Chocolate is, in my opinion, a powerful creative medium. It’s a food that can be molded, shaped, flavored and textured in any way you like. We leave this job to skilled chocolatiers to work their magic on it for us, creating chocolate bars of all shapes, sizes and flavors, along with bonbons, truffles, and desserts that make our imaginations and taste buds soar. More and more people are aware of their eating habits nowadays, and there’s a desire for chocolate bars to fit this market. These Organic Nectars’ Raw Cacao Bars are just that. I was contacted by them asking if I’d like some free samples to try, and I gladly accepted their offer as I have yet to try some chocolate bars that fit into such a specific niche. 

These chocolate bars are not only organic, but they’re also Kosher, Vegan, Raw and are dairy, soy, allergen, gluten, refined sugar free. Talk about a clean chocolate bar! The ingredients are simple, and the main difference I see is that no refined sugar. Which, changes how chocolate solidifies.

54% Cacao: The aroma is very fruity and sweet, with nice notes of blackberries, cream, caramel and a strong chocolatey note. The break is clean and the snap is crisp. The flavor is very mild and I taste coffee, cream, berries, forest, musk, mushrooms, caramel, vanilla and cocoa. The flavors mix and mingle as you chew, with a fruity crescendo at the end. The texture is gritty, probably because of the raw sugars, which has a different structural makeup than regular sugar does, so the chocolate forms differently. It’s a very tasty, rich, full chocolate for those of you who want another option.

Coconut Milk Chocolate: The chocolate smells creamy and earthy. The flavor is very caramel, creamy and earthy....I don’t get much chocolate or coconut flavor really. I was expecting flecks of coconut in here, but there isn’t. Very interesting. The texture is even more gritty than the 54%, and it gets dry and chalky at the finish. It stuck to my teeth and felt kinda icky, which is strange since milk chocolate is usually creamy and smooth. Which, made me curious and I looked at the ingredients of the bar, which read; ”organic raw cacao butter, organic raw cacao butter, organic palm nectar, organic coconut powder, organic Tahitian Mexican and Madagascar vanilla, non GMO sunflower lecithin”. Where’s the milk? Not even coconut milk? So how is this milk chocolate? So..confused.

Also note, I was informed that the batch of Coconut Milk Chocolate and Golden White Chocolate that I received used a less ground palm nectar sweetener, and the newer batches mimic the smoother texture that the 54% has.

Golden White Chocolate: Upon opening this one up I was very surprised: this is not quite golden, but more of caramel/tan color. Like natural deodorized white chocolate. I was told the color is due to the sweetener, as it’s a golden color. It smells sweet and lightly of cocoa. The flavor is sweet, just sweet, not really any notes of cacao powder. The texture is also strange like the coconut milk chocolate: it gets gritty and feels like I’m swallowing sand. Not a fan. I miss the creaminess of regular white chocolate.

These bars were interesting. I really enjoyed the 54%, as it had a “wild” vibe to it and the flavor and texture most resembled what I consider to be mainstream chocolate. The milk and the white chocolate? Not so much, but that doesn’t mean they’re bad, just not my thing. I’m sure if I was Vegan or a Celiac, these chocolate bars would be just the thing I’d want to satisfy a craving. Because, isn’t that the point of chocolate? It should exist so everyone can enjoy it, and I’m sure the Organic Nectars bars will bring delight to many.

Rating: 54%: Will Eat Again

Milk Chocolate Coconut and Golden White: Not Worth It

Links Organic Nectars Website

One of the gifts I received over the holidays were some treats from a chocolatier who had just opened up shop where my parents live in Upstate New York. My Mom discovered them at a Christmas open house and chatted with the chocolatier. Of course the fact that her daughter writes a candy blog (you know how Moms are!) was brought up, and I was immediately called to see which of the chocolates I’d like to try. I was more excited by the idea of trying anything that was offered, as it’s not often I get to try the work of a new chocolate business, but eventually settles on two things to try. 

Cashew Honey Discs: Dark chocolate discs with a topping of caramelized honey cashews. The chocolate has bloomed a little, which I’m not surprised by, as didn’t get these samples fresh and they contain no preservatives. Thankfully bloom doesn’t affect flavor! The chocolate has a nice snap to it when bitten into, and the flavor is very fruity and rich. The texture of the chocolate is more gritty than smooth. The nuts are wonderfully fresh and have a great sweet/salty/roasted flavor combination going which I felt went well with the dark chocolate base.

