Well, DOTS went and did it again! To follow up with their limited edition Halloween DOTS and their Christmas DOTS, they now have a box of flavors for Valentine’s Day. I’m really pleased to see this holiday edition, as I’m a big fan of DOTS, so it’s fun to give the new ones a try. I really love the packaging design here, as with all of them, as it really captures the feeling of the season.

My delight was dimmed a little when I saw that the cherry vanilla made a return in this box. After tasting it in the Christmas box, it’s a flavor that I can go without. The pairing flavor is Passion fruit Vanilla, which is something I haven’t had in a candy before, so that certainly made up for any anticipation lost on the cherry flavor’s return. 

Cherry Vanilla: Just like the cherry DOT from the Christmas variety. Red with a white bottom. The flavor is the same as before: a bright, fruity, punchy cherry with a medicinal edge, matched with a creamy vanilla flavor. Second time around I liked it a bit better, but I still yearn for a strawberry or raspberry instead.

Passion Fruit Vanilla: Pink with a white bottom, the flavor is more raspberry and floral, with notes of perfume. Tasty! I don’t notice the vanilla as much here, which is fine with me since the flavor on it’s own is so nice.

I thought this mix of flavors was much more successful in terms of flavor, than the Christmas variety. I can see these as some adorable toppers for some Valentine’s Day cupcakes, or just arranged in a pretty bowl for your sweetheart.

Rating: Will Buy Again

Links DOTS Website

Well, these are one of my few, truly holiday releases of any candy that I found to be new this year. I spied these Christmas DOTS on the shelf at my local CVS, and quickly snatched them up. I think it’s very gutsy of them to be labeled “Christmas” since everyone seems to say “holiday” nowadays. I appreciate it, since the DOTS are using the red/green/white color scheme of Christmas.

The package clearly says that the Christmas DOTS are cherry, lime and vanilla flavored. I like the way they look, as they’re cute and really festive. I’m such a sucker for that!

These look like all the other DOTS, the shapes and texture are the same. The difference here is, that, like the yogurt DOTS, these have a flavored cap on them. Here’s it’s vanilla flavored.

Since they’re only two flavors, there’s not too much to say. The lime has a nice zest to it, it kinda creeps into floor cleaner territory for me, but it doesn’t stay that way for too long. It delivers that reliable “green” taste that most kinda hate. The cherry is very bright and fruity, and I don’t get too much bitterness in there. It’s more berry than anything, and it works well as a red flavor. The vanilla top on both lend an extra creaminess and the vanilla flavor is detectable and very nice.

I think these are tricky for most people, since cherry and lime are flavors that people can be fickle about very easily. If for no other reason, I’d say buy these as they’d look great on a gingerbread house.

Rating: Will Eat Again

Links DOTS Webpage

All Halloween Ghost DOTS, you return again like a bad haunting. Oh! And look! This time you brought friends with you! I heard tales of new flavors of DOTS being released this Halloween, but didn’t see any for myself until the other day in a Superfresh in the area. Then I was lucky enough to spot them in full sized boxes in Rite Aid. Whoot! This is what adult trick or treating is, and I like it. I grabbed a bag of the mini sized version, and this year Ghost DOTS have Bat DOTS and Candy Corn DOTS to keep them company.

Ghost: “Assorted Fruit Flavors” Which flavor? Which ghost? It’s a MYSTERY!” reads the box. I’ve encountered these a few years ago for the first time, and am sort of both pleased and a little annoyed they brought them back. The DOTS are an odd seam foam green color, they look transparent but aren’t. It’s strange. They smell lightly fruity. The first one I had tasted like fruit punch. Second, more like orange. Third, like lime. I’m guessing these are just the normal DOTS flavors, just colored all the same to trick you. While tasty, they just disappointed me since the drawing of the ghostie on the front is so darned cute. I wish the DOTS had faces on them still. 

Candy Corn: These feel a tad softer than the others. This DOT is an opaque orange with a yellow bottom, like a candy corn but missing the white tip. They smell odd: a mix of plastic and Eggo waffles. The flavor is sweet and bland at first, then the fake butter flavor of candy corn appears. It’s, kinda strange. It doesn’t taste bad, more like a watered-down candy corn, but with a thicker and stickier texture. Some I tried had a funny cola flavor to it, but it was pretty random and hard to pin down as something that happened with all of them. Oddly enough, I liked them. But then again I’m a fan of candy corn, so many of you probably think I’m crazy to begin with.

