Gummies SMASHED together

Today, we have another new package of flavors with a familiar type of candy, Life Savers Gummies Collisions.  Life Savers have of course been around for a long time (the 100 year anniversary was this year), but the Gummies are a relatively new product.  I remember back in the early 90’s when they were first introduced.  Since then, they have proved to be a main-stay on the shelves of the candy aisle at most grocery stores.  A few years ago they started introducing new flavors of Life Savers Gummies and since then, Wild Berry has proven to be the most popular.   Let’s see if these Collisions are up to the task of knocking off Wild Berry as the best Life Savers Gummies…

So this candy’s draw is the fact that you get two flavors in each gummie.  Not too bad right?  Well, let’s see what flavors we’re working with.  We’ve got Raspberry-Lemonade, Cherry-Watermelon, and Pineapple-Punch.  They all sound pretty good, but how do they taste?  I tried Raspberry Lemonade first and have to say I was utterly disappointed.  I could barely taste any hint of berry flavoring, much less raspberry.  It was citrusy, but not even distinctly lemonade-ish.  It tasted like an orange gummy.  Underwhelming collision of flavor right there. NEXT.  Cherry-Watermelon was pretty awesome, first chew and the artificial cherry flavoring jumps right out and the longer you chew, it starts to taste like a watermelon Blow-Pop. Sweeeet.

The yummiest flavor by far though has to be the Pineapple Punch.  Best way I can describe this would be the regular pineapple flavored Gummi bear from Haribo (the clear one) mixed with a splash of really sweet mango-y fruit punch.  If you like the clear gummi bears like I do, then this will be your favorite flavor.

Cherry-Watermelon, Pineapple Punch, Raspberry-Lemonade

I figure 2 out of 3 flavors isn’t bad, but Life Savers has GOT to work on that Raspberry Lemonade FO’ REAL.  Definitely pick these up if you’re a pineapple fan, otherwise stick with the Wild Berry Gummies.  You can check out the Life Savers website at www.Life-Savers.com

HELP! I ate a Swedish CAR and now I can't feel my tongue!

Today is another awesome day, mainly because I get to try another new type of candy that I’ve never even HEARD of before.  Today, we are trying AHLGRENs bilar.  These sweets come from Sweden and are apparently one of the most popular candies over there.  Underneath the title it says “Sveriges mest köpta bil” which translates to “Sweden’s most popular car”.

Ahlgrens Bilar is defintely one of the oldest candies I’ve reviewed on this site, as this brand originates from 1885.  You can see in the window of the packaging, little multi-colored cars, so it lives up to it’s name.  The cars themselves come in red, green, and white.  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from these, but when I popped the first bilar in my mouth, I was pleasantly surprised.  There are not exactly like the typical American gummi worms or bears that we are used to, but these have a more creamy feeling to them.  They stretch and chew like gummies, but taste more like a flavored marshmallow.

The flavors are kind of hard to pin down.  The easiest flavor to pick up on is the green, it has a very clear citrus taste to it, so I have to guess that it is lime.  The hardest one to guess is red.  I’ll be honest, I really don’t have a clue as to what flavor this is supposed to be.    Cherry or Strawberry are two likely answers, but it doesn’t actually taste like either one of those.  The most unique by far has to be the white bilar.  At first, it has a fruity taste, but after letting it rest on your tongue for a second, you begin to taste a definite menthol flavor.  If you eat a couple in a row, the menthol becomes really strong and your tongue actually starts to feel a little numb.  It might not be for everybody, but I thought it was cool for a candy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wanted to give a big shout-out to Thomas from Sweden for sending these my way!  My recommendation to any body that ever spies Ahlgrens bilar at their local store, is to pick them up!  These are unique and yummy!  Give them a shot.

You can check out their website at www.ahlgrensbilar.com

 

Getting tipsy on Wine Gums

First with the Cheerwine, now with Wine Gums, you would think this was turning into a Vino blog.  Fear not my sweet toothed friends, today we are reviewing a sweet gummy with the alcoholic name of MAYNARD’S WINE GUMS.  These were another awesome treat sent to us from our friends at The Sweet Spot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wine Gums basically come in a bright red twist-tied tube with a trippy looking swirl on front.  I had never tried Wine Gums before, but I do vaguely remember hearing about these before.  Wine Gums are from the U.K. and have been around a long time, since 1905.  There is not much else on the wrapper beside the name, ingredient list and nutritional info, so there’s not much else left to do but open this sucker up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In doing some research, I have found that Cadbury (the parent company of Maynard’s Wine Gums) says that the black and red flavors are the most popular.  In this package of Wine Gums I received 4 blacks, 3 reds, 2 yellows, 2 greens, and 1 orange.  I couldn’t find any official flavor guide, but general consensus around the interwebs seems to be Black = Currant, Yellow = Lemon, Green = Lime, Orange = Orange, but Red is a little tougher to pin down.  I’ve seen some say Cherry or Strawberry, but my personal opinion is Raspberry, so who knows?  The red one is quite tasty though.