Peppermint Bark: The base pf the bark is an even slab of a white and dark chocolate mix. The pieces are 1/2 inch think, with the white on top and the dark on the bottom. Nice, large chunks of Starbrights peppermint candy is crushed and sprinkled on top. It’s pretty to look at, for sure. The dark chocolate suffers from the same as the cashew honey slabs, there texture at the snap is very gritty and uneven, a sign it might have not been properly tempered. The flavor is balanced between the peppermint and the chocolate and one ingredient doesn’t overpower the other. This chocolate is creamier on the tongue and is a real delight to eat, as it just tastes of pure Christmas with the wonderful balance of flavors. Yummy!

Despite my nit-pickiness, these chocolates were tasty and a good start for a beginning business. The uneven texture is easily corrected with practice and experimentation, and I look forward to picking up some more of Glimmerglass Chocolates’ work when I next visit my parents.

Rating: Will Eat Again

Sakuma Drops are a famous Japanese hard candy that’s considered a classic piece of culture. It’s been around before World War II, and has a very iconic tin that holds the fruity candies. If you’re ever seen the anime movie “Graveyard of the Fireflies”, these candies are featured throughout the film and has contributed to their continued popularity. Japan loved making limited edition candies, as shown by the constant stream of strangely flavored Kitkats that come out with each season. Well, now it’s Sakuma Drop’s turn! 

These Sakuma Drops are based on flavors you find in specific regions of Japan. Each place is noted for a special type of food product, and here the Sakuma Drops highlights them. I was given these free samples graciously from Jlist.com, who was eager to see what I thought of this special Japanese candy. Onto the tasting!

Buta Don: The drop itself is honey-tea colored, the flavor is subtle and sweet at first. There’s notes of soy sauce and smoke. The flavor doesn’t escalate much from there, I get a hint of ginger flavor (maybe trying to mimic the subtle starchy sweetness of rice?), so it tastes like “candy” to me more than “pork”. I also haven’t eaten buta don in some time, but this is a delightful sweet/savory flavor like a good pork glaze. I admit, it’s pretty good.

Sasebo Burger:. This at first just tastes sweet, but then a smokey, beefy flavor kicks in that really tastes like a hamburger. You get a taste of sweetness, like there’s ketchup in there, but man....the flavor is authentic and it’s very strange. It’s hard to wrap my head around the fact I’m eating a hard candy that tastes so accurately of hamburgers. I can’t decide if I like it or not, cause it was fun and tasty to eat, but my head just keeps thinking “this isn’t right....”. Definitely worth a try if you’re a big hamburger lover.

Kisune Udon: The drop smells smokey. It’s immediately sweet/salty of soy sauce. It has flavors of udon noodle soup, hints of smoke and seaweed of the hondashi broth. I don’t really get any flavors inari packets, which are fried tofu bits which are the distinguishable characteristic of the kitsune udon soup. Again, it’s tasty, but not something I crave. Part of my head is not able to wrap itself around the ideas of a savroy candy drop.

Roasted Corn: Smells buttery and is a more yellow color than the other which were a light creamy beige. The flavor is lightly sweet, very smoky with a hint of butter and an authentic flavor of corn. It’s spot on and pretty yummy. I actually kept eating these.

Tokyo Noodle: Starts off sweet, flavors of light notes of miso and soy sauce. It has the starchy sweetness of noodles and broth, a hint of meat. It’s very authentic with no hints of seaweed. I don’t recall what regional Tokyo ramen has in it (a quick google search tells me it’s soy-flavored chicken broth). But its very authentic and works well as a candy drop.

Gyouza: These are immediately savory and has notes of toasted sesame. it’s has a very distinguished grilled flavor to it, and it reminds me pumpkin seeds. It’s totally savory, but somehow in this flavor, it works. I liked it.

Sapporo Beer: It’s sweet, mild in flavor, and has a nice malty flavor to it. A hint of lemon maybe, which much be the alcoholic flavor trying to peek through. It’s the most traditional candy-like one in the bunch, and I enjoyed it very much.

Oh man these were fun to taste and a I’m so glad I got the opportunity to try them. I liked the ones I thought wouldn’t work, and I disliked the ones I thought would, and overall they were a pleasant surprise. I love candies like this that open up my candy experiences to new unique places. Pork flavored or not, I really recommend trying Sakuma Drops if you ever get the chance.

