    Comment by Amy on 4/29/07 at 9:54 am #
  10. I picked up a bag of these tropical fruit starburst candies today and tried to figure out if you and I share in the same flavour preferences.

    Okay, so here goes:

    1)Mango Melon was my favourite.
    2)Royal Berry Punch was my least favourite.
    3)Strawberry Banana was okay initially and then tasted awful in the end.
    4)Pina Colada was good but not great. I wanted more coconut intensity. I found the flavour too subtle for pina colada.

    So, I guess we differ in our candy preferences smile

    Comment by Joanne on 5/14/07 at 1:55 pm #
  11. WERE CAN I GET BIG BOXES OF CANDY FOR A LOW PRICE

    Comment by JASMINE on 7/31/07 at 6:32 am #
  12. I just want to know if you sell the red-strawberry ones by themselves?

    Comment by Eliana Pastor on 2/08/08 at 12:56 am #
  13. I love the strawberry banana and pina colada ones. I’m not a big fan of Starburst otherwise but I buy the Tropical ones in big bags!

    Comment by Debbie on 3/05/08 at 11:32 pm #
  14. I buy the baja california packs JUST for the blue dragon fruit - the aztec punch is good, but the dragon fruit flavor of those blue starbursts is amazing. I LOVE it!!! I wish I could buy a whole pack of just the blue ones - its the best flavor starburst has. I wish tons of different candy could be made with the exact same flavor. It’s delicious!!!! :p

    Comment by ash on 6/04/08 at 1:07 am #
  15. I remember the original 1920s and 1930s pack of Baja fruit chews with four standard flavors:
    Mango Watermelon (pink)
    Blueberry Lime (blue)
    Fruit Punch (red)
    Lemon Lime (green)
    The original 1920s to late 1960s pack of Tropical fruit chews was unbelievable!
    There was:
    Apricot (orange)
    Pineapple (yellow)
    Purple Passion Fruit (purple)
    Banana (pink)

    Comment by Andrew on 8/20/08 at 5:54 am #
  16. HEY I LOVE FAIRFAX! I USED TO LIVE THERE! OH YEAH! I LOVE BAJA CALIFORNIA STARBUST, TOO!

    Comment by Katie on 9/02/08 at 3:32 pm #
  17. They are called Feelin Californa in Canada

    Comment by Riel on 4/25/09 at 9:25 am #
  18. you guys are all crazy!!
    id rate this candy 8/10

    i thought the commonly criticized strawberry-banana was great. had a little nutty taste but it was still very tasty..

    the rest were excellent as well

    Comment by rob on 6/09/09 at 9:22 am #
  19. This was not very good, the only flavors I really liked were Limon and Strawberry watermelon.

    Comment by Princess adeleine on 7/01/09 at 4:44 am #
  20. I used to LOVE the Tropical flavor packs Circa 2001. These candies were my “drug of choice”.
    StrawberryBanana
    KiwiBanana
    MangoMelon
    TropicalPunch

    The Pina colada is OK, the Royal Berry punch IS HORRIBLE! and doesn’t sound much like a tropical variety anyways… Thanks to marketing for messing up a good thing!

    Comment by Nicole L on 8/24/09 at 7:58 am #
  21. Well….I was reading through you thoughts on the tropical starburst and I think that you should sends them your thoughts on flavours and stuff. I feel like telling them to start selling the limited edition things again…...

    I have a package of Tropical starburst waiting for me….I will have to see if my thoughts are the same as yours

    Comment by Taylor on 10/25/09 at 2:48 am #
  22. the pina colada ones are like having an orgasm in your mouth AMAZING

    Comment by lace on 12/04/09 at 7:20 am #
  23. Hi, Cybele! You are amazing. I love your blog! I want to know where I can find these. I wanted to know if they are limited edition? I see this post is from 2007, but I really want to try the Pina Coloda flavor.

    Comment by CheerForever on 4/04/10 at 9:58 pm #
  24. why don’t they make passion plum anymore????? those were by far the best starburst ever and I haven’t bought any since. I’m disappointed. =[

    Comment by Courtney on 9/06/10 at 8:22 pm #
  25. Where do I find the Passion Plum they are better than sex at times!

    Comment by chrissy on 6/28/11 at 11:15 am #
  26. Where can you buy the blue ones? I haven’t ever seen them!

    Comment by Taylor on 10/30/11 at 5:55 pm #
  27. The royal berry punch are literally the worst candy I’ve EVER tasted.

    Comment by Lauren on 5/09/12 at 12:32 pm #
  28. whatever happened to that one flavor in the blue pack? it was a dark purple wrapper…“plum passion?” it was amazing!

    Comment by Lydia on 1/24/13 at 9:18 pm #
  29. PLUM PASSION, best Starburst flavor ever. Can’t understand why this company would make such a bonehead move to discontinue it. PLEASE BRINGBACK PLUM PASSION!

    Comment by Jett Lightning on 2/06/13 at 4:49 pm #
  30. Bring back Plum All the rest tast lime hammered dog shit!

    Comment by Shartburst on 6/25/13 at 1:30 am #
  31. Raspberry and blackberry in berry mix are divine ....really rich and juicy…..so juicy in fact that the inside of your cheeks drool and it’s a challenge to not quickly succumb and swallow.  I love cherry -kiwi and mango melon as well!!!!!!!

    Comment by rebecca on 8/27/13 at 7:02 pm #
  32. PLUM PASSION FOR LIFE! If you never got to taste this flavor you missed out on one of the greatest Starburst flavors E-V-E-R! When you first find one in your hand, you double think it, wondering if there can be a grape flavor.You taste it and realize it’s bliss in a cube, pure ambrosia. I wish I could win the lottery and buy Mars and make them make this flavor for me…

    Comment by Plum Passion on 9/02/13 at 10:15 pm #
  33. R.I.P. Royal Berry Punch
    1959-2013

    Comment by benamore on 10/01/14 at 3:39 pm #
  34. Plum Passion, best flavor ever… Also, thanks for all the candy reviews!

    Comment by Evan on 12/07/14 at 12:28 pm #
  35. Another idea for 2016 starburst mix
    This one, I don’t know the name of yet.
    Blueberry lime (greenish blue/teal)
    Melon berry (light green)
    Mango (light orangish yellow)
    Kiwi (darker green)

    Comment by Anonymous on 1/26/15 at 8:53 pm #
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