I’ve heard a lot about these caffeinated gummis when they first debuted on the market a few years ago. Cybele from Candyblog.net gave me these samples when I visited her last, as she had many lying around and wanted me to try them. I admit, I was curious to see what the buzz was about about. Ha, ha, get it? Ok, ok, I’ll stop.

The package is adorable first off, I love the color scheme and the image on the front. The illustration of the truck with loud speakers is a nice touch, especially when paired with the tag line of “No crash energy”. Get it? Ok, late pun I promise. They have guarana extract (natural caffeine) and other vitamins such as B12 & C in them, so it seems they’re really pushing an energy factor about these gummis. One one ounce bag of these apparently is the the equivalent of one energy soda (which is 32 mg of the caffeine). 

Opening the package up I saw sad to see that the gummis are bears shaped. For some reason I was expecting trucks. I would have rather had trucks. These bears have really nice details to them, and they reminds me very much of the Albanese gummi bear molds.

So how do they taste? They have a nice orangy-citrus flavor that light and authentic. There’s a tinge of bitterness at the end, probably from all the supplements in it, that leaves an aftertaste in my mouth. The texture is nice, it’s chewy and isn’t too sticky. They were nice, but I found myself having the same issue with these as I do regular gummi candy. Not enough flavor. I like something bold and punchy, and gummi bears always taste watered-down to me. I can see gummi enthusiast really digging these though. 

So even tho they taste like other gummis on the market, and with the added benefit of caffeine, I still wasn’t too revved up about them. (Sorry, I had to fit that last one in).

I find it hard to place these in my normal eating routine, because as candy, I don’t eat gummis much, and for the caffeine, I’m happy with a cup of coffee. Still, I’m sure that many of you out there would really welcome something like these energy gummis, so I’d recommend checking them out if you do.

Rating: Might Eat Again

Links Loud Truck Energy Gummi Website

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

I don’t quite know what to call these. I mean really, who puts “Vitamin” in the name of a candy? Oh, you silly Japanese! Maybe they don’t quite understand the word to being with, and as a native English speaker, I don’t quite get the name “Vitamin Kitchen”. But it’s Engrish so anything goes I guess.

Opening the bag it immediately smells like berry yogurt. Sweet, tangy and berry with a whiff of plastic.

They’re little balls, about the size of hazelnuts. Perfectly round and some a flat-ish on some sides from the way they’re packaged. They’re hard to touch, as they don’t squish in my hand and they’re very smooth and shiny. Despite the image on the package, these are more dull looking and aren’t terribly attractive.

These are very, very chewy. The center has the texture of Starbursts, very thick and dense chew. The flavor is exactly of berries, mainly strawberry and blueberry. It has tart, tangy notes to it. So it’s a nice play of the sweet/sour notes in real berries. Color me impressed! The serving in this bag isn’t terribly big, so these disappeared quickly.

A good example of how an oddly named, and odd-looking candy can still taste awesome. Don’t judge a book by its cover. 

Rating: Will Eat Again

I’ve heard about Anise Gummi Bears for some time, and it wasn’t until I was in Reading Terminal Market at one of the Amish candy counters. I saw these in a large bag, and immediately scooped them up. 

They’re a good size, much larger than any traditional gummi bears I’ve ever seen. They stand a good inch tall and 1/2 inch wide. These are some hefty black bears indeed!

The texture is awesome. They’re more like gum drops than gummi bears. They have a nice coat of granulated sugar (to keep them warm I guess, like a gummi fut coat?) and secondly, the texture is much thicker, stickier and smoother, and doesn’t have that light bounce that I associate with traditional gummi bears. I like these a lot better.

The flavor is great, it’s very intense and I get strong herbal flavors of anise and licorice on my tongue. It comes across very strong, and I feel almost taste overload on my tongue with the herbal sweetness. It’s like when you overdose your drink with stevia, it is almost too much. Still, it’s a wonderful flavor and I kept wanting more as I finished them one by one.

If I see these again I’m going to pick them up for sure. I think any fan of licorice would really enjoy these.

Rating: Will Buy Again

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

When I first picked up this HiChew, I thought it was grapefruit. Despite the fact that I can read Japanese, I just looked at the image and thought: “Oooo, ruby red grapefruit!” and snatched it up. It wasn’t until later once I was photographing the packaging did I notice that the flavor is blood orange. No complaints here! As much as I love grapefruit, I am not a hater of an citrus fruits, so it was still something I would have picked up regardless.