Rating: Buta Don, Roasted Corn, Tokyo Noodle, Sapporo Beer, Gyouza

Will Eat Again

Kitsune Udon, Sasebo Burger

Not Worth It

Links Sakuma hard Candy Website (Japanese)

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

Wow, a Kitkat review for the correct season, imagine that! These are some of the many season Kitkat flavors that are available in Japan for the winter of 2009-2010. I am able to review them in such a timely manner because Jlist.com was so kind to give me these free samples. There were so many to choose from, it was hard to narrow it down to a handful so I didn’t come across as too greedy. I finally decided on these three flavors: Ohagi, Ginger Ale and Sweet Potato.

I chose these three flavors as they’re ones I’ve never had before, and I’m continually surprised how Nestle keeps finding new flavors to try out in the Kitkat form. January is “strawberry season” for candy in Japan, something I can’t explain really. So I decided to steer clear of one of the many new Strawberry Kitkats out there, as I’ve tried them for a few years and I have a hard time telling the difference.

Ohagi: So what is ohagi exactly? It’s a type of Japanese traditional confection, or wagashi, that is a piece of rice gluten filled with red bean pasted then covered in soy bean powder. Sounds off, I know, but I’ve had them and they’re extremely tasty. The Kitkat is milk chocolate based and it smells nutty, probably from the soybean powder. It has a nice milk chocolate flavor that’s really accented with a strong nuttiness and has a nice subtle note of coffee. It reminds me of gianduja and it’s surprisingly delicious. I want more of these, stat!

Ginger Ale: Opening up the bars I’m surprised to find that it really smells like ginger ale. The base is white chocolate, and the bars have a yellowish tinge to them. I sniff again and am impressed with how accurately it smells of spicy ginger and carbonation. It tastes of spicy lemon cola in a way. It’s not fake tasting at all, but you feel it’s “different”. The texture of the white chocolate makes it very creamy, and it comes across as a ginger ale float. This Kitkat is interesting and delicious but no something I would specifically crave.

Sweet Potato: Sweet Potatoes are an iconic winter food in Japan. They are traditionally sold by a big car that’s like an iron over, that has a piercing whistle on it that blows when the sweet potatoes are roasted and ready to eat. This Kitkat is white chocolate based too and has a sweet, earthy, white chocolate and potato smell. The flavor is a creamier, earthier white chocolate with a hint of potato in the aftertaste. I actually find it refreshing. It tastes ‘cleaner’ than I would have expected and the flavor of potato matches well. Yum!

Oh, I can’t beign to say how much fun these limited edition flavor Kitkats are. I always have a ball trying them, even if they aren’t something I like once I taste them. The problem is that they often make a really delicious flavor that will disappear shortly, so you have to go stock up on them or remember them fondly. I really recommend trying them for yourselves.

Rating: Ohagi: Hoard

Others: Will Eat Again

Links KitKat Breaktown

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

Like the King Leo Hand Dipped Peppermint Sticks I reviewed earlier, these too were free samples I received from King Leo/Quality Candy. Similar to the peppermint sticks, peppermint bark isn’t something I’m terribly familiar with. I’ve tended to shy away from it, because the stuff always reads to me as “oh, something that’ll taste of toothpaste”. When I do talk myself out of that aspect of it, I turn the package of whatever bark I’m looking at to see the ingredients only to find it made out of mockolate. So I end up passing on it. I felt more comfortable giving the King Leoo version a try as I enjoyed the peppermint sticks and they also use real Belgium chocolate. I have run out of excuses.

The peppermint bark is flawlessly packaged in two large slabs and tightly sealed in plastic, so they’re very fresh. The box protected them beautifully. The slabs of bark and very generous, in size and ingredients. They have a good solid chocolate bottom that’s about 1/4 inch thick, then a layer of white chocolate then an ample sprinkling of crushed peppermint on top. They smell awesome and are beautiful to look at.

The flavor is sweet at first, then the peppermint and chocolate kicks in. The peppermint is fresh, cooling and sweet and the chocolate compliments it with it’s deeper, richer flavors. I don’t taste the white chocolate at all sadly, just get a very slick feeling on my tongue from it. Overall it blends together beautifully and really tastes like a nice holiday treat. I can totally see myself snuggling up to my family’s fireplace with a slice of this with a cup of hot cocoa.

I highly recommend this f or any peppermint bark lovers out there. As I expressed before, I haven’t really tasted around with the other varieties out there, but I can speak for the ingredients and flavors of this one, and I have to say I’m impressed.

Rating: Will Eat Again

Links Quality Candy Website

These King Leo Hand Dipped Peppermint Sticks were a free sample given to me by the nice folks over at QualityCandy. At first I was hesitant, because peppermint candy isn’t really my thing. I do know a bit about it though, as one of my good friend was really into peppermint candy so I always was on the lookout for her. I’ve bought King Leo for her before, and she always gushed that they were favorites of hers. Now I can give them a go myself.

