Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Topps Baby Bottle

So I’m reading Technology Marketing magazine last month (okay, not really, I just found the article because it was about candy and it came up on a Google News Alert) and there was an article about Topps and their new products. But what shocked me, seriously shocked me, was the first part of the opening paragraph:

Baby Bottle Pop—Topps’ biggest brand and the No. 2 sweet in the kids non-chocolate candy segment ... (link)

Say what? The Baby Bottle Pop is that popular (I have no idea what holds the number 1 spot in the adults non-chocolate segment ... I’m guessing something from Jelly Belly)?

So why haven’t I had them? It appears that they were introduced in the late 90s, a bit after my candy experimentation stage. But I have a duty to Candy Blog to keep up with the kids, you know. First, I had to find them. This involved stooping down and looking at the bottom racks in the candy aisle at the drug stores and finally at 7-11 where I was able to find the “classic” version in a flavor combo that seemed good to me. I picked up Citrus Craze and Strawberry.

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You may be wondering what a Baby Bottle is. It’s a little bottle, about the size of a small baby food jar, filled with a powdered candy topped with a hard candy nipple top. The top unscrews and has a “stem” that allows you to hold onto the top as you lick it to get it sticky and then dip it into the bottle to coat it with the sour, flavorful powder. The nipple pop has a plastic dome to keep it clean when you’re not eating.

I was expecting a grainy powder like Pixy Stix. Instead it’s much finer and more flavorful.

The Citrus Craze powder is quite tart and actually has a lot more flavor than I expected. Instead of just sour, it had some orangey flavors. It still tasted pretty much like Tang. It looks like Tang, too. The pop itself is rather bland and sweet, with a swirl of yellow and orange. The combo of the two is really good! The tangy powder seems more zesty because of the bland background of the sweet pop. Having the dipping pop made of hard candy makes far more sense than the Lik-a-Maid which had a compressed dextrose stick that got soggy pretty quickly.

As you eat the pop and there’s less powder, it gets harder and harder to coat the pop with it. I eventually just dumped the powder onto my tongue. Here’s a tip ... don’t inhale at the same time. Seriously, this is weapons-grade powder and the sour crust in your lungs is not a happy thing. Is there a disease called Pixe Stix Lung?

The Strawberry wasn’t quite as interesting to me, except that I have to say that the clear red nipple pop on top was pretty alluring. (Read into that whatever you like.)

In this version the pop is actually the flavorful sour part and the powder is just sweet and fruity. Not bad, but I preferred the tangy zap of the Citrus Craze. As a grown up I find eating this a little cumbersome but I’m pretty sure this would have been my favorite candy as a tween. As a treat for kids, yeah, it’s a mixed message, but it’s also rather labor intensive to eat and only 120 calories.

For the record, as a kid I didn’t buy Pixy Stix or Lik-a-Maid. I would buy cans of lemonade mix or boxes of Jell-O and just eat that by licking my finger and dipping it in there. I don’t know why it never occurred to me to use a lollipop.

Note: this product was made in Thailand.

Related Candies

  1. Big Bite Gummy Bear
  2. Bratz Candy Cosmetics
  3. Baby Bottle Pacifier Tarts
  4. Sandy Candy
  5. Airheads
  6. Giant Pixy Stix
  7. Airheads Xtreme Sour Belts
Name: Baby Bottle Pops: Citrus Craze & Strawberry
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Topps
Place Purchased: 7-11 (Hollywood)
Price: $1.29
Size: 1.1 ounces
Calories per ounce: 109
Categories: Chalk, Hard Candy, , SourTopps

POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:33 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. My girls love Baby Bottle Pops.  They coat the lollipop by completely covering the opening to the powder with the pop and gently shaking.  It gives nice, complete coverage.  wink

    Comment by April on 3/27/07 at 9:39 am #
  2. There is a very similar version in the form of a paint bucket filled with a thick candy liquid and a paintbrush with the bristles in form of hard candy. Anyway, my point is that the paintbrush and paint bucket make the dipping experience a lot easier.

    I remember eating these around the time those gigantic ring pops with the plastic bands and clunky candy jewels were popular.

    Comment by Carina on 3/27/07 at 6:25 pm #
  3. LOL…it’s Lik-M-Aid, though Lik-a-Maid is much funnier! (As I started to post, I realized that maybe that was a deliberate typo. Maybe I just wasn’t a hip child, and just didn’t realize that’s what everyone else called it. *g*)

    Comment by Jen on 3/27/07 at 7:48 pm #
  4. Ring Pops are still out there and still rather popular around this part of the country. pretty much every store has them, and they are regularly released with new flavor combinations, so they are selling well enough to get attention.

    it’s just hard for me to think of Topps as a candy company—but that’s probably a large part of their sales, given the state of the sportscard market these days.

    Comment by Jim Kosmicki on 3/28/07 at 3:34 am #
  5. >>I have no idea what holds the number 1 spot in the adults non-chocolate segment<<

    My guess would be Lifesavers.