This HiChew smells lightly of citrus and grapefruit. Which, is a bit misleading! Well, maybe. It’s been a bit since I’ve had a real blood orange. The chews are light orange in color with a pink center.

The flavor is flat at first, more floral and bitter like the rind than of the juicy interior. As i chew, the flavor does release a little and become stronger, but it never reaches that flavor explosion and intense juicy chew that I normally expect with HiChew. The flavor is very true to blood orange, sweet and tart, good notes of zest. It never becomes too much of one of the components, and it very balanced and authentic. I just with it was stronger in flavor and got that saliva-going chew I love.

I’d recommend giving this one a try if you see it. I’m a bit late on the pickup as I think this flavor was a summer release (so much candy, so little time!) but since it’s imported I’m sure you can find it in Asian supermarkets still. Another yummy flavor from HiChew!

Rating: Will Buy Again

Links HiChew Morinaga Website

While on a recent trip to my local gourmet food store, I was in the mood to try some new licorice. They often stock new varieties on the shelves (yet they never get in the Skoolkrijt I keep requesting of them) and was drawn to many new packages on the shelf. Trying to be good, I limited myself to three, and I have them here a a review for you today. 

Klene Krokantkes: This bag I recognized the package right away because Cybele over at Candyblog.net reviewed them, and found them to be kinda strange. Liking a challenge, I decided to give them a go myself.

Small black: It’s light and crunchy. I was expecting the shell to be soft. I get a big hit of salt, then there’s this overwhelming flavor of chlorine. The aftertaste is very metallic and small bursts of molasses. Ew.

Small white: This one is also crunchy, but it’s much harder and more substantial. It’s minty and really heavy on the anise and molasses flavors. The three combined makes this taste very herbal and woodsy. I feel like I’m eating medicine when I’m not supposed to be.

Large white: Very sweet. The shell is crunchy and the rest of the insides are chewy. It’s minty, sweet and has nice licorice flavors. There’s a small dash of salt in there too, but it heightens the flavors rather than overpowers them. I liked this the best of the bunch.

These Licorice Rockies were un-branded, but many companies make versions of this. They’re sweet black licorice tubes filled with a fruit flavored creme. The colors are white or pink. The interior texture is creamy, and feels cool and slick on my tongue.

The licorice part is a tad salty. The white flavoring is sweet and slight fruity, but I can’t lay my finger on exactly a specific one. The licorice is a nicely balanced flavor with anise and herbals notes coming through. The pink flavor taste more tropical and floral than the white. I get notes of banana and paired with the licorice it tastes very smoky.

These didn’t really do it for me. After tasting a few I quickly lost interest.

I see these Licorice Beehives around a lot. These were also in an un-labeled bag, but you can find them pretty readily. The texture is firm, but not rock hard. They’re easy to chew but it gets lumpy and starchy in the mouth as opposed to chewy and sticky. The flavor is sweet and you really taste the honey accents amongst the flavors of molasses and licorice. It’s much milder than I anticipated, but I think that works well here, as sometimes you’re just not in the mood for something very strong in flavor. These are nice, but I like more punch in my licorice candy, and these just left me craving something more powerful.

So while this experiment was a failure in the sense I didn’t find any new favorites here, I’m certainly glad that I gave them a try. Once great thing about licorice is that there’s so many varieties out there, so it’s really just tasty footwork to find the ones you like. 

Rating: Not Worth It

I was recently contacted by Primrose Candy Company asking if I wanted to give their Old Kettle Caramels a try. Knowing my love of new things, I was immediately enticed because I was unfamiliar at the time of Primrose’s confectionery work, as well as being in the middle of a caramel dry spell. The last time I had any was over the summer, so I was long overdue for some caramels in my tummy.

The package design here is interesting, while the boxes are colorful, they have this very angular design that reminds me of something from the 1980s with the black lines and white lettering. Each box holds a nice amount of caramels in them, enough for a small candy bowl, or to share with friends while watching a movie.