I do love the design of the packaging. It’s very classic, and I love the image of the regal lion sitting atop the logo. The stand up carton protects the sticks well, as none of them were broken when I opened the box.

First off, let’s talk about the main part of this candy, the peppermint stick. I’ve always loved King Leo’s peppermint sticks, as they were more old fashioned feeling and they didn’t resemble the Brach’s Starlight Peppermint candies that I associated with cheap candy dishes as a kid. These peppermint sticks are shorter and thicker, with an intense flavor and a wonderful texture. They break easily in the mouth, and are soft and almost powdery as you chew them.

Now, take those peppermint sticks and cover them with real Belgium chocolate, and boy, do you get one really tasty treat here. It’s a classic example of how peppermint and chocolate go over so well together. And thankfully for me, I didn’t get any reminders that “Oh, this tastes like toothpaste” which is a typical reaction I have to minty candies. Just pure enjoyment here.

These would be an excellent holiday treat or gift to anyone who loves peppermint candy. I was really expecting now to enjoy them, but I was proven wrong. Now I an eat one of these instead of a candy cane and not feel like I’m not in the spirit of the season!

Rating: Will Eat Again

Links Quality Candy Website

I’ve been a fan of Peanut Butter & Co longer than I’ve been a candy blogger, if you can believe it. I used to eat at their restaurant in Greenwich Village back when I was doing my animation internship in New York City. My love for peanut butter and PB&Co’s creativity with it kept bringing me back. Once I became a blogger I could talk about some of the non-sandwich things they make, like their Peanut Butter Cups that I reviewed back when I worked for CandyAddict.com.

So when I visited PB&Co’s booth at the New York Chocolate Show this year, I was at first sad to see they didn’t have their Peanut Butter Cup Collection for sale this year, but happy instead to see they had Chocolate Covered Peanuts and Chocolate Covered Peanut Brittle instead. The owner of PB&Co, Lee Zalben, gave me a tin of each as a free sample. So aweet!

Each comes in it’s own tin, which is easily resealable to keep the candy fresh. Both smell heavenly when you open them, of fresh roasted nuts with a hint of sweetness. I like the idea of the packaging for these, as it’s meant for sharing.

Chocolate Covered Peanuts: The overall flavor really highlights the peanuts. They have a fresh, roasted peanutty flavor. My boyfriend ad I ate most of my tin and didn’t come across one bad nut. There’s a twinge of bitterness in there as the peanuts have theirs skins on still, which I like. It gives the peanuts a more earth quality. The chocolate coating is, sadly, really mockolate: a mix of hydrogenated oils and cocoa powder. As much as I hate the stuff I don’t mind it too much here, as this candy is more about peanuts than chocolate, and the mockolate is mild enough to deliver subtle flavor and sweetness and allowing the peanut to really shine.

Chocolate Covered Peanut Brittle: The pieces are all random sized and shapes, but all flat and and knobby looking. The flavor is complex, as you get the nutty taste complimented with strong burnt sugar and buttery notes, then followed by a sweetness of the mockolate. The texture is light and crispy, and the brittle doesn’t stick to my teeth. It has a lightness to it that I appreciate, and it reminds me of honeycomb candy. The flavors are beautifully blended together, again, with the peanut brittle taking the spotlight.

Despite the fact that these use mockolate, I really enjoyed these, as did my boyfriend. It just goes to show that mockolate can still be present in a fantastic candy. These disappeared in record time, and even though I had a hard time sharing them, the people with whom I did all loved them. If you see them around, I’d recommend trying them if this is the sort of thing you enjoy.

Rating: Will Eat Again

Links Peanut Butter & Co’s Website

I seldom see Caffarel chocolate “in the wild” as so to speak, which means it’s very hard for me to find in stores around where I live. I really only ever get to taste their products when I attend trade shows where I can chat with the company and taste a few samples. Everything I’ve had, which have been little gianduja filled nuggets usually, have been luscious and made me want more. On a recent trip to California, I took a trip to a Cost Plus World Market where I saw this Caffarel Milk Chocolate on the shelf. Realizing what a rare find this was, I grabbed one and tasted it as soon as I could take a proper photo of it once I was back home.

The packaging is simple and elegant in design. Using that lovely sky blue accented with gold and the color scheme. The chocolate is a nice milky brown color and well formed. It has no gloss, as milk chocolate usually lacks. It has a nice break and is very clean.

The flavor is very creamy and a little nutty. It’s sweet, mild and reminds me of Nutella. I don’t get much of a chocolate flavor though, which I find disappointing. The mouth feel is very rich and very thick on the tongue.