    Comment by Kate on 3/28/07 at 3:37 am #
  6. I almost bought a sour pacifier deal in the video store the other day. I thought all the sucking candy on a ring had to do with raves. Whadda I know.

    Comment by Jeanna Olson on 3/28/07 at 7:23 am #
  7. Well geez, I coulda told you about these. I just went through two of them yesterday.  Try classic watermelon - it’s the best flavor.

    Comment by Tindy on 3/28/07 at 9:50 am #
  8. I can’t believe they’re that popular! I went my whole childhood without ever even wanting one (although I do know that song that’s on all their commercials)... But dang. I’m 17 now, so I wasn’t a youngun all that long ago. So weird.

    Comment by Tristyn on 3/28/07 at 11:41 am #
  9. My 5 yr old daughter LOVES these, she can spot them in any store anywhere..lol. They are the candy every kid wants. It’s weird to me..but actually they are pretty good, I’ve tried the grape which was good and the watermelon which was also good, but those are my 2 fav flavors anyway smile

    Comment by Amy on 4/04/07 at 6:02 am #
  10. Cybele's avatar

    April - I tried that! I didn’t like how it got too much powder around the margin where the candy pop meets the lid though. I think I have to work on my technique.

    Carina - I’ll have to look out for the paintbrush thingies too. I picked up some other lolly things at the Dollar Store last night too.

    Jen - oops! (I never ate it when I was a kid.)

    Jim - I just heard that Topps was bought by Michael Eisner! I guess he likes sports cards.

    Kate - ooh, I completely forgot about the Lifesavers ... and mints!

    Jeanna - oh, I’m sure the rave crowd likes them. There are also light up ring pops, I’m SURE that’s who’s buying them.

    Tindy - I just found a place that has other flavors. I’m waiting for a sale though.

    Tristyn - they have commercials? I guess I’m not watching the right shows. (You’d think they’d be on Futurama reruns.)

    Amy - grape? I haven’t seen grape! I bet I’d like that one too.

    Comment by Cybele on 4/04/07 at 8:01 am #
  11. uhmmm just one question do u know how much sugar is in this? im doing a science project and just needed to know thank u ^^

    Comment by Laila <3 on 5/03/07 at 6:32 pm #
  12. >>I have no idea what holds the number 1 spot in the adults non-chocolate segment<<

    A:Starburst

    Comment by J on 9/11/07 at 5:46 pm #
  13. i need ingrdeents for baby bottle pop candy science fair projects.

    Comment by rachel on 12/06/07 at 7:28 am #
  14. man i think that the message in a bottle thing is STUPID but man the candy is o.k. well… that is my favorite candy in the WORLD but still the messge in a bottle thing is crazy cause i can’t even get into it at all i mean the code doesn’t even work

    Comment by jasmine on 6/16/08 at 9:15 am #
  15. luveI

    Comment by KAYLA MILOR on 7/22/08 at 11:12 am #
  16. We have bought tons of baby bottle pops and we can’t get the message to work either!! It appears that the authentication side of the website is not working.  I am trying to figure out how to get in touch with them because my son is crying in misery because he wants to get the website to work!

    Comment by Michelle on 7/29/08 at 3:39 am #
  17. why won’t it work

    Comment by Olivia Rose Flanders on 9/14/08 at 10:52 am #
  18. Hi,

    I’m in desperate need of finding your light up Baby Bottle Pops. My three year old grand-daughter just loves them and we have cleaned out all of the Walgreen stores in Fort Wayne that carry them. I tried finding them all the from Fort Wayne to Chicago a week ago, with no luck. Whenever someone in our family goes out Amaya will say Baby Bottle Light Up. She is a little behind in her speech, but she manages to say those four words pretty clear.

    Thank you for you time and help.

    Sincerely,

    Marlene

    Comment by Marlene Lake on 12/30/08 at 3:18 pm #
  19. I have bout several bottle pops and can never get the plastic lid off of the sucker!!!!!

    Comment by misty on 1/18/09 at 4:23 pm #
  20. Got one of these today in Strawberry, the “Message in a Bottle” variety, and the site isn’t accepting the code for me either. What’s up with that?  Also, haven’t been able to find the Citrus or Grape kind anywhere… are they discontinued, I wonder?

    Comment by Heather on 2/18/09 at 6:57 am #
  21. I love TBBP! I LOVE IT WHEN THE JONAS BROTHERS MADE AN AD ON IT!!!!!!!!! HAHA!! i love all the flavours, but it’s very sour… And I don’t rrally like sour things… Unless it’s a sour gummi worm…

    Comment by Ashley on 2/21/09 at 10:56 am #
  22. HI !!!! i like baby bottle pops i lovethem so keep makeing them Ok!!!!!!and u will keep getting these message
            [by.Tonyika

    Comment by Tonyika Bryant on 12/10/09 at 2:50 pm #
  23. this is a nice thing for me to do this for my sister

    Comment by shainmartin on 1/27/10 at 9:31 am #
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