The caramels themselves are nicely wrapped in wax paper, and when you take one out to eat, the caramel doesn’t stick to it. The texture is nice

Vanilla: Smells very strongly of vanilla and burnt sugar. It’s a nice creamy brown color with visible pieces of the pecans which are very small. The texture is thick and firm, yet has a smooth chew. The flavor is very strong on the vanilla, almost so much that it takes an almost rummy taste. The butter notes are what I taste under that, with the sweetness of the sugar being very subtle. The pecans give it a nice toasted flavor.

Chocolate: Very dark and cocoa brown in color and they smell very rich, like hot chocolate. The flavor is chocolately, but it’s not as rich as real chocolate. Still, I was impressed with how much flavor they got in here. The butter flavors from the caramel add a wonderful smooth richness to it.

Chocolate Vanilla Mix: Vanilla center with a chocolate caramel exterior, like a little bullseye. The caramels smell quite chocolaty. The flavor is great, as you get that nice strong vanilla flavor mixed with the chocolate (as to be expected), and they really enhance each other rather than compete or cancel each other out. What makes them especially nice is that buttery flavor and chewy texture of the caramel and it’s just lovely.

I was very pleased with these caramels and I certainly will be buying them for myself if I ever see them in stores. It’s hard to do caramels right in my mind, as they’re either too sweet, too hard, to sticky, but these were just right.

Rating: Will Eat Again

Links Primrose Candy Company Website

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

Bassetts Allsorts are an iconic candy in my life. They’re the one consistent sweet I’d see my Mom buy for my Dad, as he’s just crazy for them. He learned to enjoy them from his dad, so I guess it’s fitting for tradition that I learned to love them too. I’d always seen and enjoyed the black licorice variety, so when I saw these red licorice ones in an Irish market in Queens I could resist them. I never knew such a thing existed, and since I am a fan of red licorice too, I was eager to see how it compared to the traditional black kind.

Out of the box these are just stunning to look at. They’re so beautiful. For some reason, the red adds just that extra spark of color to them, so instead of feeling old fashioned and classic like the black licorice Allsorts, these has this funky, psychedelic vibe to them. It was such a pleasure to photograph them. 

As far as flavor goes, they’re pretty similar to regular Allsorts. The sweet coating on the bits of licorice are lightly flavored of fruits: orange (orange), lemon (yellow), strawberry (red), blueberry (white) and currant (purple). The original Allsorts has coconut too, but alas that is omitted here. The texture of the coating is grainy, a little crumbly and greasy. It’s similar to shredded hard-packed coconut.  The flavors were all pleasant and juicy and were very satisfying. But combined with the red licorice, they just stood out on their own. Or should I say, they were so flavorful that the red licorice, which tends to be mind in flavor to begin with, was just lost in the fray. I did take a piece apart to eat some of the red licorice on it’s own, and it’s very nice. Fragrant, bright, and juicy of berries and “red” flavor.

I prefer the black licorice Allsorts of these. The black licorice is strong enough to compete and balance out the flavors of the sweet coating, whereas with the red, it’s just lost. Then again, I eat Allsorts for the licorice, so if you eat them because you enjoy the coating, or aren’t a fan of black licorice, these are worth checking out.

Rating: Might Eat Again

Links Bassetts Webpage on Cadbury’s Website

Taffy is a candy that is pretty popular and relative common, yet I don’t have much experience with it. I recall seeing it a lot in my childhood, mainly on vacation down to the Jersey Shore and Rhode Island. Despite that, I’ve never really eaten the stuff very much. I blame the lack if it in my childhood on my parents. I don’t think they were fans of the stuff and therefore didn’t buy it for me or my sisters. Nowadays, I am lured in by the bright colors and dozens of flavors, but then I see a chocolate bar and am quickly pulled away.

Zeno’s World’s Most Famous Taffy comes is a box that’s decorated of scenic photos of the area where this Taffy is local to. So in this instance, it’s Florida. It really plays into the reason you buy taffy, it’s something you get when you go someplace, so overall it feels like a souvenir.

Inside was a mix of the three flavors of taffy I requested: Lemon Meringue, Licorice and Root Beer. They were nicely wrapped, some used wax paper and others plastic.

The taffy’s texture is just right. it’s chewy and not too sticky, has a nice staying power in the mouth and doesn’t dissolve too quickly. My jaw doesn’t get tried chewing it.