Bat DOTS: blood orange flavored: The box is so appealing. There’s a cute bat with a orange wedge mouth leaking juices on it! DAWWWWW! The DOTS are dark black with a dull, opaque appearance. The flavor is awesome. It’s fruity, a little sweet and a little tart, it tastes not quite like orange at points, but has a more berry flavor to it. It reminds me of how fruits snacks tasted when I was a kid. It’s delicious, and I really like it.

I was pleased with this mix, and despite my annoyance with the Ghost DOTS, they’re still tasty and it’s a well rounded mix. A good option if you want to hand out a little something different this Halloween.

Be sure to check out Cybele’s review over at Candyblog.net.

Rating: Blood Orange and Candy Corn: Will Eat Again

Ghost: Not Worth It

Links DOTS webpage

Mason Crows are a classic/retro candy which, unlike most of genre, are actually pretty easy to find. You’d think I’d had tried them sooner because of this. Especially since I love black licorice. Sadly, you’re mistaken. I don’t know what took me so long to finally try these. They’ve been on my “to buy” list for such a long time, and I blame the fact that I mainly saw them in the large movie boxes in the 3-$3 bin in Walgreens. I didn’t have anything else I’d want to buy in the bunch though. I finally took the opportunity when the new Mike & Ike Alex’s Lemonade Stand mix appeared in the bunch.

Crows have quite the history. They’ve been around since the late 19th century and were originally called “Black Rose”. A typo at the manufacturers change the name to “Crows” and has remained that way ever since. They appear black at first, but upon closer examination and the right lighting, they’re actually a very dark green. These licorice gumdrops are very similar to Dots, dome shaped and squishy.

Since Crows look so much like Dots, I was expecting them to be the same texture: so hard and chewy that I’d be picking them out of my teeth for the next couple of day (yes, I exaggerate...a little). So imagine my surprise when I bit into one and having it be terribly soft and supple. I must have gotten a really fresh box and lucked out. Chewing them is so luxurious: they deliver and chew that’s substantial yet so silky smooth. It’s heavenly. The flavor is sweet of molasses at first, then a subtle licorice and anise flavors comes through. But it’s never strong, as it’s a mild flavor and it’s really wonderful. The aftertaste is nice and herbal, like good licorice should be.

I honestly didn’t expect these to be so good. The theater sized box I had went really fast and I expect to be stocking up on them again really really soon.

Rating: Will Buy Again

Links Mason Crows Webpage

Sometimes the strangest holiday candies are released. Most make sense like the mint flavors I’m seeing everywhere; Mint Truffle Kisses, Hershey’s Bliss Creme de Menthe, Hershey’s Mint Miniatures, and the Mint M&Ms, just to name a few.  Then I spot these two oddities: Holiday Edition Sugar Babies and Inside Out Junior Mints. I was perplexed right away, but since I hadn’t tried them, and are a fan of the originals, I picked them up.

From the outside of the box, the Holiday Sugar Babies don’t seem to be very different. The selling point is that they’re covered in a “candy shell” in holiday colors: white, red and green.

They look terrible. They’re matte and flat looking. Nothing about them feels inviting or attractive. Which leads me to ask, why color them to begin with? If you were going to put the in a bowl for guests or anything, so you can “see” them in there festive colors, why not make them look...nice.

The candy shell is indeed a shell as opposed to a soft, colored coating as I suspected. It actually cracks when I bite down and it softens from there, turning into a regular Sugar Baby. The taste is the same: intensely creamy, burnt caramel flavors with a sticky, grainy chewy texture. I don’t see a point to getting these over the regular ones...unless you have a thing for food coloring.

The Inside Out Junior Mints I was excited about. They’ve been a limited edition candy for years, yet I haven’t seen them until now. I did see the new edition of Junior Mints Peppermint Crunch that were released last year and I reviewed for CandyAddict.

