Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Van Slooten - Autodrop Total Loss

Autodrop Total LossSometimes I buy candy just because of what it’s called.

In this case, it’s an assortment of little car shaped candies called Autodrop Total Loss. It includes 11 different flavors in one bag (Elf Heerlijke Smaken in een Zak).

I thought that the “total loss” thing meant something different in Dutch, but honestly I can’t figure out if it’s a cognate or not. I thought maybe it was something like “massive pile up” but internet translators are only good with verbatim things, not interpretive use of language.

The purple bag has whimsical drawings of cars motoring down the street, making little “toet, toet” sounds, which I’m guessing is like “putt, putt”. The style of the drawings reminds me of Quentin Blake (whom many of us were introduced to via Charlie & the Chocolate Factory).

Total Loss (no really, that's what it's called)

  • Klein Zacht Fiatje (little black car) - this is sweet and a little woodsy tasting. Not quite licorice, it’s a little like brown sugar but maybe a little hint of menthol in there. It’s chewy and soft, reminds me a bit of those old Pine Brothers cough drops (before they got really stale).
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  • Zacht Kadettje is the larger car driving to the left, it has two layers, a light layer on the bottom and a black layer on the top. It’s much like the Klein Zacht Fiatje, the base layer is a little more like a mello-creme, kind of soft and grainy and less chewy. Still a very mellow woodsy flavor.
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  • Dubbele Dubbeldekker (red & black bus) is a firm, berry flavored “fruit gum” candy with a little hint of licorice to it, a little dash of mild salt. It’s kind of odd, the berry isn’t that strong, but neither is the licorice.
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  • Aardbei Rode Cadillac (red gummi Caddy) is a strawberry fruit gum. It’s soft and has a pretty intense flavor. Not quite as floral or aromatic as the German strawberry candies I’ve had, this one is more like a strawberry jam flavor. 
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  • Bovsrucht Paarse Chevy is pretty much the same as the Caddy, a mild cassis or cherry, depending on the color. Again, it tastes more like the preseves of the fruits than the fresh ones. (Not a bad thing, just different.) 
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  • Dubbel Frisse Fruit Limo came in a couple of color combos: green and red or red and yellow. The green & red tasted a bit like lime & strawberry.  Red and yellow was a similar mild lemon and berry (but possibly cassis, I can’t be sure).
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  • Romige Rolls (beige Rolls Royce) was a dreamy caramelized mellow cream. Kind of like the crust of a toasted marshmallow. I ate them several different ways. I sucked on them like a lozenge (though they do get a little grainy towards the center) and others I just chewed up. They’re much harder than candy corn, probably because they have some sort of thickener/binder like gelatin in them. I believe the translation of the word toffeeschium is “toffee foam” which is pretty much what this was. Tasty simplicity.
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  • Colaflesje Op Wieland (Cola bottle on wheels) - this one was easy. It was a mild and tangy cola gummi. A little too much on the tangy side and not enough cola, but still, a tasty and comforting piece.
  • If I were able to translate all the descriptions in the shop I would have known that none of the black ones were actually licorice, so with my expectations now set aside, these were tasty and fun. The variety is huge and the molding of all the items is fun and different. I don’t see myself buying this particular mix again, but there are other Autodrops that are actually licorice (called Drop Donders that includes sweet, salt, honey and salmiak licorice) that I might give a try based on the quality of this product.

    Autodrops contain gelatin so are unsuitable for vegetarians (and don’t appear to be Kosher either).

    Many thanks to Babelfish for helping me at least translate some of the words from the package.

    Related Candies

    1. Licorice Assortment
    2. Brach’s Autumn Mix
    3. Haribo Fizzy Cola
    4. Bassett’s Licorice Allsorts
    5. Frugal Swedish Sweets
    Name: Autodrop Total Loss
      RATING:
    • 10 SUPERB
    • 9 YUMMY
    • 8 TASTY
    • 7 WORTH IT
    • 6 TEMPTING
    • 5 PLEASANT
    • 4 BENIGN
    • 3 UNAPPEALING
    • 2 APPALLING
    • 1 INEDIBLE
    Brand: Van Slooten
    Place Purchased: Holland's Best (San Jose)
    Price: $3.15
    Size: 6.17 ounces
    Calories per ounce: unknown
    Categories: Gummi, Netherlands

    POSTED BY Cybele AT 7:46 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

    Comments
    1. Aardbei Rode Cadillac ahd the Rolls Royce sound so good!

      The Dubbele Dubbeldekker wins as the prettiest of the bunch for me. smile

      Comment by Sera on 4/29/08 at 10:56 am #
    2. Love your work.

      Completely without foundation, I’m going to put in a guess and
      suggest that ‘loss’ might be translated as ‘go’, or ‘loose’. So it’d be kind of like, everything loose, or total go.

      Or something.

      Comment by Alice on 4/29/08 at 2:20 pm #
    3. Hi there!

      I know “Total Loss” can be used in Dutch to refer to an auto accident, or “totaling” of a car. For instance the Dutch sentence, “Hij heeft zijn auto total loss gereden,” means “He has written his car off.”

      So, my guess is that they wanted to mix flavours and decided that the resulting treat looked like those cars that had to get a new hood or fender but they didn’t have the same colour at the auto-yard. Cars that have been written off!

      This is just my semi-educated guess, but I’m going to ask my Dutch boyfriend as soon as he wakes up (he’s 9 hours ahead…) if he’s heard of these and if he knows why they’d have a candy that refers to a car accident, or if there’s something cultural that explains it better.

      Comment by Gwen Monster on 4/29/08 at 3:40 pm #
    4. Okay- I cleared it with him. He says my guess is as good as any, and that the English phrase “Total Loss” is what they say for cars that are totaled.

      Comment by Gwen Monster on 4/29/08 at 9:18 pm #
    5. Autodrop is fun! They have it in all kinds of assortments. I think this one is ‘total loss’ because there are so many different flavours in one bag? The Drop Donders also has a moneytruck shaped like coin licorice.

      Comment by Annemarie on 4/29/08 at 11:41 pm #
    6. Wow, those look really cool! I addicted to gums!

      Comment by M?rcia Martins on 4/30/08 at 3:02 am #
    7. Dear Cybele - Doesn’t you brother know some Dutch?  I think “toet” is not “putt” but “toot”.
      Love, Mom but then again I don’t know any Dutch.

      Comment by Eva on 4/30/08 at 6:06 am #
    8. Mom is right- “toet” is pronounced “toot.” It’s horns honking smile

      Comment by Gwen Monster on 4/30/08 at 6:33 am #
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