Root Beer: Half white half brown: A spicy root beer flavor with strong herbal notes of wintergreen. It’s more like a version of Barqe’s root beer than mellower A&W. I enjoyed it very much.

Lemon Meringue: All yellow with white center: This one is stellar. It’s tart and tastes just like a lemon custard. Strong, zesty notes of lemon with this wonderful smooth sweetness to it.

Licorice: White with black stripes: Immediate notes of anise and cinnamon, then the sweetness of the licorice kicks in. It’s very complex flavor for a taffy, and I really like how earthy it is.

Considering my iffy past with taffy, I really enjoyed my small sampling of what Zeno’s has to offer. I have to make an effort to try more varieties of it now, but this is certainly a noteworthy and tasty find.

Rating: Will Eat Again

Links Zeno’s World’s Most Famous Taffy Website

I feel that candy is something that a lot of people have a love/hate relationship with. We love it because it’s tasty and sweet, and gives us that great rush of dopamine. We hate it because it’s probably not the healthiest thing we could be eating, and it’s very easy to overeat. I won’t go into what is and isn’t healthy here, because I think it’s something that varies from person to person. I’ve always believed in moderation, and that has worked well for me.

Chews Better is a candy that hopes to solve this conflict. It’s a candy that’s better for you. It’s all natural and each bag contains 250mg of Omega-3’s in there, along with 3 grams of fiber for only 100 calories. The ingredients are very straightforward, nothing fishy in here. Or, er, wait, I’m wrong. They do use Anchovy and Sardine oil in here, so if you’re vegan you need to be aware of this.

Strawberry Lemonade: I open the package to discover five individually wrapped pieces. They’re all uniform in shape and covered in a nice folded silver wrapper. smells very fruity of berries and a hint of tartness. Almost metallic in a way because of the lemon I believe. The chews are dark pink in color, and they look like a naturally colored hunk of BubbleYum.

The texture reminds me of Starburst. It’s thick, chewy with a light grain to it.

The flavor is sweet, with strong authentic flavors of strawberries complimented with a tartness from the lemon. It’s very flavorful and completely awesome. I polished my bag off pretty quickly.

Pomegranate Blueberry Acai: These three berries are a buzz word of health as of late. This package also had five individually wrapped chews. They look similar to the strawberry one, as it’s dark pink with tiny darker pinks spots.

The flavor of this one is...well, it tastes like a Flintstone vitamin tablet to me. It’s fruity, but none of the flavors says specifically “blueberry” or “pomegranate” to me. It’s just...fruity with an interesting metallic sort of tartness to it. It’s good, but I liked the Strawberry Lemonade flavor better.

Out of all the “better for you” candies I’ve had, this is one of the best. I’d recommend it to anyone who’s looking for an alternative but still wants to feel like a kid eating candy again.

Rating: Will Eat Again

Links Chews Better Website

I saved the oddest HiChew for the last of the reviews. This one has a pretty busy design, with a daruma doll and many scattered ume (or Japanese plum) blossoms. Since all the flavor descriptions are listed in kanji, I am not able to decipher it, and the lack of any food item on the wrapper doesn’t help me either. I went into trying this not knowing what to expect at all. 

Now I’m sure this is a pretty seasonal HiChew, as daruma dolls are meant for making wishes on, and ume blossoms are the symbol of spring. I’ve seen many candies with images of sakura and other Japanese cultural motifs on them, and have the flavor be something completely normal (the regular flavored Kit kats that come out in the spring immediately come to mind). Still, part of me cannot help but wonder if the flavor here is much more unusual than that. 

Inside, the chews are a pretty light pink. They have a light, floral smell. Now, I don’t mean that in the sense that it’s floral how some things taste floral, like some cheeses and vegetables and fruits. No, no. This smells like I had just buried my nose in a rose. It’s interesting.

Taking a bite into my first piece, the flavor is hard to describe. It’s got this strong, sour flavor that takes the forefront. It’s also vaguely fruity, and overall it just tastes of flowers. It has moments of tartness, and if you wait for it, it’s also a little salty. I think I’m onto what this flavor is trying to mimic, and it’s umeboshi, the very salty/sour Japanese pickled plum.

I finished my package, so it’s good, just unique. By far the strangest HiChew I’ve had to date.

Rating: Not Worth It

Links HiChew Website