These have white outside and a chocolate interior, just the opposite from the originals. Reading the description on the back where it calls the outside a “white topping”, I knew something was amiss. Uh oh. Mockolate.

The exterior is slightly hard and it “cracks” a little when you bite into it. The intense minty flavor we associate with Junior Mints is there, but it’s hard to say exactly where it’s coming from. I just sucked on one for a bit and I got no mint from the exterior. So my guess is the center is doing double duty here. Other than the appearance, I don’t really see the draw of these. Nothing says to me that these are any improvement or especially unique, so I don’t get the point.

Both these candies don’t do anything to improve or tweak the original enough for me to justify buying them. I just had to satisfy my curiosity. Learn from me and stick with the originals.

Rating: Not Worth It

Links
Junior Mints Webpage
Sugar Babies Webpage

A ghost candy? Seriously, what could be spookier? The idea of little glowing Dots with ghostie faces was just too much to ignore. I swooped up a (giant) bag in Target and eagerly lugged it home.

I should have kept them sealed in their boxes. Opening them up was a huge disappointment.

The Dots are faceless and a seriously lacking in the glowing department. I was also a bit nervous because they smelled strange. This odd, somewhat plastic-y fruity aroma. I decided to let the flavors “shine” for me (haha, get it?) but instead I just got the normal Dots flavors. I guess they think this is new and novel because they all look the same. Which flavor will this ghost be? Ooooo, it’s a mystery! After figuring out what was going on, I didn’t feel any need to finish them.

Although, before I totally gave up on these. I wanted to give them one more chance:

They needed faces, so I took a sharpie marker to them. That made up for the disappointment....a little.

These are good to hand out for Halloween if you don’t mid your front lawn getting decorated toilet paper later in the evening.

Rating: Not Worth It

Links:
Dots Webpage

As Halloween draws near (horray!) I’m subtly reminded of all the random candy I’d get trick-or-treating that I normally don’t buy for myself. Walking down the aisles in my local grocery stores and seeing the bags upon bags of candy, I see favorites that I haven’t had in a long time. The Tootsie Fruit Rolls are one of these favorites.

I recall fishing these out of my Halloween swag and setting them aside along with my other “don’t trade with the sibling” candy. These usually came with the other “loose” candy, such as Mary Janes, SweetTarts, Hershey’s Kisses, Candy Corn and regular Tootsie Rolls. I was always happy to trade my SweetTarts to my sister in return for these and I also never had a flavor preference either. All of them were delicious to me.

Since I’m too old for trick-or-treating (sob), I picked up a bag to review for the blog. That’s my excuse and I’m standing by it.

Vanilla (blue): This is very mild and sweet with a good vanilla flavor. Aside from the good chewiness factor of the tootsie base, this remnds me of nice fresh vanilla marshmallows.

Lemon (yellow): I love the sunny yellow color. The flavor is like lemon meringue pie, or cake, or some sort of lemon dessert. It’s zesty and sour with a strong lemon essence. The Tootsie part delivers a creamy sweetness, with almost a hint of coconut, and it’s just so tasty. It really got my saliva glands going.

Lime (green): Really nice lime flavor, which is hard to pull off without tasting like a cleaning product. The taste has a nice kick to it and the Tootise base adds a good subtle sweetness.

Cherry (pink): A pretty salmon pink color. The flavor is reminiscent of the cherry Tootsie Pop. It’s extremely fruity with a good juciness and those bright, sweet-sour cherry notes. It’s not medicinal at all, but does have a little bitterness towards the end.

Orange (orange): This has a nice flavor, but it’s not as intense as I was expecting. The actual orange flavor is mild, and the zest it the main feature. It’s juicy and really gets the mouth saliva going.

What can I say, I really enjoy these. Maybe not enough to pick them up any other time of year, but come October they satisfy my cravings for sweet nostalgia.

Rating:Will Eat Again

Links:
Tootsie Website

There’s been word floating about the candy-sphere that there were new DOTS to be released sometime this year. I really hadn’t paid it much attention since I’m not an avid DOT eater, but when I spied them in a Vons on a recent trip to LA, well, I decided to change my mind. New candy is always worthy of attention.

