Ritter Sport are chocolate bars that I always see in stores and haven’t ever tried during my childhood. My parents were into European chocolate and they were fans of Lindt, but they’re creatures of habit so they seldom deviated from their first choice of sweets. It wasn’t until college when I was able to start buying for myself that I got to start tasting the Ritter Sport line. Once I did, I was very impressed.

I was contacted recently by Ritter Sport asking if I’d like samples to review for the website. Being a fan of their chocolate anyways, I accepted! I was then greeted with a box of chocolate in the mail shorty after, and the tasting begins.

I decided to start with the Olympia bar, which I was told is a bar that’s not available for sale in the US. The exotic one appealed to me first! So what’s the Olympia bar? The package describes, in German: “Jouhurt, Hoin, Nuss, Traubenzucker” which I believe is yogurt, honey, hazelnuts and glucose. Yes, glucose. Tasty, yes?

When breaking off one of the thick chocolate squared which are iconic to Ritter Sport, you immediately get a peek at the center. It’s a creamy white color white honey and nut chunks in it. You immediately smell the center, it’s sweet and milky and accented by the sweet chocolate.

The texture is smooth, accented with a crispy texture of the honey and nuts in the filling. It’s really interesting and the contrast is delightful. The flavor starts off creamy and sweet from the chocolate, then the tartness from the yogurt kicks in giving it a very dairy overtone. The honey has a really nice sweetness to it, an the flavor is really more about the honey and yogurt than the chocolate. It’s really awesome and a very unique flavor for a chocolate bar that I appreciate.

Loved this bar. It’s a unique flavor you don’t see in the USA that often, and therefore I really relished it. If you happen to be overseas and see this, you won’t regret trying one for yourself.

Rating: Hoard

Links Ritter Sport Website (German)

I’ve always eyed these Haribo Raspberries in stores ever since I was a little kid. These was something so pleasing, so attractive, so beautiful about these little candies. It wasn’t until recently that I got to try them, so they always have this mysterious lure to them. Which is funny, since they’re not anything more than non pariel covered gumdrops. Still, visual appeal holds a lot of clout in confectionery, and these are really stunning.

As soon as I was home I opened the bag to see what these looked like up close. Each raspberry is about a size of a gumdrop, with the base around the size of a penny. They feel light in your hand, with a cool feeling from the bumpy outsides. They are so cute! I can totally see these growing off of a candy bush in Willy Wonka’s garden.

The red one are the red raspberry flavor, more floral and juicy and like a real raspberry with notes of strawberries and floral accents with a twinge of sour. The non pariel outsides are sweet, but flavorless. The texture of the non pariels are starchy, and the gummi is nicely firm, but not too hard or rubbery.

The black raspberries, or blackberries, taste more deep and sweet. There’s no light sour note here, and they’re more juicy and blueberry/black berry flavor with more ripe accents to them.

Both are very yummy and the flavor texture is really neat and different, not to mention they look so cool.

Aside from how fun and tasty these are, I can see lots of fun applications for these. I want to use them as cupcake/cake decorations, but sadly I don’t bake such items too often. Regardless, they’re worth a try!

Rating: Will Eat Again

Links Haribo Website

This candy find was exciting to me for three reasons: the first, was it’s currant flavored. Second, it’s made by Katjes. Third, they’re gummis. Three things I really, really like. So it was a no brainer that I nabbed them up. Since I was at a Cost Plus World Market, a store not in my area, it was either buy them now or risk never seeing them again.

The bag is a nice size, and very eye-catching with it’s brilliant green and red color scheme. The colors are extremely saturated and it’s almost blinding to look at, yet attracts the eye at the same time.

The gummis themselves are really cute. They’re little nubbins, with the base maybe the diameter of a dime. They’re brilliantly red with a nice coating of granulated sugar.

The flavor right away is very fruity. It has a rich jammy flavor that’s a little like raspberries, a little like cherries, and a little like cranberries. It’s very nice. They’re not so much sour, as they are tart, which is the sour level I tend to prefer anyways. The have a nice chew that reminds me of gum drops, slightly soft but still very chewy. They’re not as hard as DOTS or as soft as gummi bears.

Overall, I liked these, but I’m not sure I’d buy them again. I think my flavor preference sits more with black currants, but that’s just me. These are still and awesome candy and I’d recommend them to you if any of my flavor descriptions appealed to you.

Rating: Will Eat Again

Links Katjes Website

These, like the Lakritz Batzen I reviewed on Monday, are another licorice made by Katjes. I picked these up on the same trip to Cost Plus World Market, when I raided their candy aisle for all the sweets I can’t find around where I live. Eager to try as much Katjes licorice as I could get my hands on, I nabbed these, but little did I know how much I’d love them. I should have bought more.

The name of these translates to “Kitten Paws” as the licorice pieces are small and round like cat feet. Again, terribly cute, and I can’t help but feel that “cute” is a great match for licorice. Really? Ever realize how much licorice is named after cute things? Kittens? Pandas? Bears? Scottie Dogs? Chalk? Buttons? I digress….

The texture of these are much firmer than the Lakritz Batzen. Those were much softer and squishier, almost jelly-like. These are more dense and chewy, like a fruit snack. Thankfully, they aren’t sticky in the mouth at all, so they don’t annoy me and I can really enjoy the texture. The flavor is fantastic too, as it’s very sweet with nice molasses notes and a strong licorice flavor. It’s not as herbal as the Lakritz Batzen, much more on the sweet side than those, but they’re still lovely and really represent what an “ideally good licorice” tastes like.

I am buying a stash of these next time I see them on the shelves. They’re just too god to pass up. I find they’re also really good car candy, and they don’t melt easily, and they have good staying power in the mouth, especially if you suck on them instead of chewing them. If you’re a black licorice lover, you gotta try these.

Rating: Hoard

Links Katjes Website

Katjes are quickly becoming one of my favorite licorice candy companies. There hasn’t been a single variety of theirs that I’ve tried to date that I didn’t enjoy. It’s sad that the main place I find a good stocking of their candies is Cost Plus World Market, and sadly there’s none of them in my neck of the woods. Saddness. So I always do my best to stop into one when I know I’m going to be close by.

Katjes means “little kitten” in Dutch, and I have to say that’s pretty cute! Katjes, according to their website, says they’ve never used artificial colors in their licorice in 20 years. Pretty sweet! They also have an addictive “licorice chooser” on their site which allows you to pair flavor and texture to find the idea licorice for you. I’m smitten!

So my last trip to a Cost Plus World Market I found this bag of Lakritz Batzen. I have no clue what the title says, but I saw licorice and had to nab it to try it.

This licorice is sweet and soft. The pieces are like gumdrops that are round on the sides but flat on the top and bottom, like a fat button. They’re covered in a granulated sugar and are a nice black color. They smell woodsy and herbal, like good licorice should. The texture is indeed soft, the pieces are squishy when you chew them and dissolve easily. I prefer to suck on them for a bit before I chew, as the flavor lasts longer that way. The flavor is very nice as it has a sweetness to it with lots of molasses flavors mixed with a licorice taste. It’s not too herbal or medicinal tasting. It’s just…right. A nice licorice for beginners and for those who love it in any form.

I’m so smitten with these, and my boyfriend loved them even more than I did. The bag disappeared so fast which left both of us wishing for another.

Rating: Hoard

Links Katjes Website