I feel that without the addition of hazelnut or more cocoa solids here, that it’s rather bland for my tastes. It’s a good chocolate to combine with other elements, but alone it’s nothing special in my book.

Rating: Will Eat Again

Links Caffarel Website

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

Yee-haw! We’re up for a rip-roaring cowboy filled adventure post today! I’ve heard of these rip-roaring line of Colts chocolates before from Cybele over at Candyblog, but it wasn’t until my latest trip to the Fancy Food Show did I finally get a change to taste them. I talked with them at their booth and was sent home with a sample of their famous Colts Bolts and a Happy Trails Chocolate. Why, thank you ma’am. Mighty kind of you.

Colts Bolts are an over sized disc, similar to a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup made up of chocolate, peanut butter and almonds. Now, the shape of these are like RPBC, but the size is HUGE in comparison. They weigh a good 2 ounces. That’s a lot of tastiness right there, folks. 

The bolt is wrapped in waxed gold paper, then with saran wrap inside of that. The bolt is layered like a sandwich, with chocolate on the top and bottom and the peanut butter in the center. Which, attractively leaks out on the sides, just begging to be eaten. It smells lightly sweet and not of anything else.

The flavor is nice and not too overpowering. The chocolate is creamy and sweet, a it’s a very nice milk chocolate. The almonds are awesome; fresh, lightly salty and so crunchy. The peanut butter is smooth and sweet, and takes second place flavor-wise to the almonds which really stand at the forefront of the taste. The texture of the peanut butter is nice and it has a full, delicate, sweet flavor.

This is quite the mouthful of a candy treat. Truly meant for the toughest of us cowboys and gals. 

I love the packaging of “Roy Roger’s Happy Trails chocolates” trail mix chocolate, with it’s bright and retro design. I expected it to be lumpy mound like most retro candies in this shape, but I was surprised to find it’s a smooth molded dome. It smells sweet, salty and strongly of peanuts.

The inside is very thick, dense and satisfying. It’s like a chocolate covered mound of crumbly, chunky peanut butter. The flavor is a great mix of salty and sweet. You easily taste the smooth chocolate with a strong hit of peanuts and peanut butter. It has has a big kick of coconut, along with the strips of coconut to boot. Wow. It’s a great mix of sweet/salty/thick/chewy and it’s very satisfying and fun to eat.

The package says it has raisins, sunflower seeds and pecans in it. I didn’t get any, er, taste or feel any.

I liked these both a bunch, as they feel both homemade and gourmet. The ingredients and concepts and wholesome, and are a hearty indulgence. Worth the try if you’re looking for something a little wilder or need a treat after a long day on the ranch.

Rating: Will Eat Again

Links Colts Chocolates

One of the candy types I always notice when there’s a newbie around is gum. Even though I am now a big gum chewer, I often find myself standing in line at the store and eying all the different kinds of gum on the shelves. That’s how I noticed the Trident Layers gum. I only first saw them in Rite Aid, then in Wawa, and soon I was getting a email for a free sample. With it’s colorful packaging and I admit, the flavors look terribly appealing, so I’m happy to give them a go.

Trident Layers comes in two flavors: Green Apple and Golden Pineapple and Wild Strawberry and Tangy Citrus. The image on the front of the package showing the sliced fruit looks like a creation of some gourmet chef. The small box opens to reveal fourteen rectangular pieces of gum nicely lined up in silver foil wrappers.

Unwrapped, the gum look like a Bassets Allsort. It’s two layers or gum with a gooey, fruity, different-colored center.

Green Apple and Golden Pineapple: Yellow colored gum with a green center. The flavor is like a granny smith apple at first, and not like a Jolly Rancher (thankfully). The apple is strongest flavor for about first ten minutes. Then pineapple takes over and is really authentic with a juicy sweetness. The apple taste doesn’t come back, and the pineapple flavor lasts until you’re either done chewing or… I don’t know, it lasts a really long time.

Wild Strawberry and Tangy Citrus: The colors are pink gum and red center in color. The flavor is neither distinctly strawberry or citrus to me. Unlike the Apple and Pineapple flavor, these two fruits blend together rather than stick out as their own entity. The flavor is berry-like, with nice notes of orange juice flavors to add some tartness to it. Again, the flavor lasts a long time, and my jaw gets sore before the flavors runs out.

I was really impressed with these flavors, so if you’re a fruity-flavored gum lover you need to give these a try. 

Rating: Will Eat Again

Links Trident 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