Friday, October 31, 2008

Tropical and Xtreme Sour Smarties

Each year around this time there are lists of the best and worst Halloween candies. At the top folks always seem to have Candy Corn, but right in there is another misunderstood and underappreciated candy, Smarties.

There’s not much too them, they’re a simple tangy compressed dextrose candy stacked into a tight roll and wrapped in cellophane. For almost 60 years CeDe Candy has been churning out the chalky, barely flavored tablets. It’d be a rare Halloween Trick-or-Treat bag that didn’t have at least one roll. More recently CeDe’s product line has expanded to include Bubble Gum Smarties, Mega Smarties and now Xtreme Sour and Tropical Smarties.

Tropical Smarties

The Tropical Smarties roll is attractive, orange and yellow accents give it a sunny, citrus look. The tablets themselves don’t look or smell any different from the original though. Original come in green, yellow, purple, pink, orange and white, Tropical seem to come in green, yellow, orange, pink and white.

In the case of the Tropical array, when eating mindlessly the rolls had a soft sweetness to them with some notes of pina colada and banana/strawberry. In the particular the yellow ones are banana (in the regular array I think they’re lemon) and the white ones seem to be the pina colada.

All of this causes too much thinking for something like Smarties though. Though the different colors are different flavors they’re one of the few candies I won’t separate before I eat.

Tropical Smarties are pleasant, a little milder (if that’s even possible) than the Original.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Xtreme Sour Smarties

The first thing I noticed about the X-Treme Sour Smarties is that they’re more vivid. Not quite SweeTarts colors, but pretty close.

The colors are green, yellow, purple, orange and pink (maybe red). They seem a bit denser and less powdery than the Original.

The flavors are actually perceivable, though not terribly notable. The tanginess is very high pitched. Where SweeTarts are a mid-range tartness (malic acid) these seem more citric acidy.

I like the balance of flavor to tartness with SweeTarts, but I can see this different kind of tartness and the back seat the actual flavors take having its appeal.

Rating: 5 out of 10.

On the whole, I’ve always loved Smarties in the sense that I will eat them, all of them, than later I will feel sick, curse them and vow never to eat them again because of my stupid lack of self control. The ubiquity of Smarties around Halloween is also accompanied by some sort of mind-warping amnesia ray ... and I again repeat my demonstration of how much power these little tablets have over me.

(Note: Smarties are called Rockets in Canada. Smarties made by Nestle are little chocolate lentils and are sold everywhere except for the USA.)

Related Candies

  1. Brach’s Chocolate Candy Corn & Halloween Mix
  2. Smarties Jelly Beans
  3. Peeps Monster Mash Ups
  4. Mary Jane Peanut Butter Kisses
  5. Green Halloween
Name: Tropical Smarties & X-Treme Sour Smarties
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Smarties (Ce De Candies)
Place Purchased: Dollar Tree & Giant Eagle
Price: $1.00
Size: 7.7 ounces
Calories per ounce: 100
Categories: Sour, Chalk, Ce De Candies, United States

POSTED BY Cybele AT 8:52 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. I love the Smarties company, because they clearly state that their products are free of peanuts, gluten, and various other allergens. I use their candy necklaces as party favours because even the peanut allergic kids can have one.

    Comment by CleanSimple on 10/31/08 at 1:59 pm #
  2. I’ve always loved smarties! My sisters and I used to pretend they were medicine when we were playing. We also used to dissolve them in water..XD

    Comment by Sara Em on 10/31/08 at 6:35 pm #
  3. I’m proud to say that this year my Trick or Treat bag didn’t contain any Smarties. (Yes, I still go trick or treating.  Yes, I’m 21.  What of it? raspberry ) I hate Smarties.  Unfortunately I got a ton of Hershey’s products and Reeses.  Which aren’t bad, I suppose, I just don’t like getting them on Halloween.  They’re, well, boring and unimaginative.

    Comment by Rita on 11/01/08 at 11:03 am #
  4. Up here in Canada we have those ‘Smarties’ candies everywhere as well, except on the package they’re called ‘Rockets’; i’m pretty sure they’re from the same company as the packaging is the exact same, only the name is different.

    Comment by Marja on 11/01/08 at 11:46 am #
  5. A friend of mine once told me that Smarties were a good cure for hiccups.

    Comment by Dave on 11/02/08 at 11:45 pm #
  6. I feel the same way about Smarties, they are always the last candy to be eaten (unless you count Pez as candy), but I sure love them when I do. Then I eat them all and feel ill.

    Comment by jMo on 11/03/08 at 5:08 am #
  7. oh, oh, oh! i LOVE smarties! my favorite candy (non-chocolate)

    so much, that one of my triplets (i mean, not that he’s my favorite, i just didn’t want to dress them all the same) was smarties for halloween!

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/pyjammy/2991317793/

    now i gotta find these new ones, just to try.

    Comment by pam on 11/03/08 at 9:28 am #
  8. I bought some sour Smarties at the 99 cent store, ate one tube and threw the rest away.  I couldn’t pick up any real flavors - just sourness.  I love sour, but this wasn’t a good type of sour.

    Maybe it’s because I’ve been spoiled by British Fizzers, which I was able to have my family bring back from their recent trip to Ireland.  I have set aside some to send to you!

    Comment by Fizzer on 11/04/08 at 9:23 am #
  9. Just tried the sour smarties from the 99cent store. Pretty awful. Stick to normal smarties. It’s weird that the two candies that you mentioned as being the worst halloween candies are actually my two favorite.

    Comment by Shannon on 4/11/10 at 8:49 pm #
  10. I was trying to tell what the flavors were . . .just guessing here . .

    X-Treme Sour Smarties

    White - pina colada?
    Pink - strawberry-banana?
    Purple - Grape?
    Green - Sour Apple?
    Yellow - Lemon?
    Orange - Orange?

    Comment by Bridget Delaney on 2/13/17 at 9:10 pm #
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