I almost passed these boxes by on the shelf, since their design is so different from most other candy packages out there, it just didn’t read as “candy” to me right away. With colors that are predominately dark completed with a black backdrop, overall it feels very masculine and I wanted to move them next to all the energy drinks.

The boxes are big too as they’re the giant theater sized boxes with about 2 1/2 servings in them. Thankfully I was able to share my find with Cybele who shared her thoughts on these last week. I admit I couldn’t even finish them even after Cybele took a share of them.

Earth (Pomegranate): A pretty, deep, berry purple color. The most similar of the bunch to the regular DOTS line, as it’s fruit flavored. It tastes very fruity with accents of grape and cherry. Sweet, yet tangy and it reminds me of red licorice a little. The flavor doesn’t really read as “pomegranate” to me, but I forgive them since it’s a difficult essence to peg since it’s not very iconic.

Air (Wintergreen): The color of these is so bright and it immediately reminds me of toothpaste. The wintergreen flavor is mellow, which I love becaue it doesn’t feel like I’m eating a mint.  It has a subtle herbal edge to it, with notes of root beer and licorice that I find very pleasing.

Fire (Cinnamon): A very intense bright semi-opaque red, it almost comes across as neon to me. The cinnamon flavor is medium intensity, not fully sweet but not “hot” either. It has subtle woodsy notes and a bit ofcherry flavor to it. 

Water (Green Tea): This combination I found amusing, since I drink green tea so often it might as well be water. The color is an odd, delicate yellow green which doesn’t read as “watery” or like “green tea” at all. The flavor is full of very floral and light soapy notes. The “plantiness” of it is reminiscent of green tea but so very, very removed. On top of that it’s lightly sweet and the whole thing just comes off as gross to me.

I liked the fact that Tootsie took the daring step with trying more unconventional flavors for DOTS. In theory I would have loved to eat green tea and wintergreen DOTS, it’s something I’d see myself buying often. However, the flavors didn’t strike home with me, so DOTS Elements just come across as a wasted opportunity. I just hope these don’t scare away ideas of any new and better attempts, because I’d love for candy to branch more in this direction. 

Rating: Not Worth It

Tootsie Pops are one of the many overlooked classic candies in my opinion. They’re something that’s always available in my candy stash for many reasons: tasty, portable, long-lasting, satisfying, interactive.....oh, I could go on. For me, Toostie Pops are delicious the Swiss army knife of the candy world.

Imagine my delight when I was in my local Wawa convenience store pawing through the box of loose Tootsie Pop to satisfy a 4pm sugar craving, to find a Tootsie Pop in a wrapper that looked new. Puzzled, I picked out one and examined it to find “Pomegranate” written on the outside. I proceeded to grin like the Cheshire Cat as I grabbed a few and ran to the checkout. A tasty new treasure, I could hardly wait.

I admit, I am a little puzzled by this new flavor choice for a Tootsie Pop. Pomegranate has been getting lots of attention in the past few years because of its health benefits, and some candies tried to cash in on that craze. I don’t really understand the appeal of the actual flavor of a Pomegranate. Don’t get me wrong because they taste great, but I’m more often interested in the fun way to eat them by plucking them seed by seed, than for the actual taste. Considering that the past new flavors to the Tootsie line were strawberry, watermelon, blue raspberry and lime; I figured Pomegranate would be more of a trendy name to drop into the assortment.

The wrapper is the same design as the other traditional Tootsie Pop’s, expect the color scheme is a bit different. The white has been replaced with a dark maroon, so even though this newbie looks different in essence it’s the same as the classics.

The pop itself is bright red and looks like the Cherry flavor, but you can tell the difference one you pop it into your mouth. The flavor is different and much, much better. It’s fruity with berry flavors, notes of grape and a “tartness” that reminds me of pineapple. Overall it’s very “red” tasting, but it’s lacking that fake medicinal flavor that makes the cherry one so unappealing to some. Think of this as Cherry’s more awesome twin brother. As for the Tootsie center? Yeah, the flavors meshed well with that.

My skepticism aside, I really, really like this flavor. It covered all the flavors sensations I require in a good hard candy and resulted in some fun, saliva-inducing consumption for my mid afternoon break. Tomorrow I’m going back for more and buying every last one in that loose Tootise Pop box.

Rating: Hoard