The Wine Gums are a quite a bit thicker and more gelatinous than common America gummies like gummy worms or gummy bears.  Texture wise, I would compare these more to Jujy Fruits than anything else.   The three citrus flavors in Wine Gums are fairly run of the mill candy flavors.  Lemon, Lime, and Orange…they taste like typical your typical Lemon, Lime and Orange gummies. Ho Hum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When it comes to the other two flavors though…I can see why Cadbury says that Black and Red are the most popular.  They are definitely the most unique flavors.  Not only are they unique they taste FREAKIN’ GOOD.  The red I’ve already covered and could easily be a hybrid of “red fruit” flavors.  My personal favorite however has to be the black Wine Gum.  It has got a great flavor and I’ve never really tasted Currant flavor in any American candy before.  If you ever run across a pack of Wine Gums, TRY THEM!  These things are REALLY good and have some different flavors to them than the same old gummies we get over here in the U.S.  Check them out!

Angry Birds Gummies cause RAGE!

I picked up some new gummy candies I saw at the store recently based on the well known iPhone and Android game ANGRY BIRDS.  I’ve seen Angry Birds shirts and other merchandise around, but this was the first candy I’d seen based on the popular game, so I decided to give it a whirl…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The design on this box is pretty cool and will definitely attract anybody who has played the games before.  On the back of this box, you can see they actually have four different boxes, one with the red bird, the yellow bird, the blue bird and the green pig.  The front of the box shows 6 of the different birds from the games in 6 different flavors: Cherry, Lemon, Raspberry, Apple, Grape, and Strawberry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was surprised to see that for such a big package of gummies (there were approx 30-35 pieces in here) that I didn’t get one single Lemon gummy.  What a jip!  Once I started inspecting these gummies too, I noticed how shoddily pressed they were.  Some high quality gummies actually look pretty good, but these ones were obviously cheaply made and didn’t look much at all like the angry birds.  The details on the gummies were overall pretty bad and the best one I could find out of the whole punch was a pig that seemed to have some detail…albeit, not much.  It was still better than the majority of the purple (grape) birds that looked more like raisins than birds.

The Best looking Pig.

 

A Raisin or a Bird?

I was honestly hoping that after how nasty these things looked, they would at least have one good redeeming quality and be pretty tasty.  Well, that dream was immediately shattered when I popped the first one in my mouth and all I tasted was the flavor of gross gelatin with no fruit flavoring.  Since I didn’t get any Yellow Lemon birds, I can’t comment on those, but my reviews for the other 5 are;  Cherry and Strawberry are edibile, barely, but if I was stuck on a deserted island with nothing to eat, I would defintely eat the strawberry and cherry gummies before I began to scrounge around for rodent meat and began eating leaves, dirt and grass.  The green apple pigs are almost edible, but the blue rasperry and grape gummies are inedible, have no flavor, and are not a real candy at all.  They are not worthy of the name candy.  They should be more appropriately titled, gelatinous blobs.

If you haven’t gotten the hint yet, I do not recommend these Angry Birds gummies.  These gummies are manufactured by “Healthy Food Brands” from Commack, NY.  Final rating: 2/10 Would not eat again.

Below is a reenactment of my actual Angry Birds Gummies eating experience…

Japanese Gummy Crowned in Glory?!

Continuing our international theme on LikeAKidInACandyStore.com, today we are jumping over to the country of Japan.  Recently, we picked up some Pineapple Gummy Candy that looked pretty good.  I wasn’t sure if I wanted to buy these, but when I read the description, I knew I had to:

“The gorgeous taste of fully ripened pineapple

imposing as a southern island king crowned

in glory, is yours to enjoy in every soft

and juicy Kasugai Pineapple Gummy.”

 

Uhh…a pineapple posing as a southern island king crowned in glory?  Yeah, I knew I had to try these things.

The front of the main package in the corner states 100% Pineapple.  Maybe it says something else in Japanese, well I hope it does, because the main ingredient in this thing is actually corn syrup, not pineapple.  Each one of the pineapple gummies are individually wrapped and say that the candy inside is “Super Juicy”.  Let’s try one of these things and find out just how super juicy it really is…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unwrapped, these gummies look, well, rather unappetizing.  They are a fairly dull yellowish-orange color and slightly coated around the edges with a strange white powder.  The gummies themselves are a simple heart shape.  With such an emphasis on the super juiciness, I was expecting these gummies to perhaps be filled with some sort of candy jelly filling, but no such luck.  These are just solid pieces of pineapple flavored gummy.  The pineapple flavor is right on and tastes like a real pineapple, not like artifical “pineapple flavor” that is prevalent in some old Wonka candies *cough* RUNTS *cough*.  The third ingredient (after corn syrup and sugar) is actually pineapple juice, so that explains the nice natural flavor.

The description on the front of the package talked a big game, and these gummies didn’t really deliver.  They taste ok, they taste like pineapple, but no way are they a southern island king crowned in glory.  Only recommended for extreme pineapple or gummy enthusiasts!

Biggest…Gummi…EVER?!

My family knows that I love candy, so for Christmas, one of the things I received was a giant Gummi bear.  The one I got is manufactured by Taste of Nature, Inc. and comes in under the name GINORMOUS GUMMI BEAR.  It weighs in a whopping 227 grams, which is exactly a HALF POUND of SUGAR.  Yum!

Let’s get started…  In the packaging, the Gummi bear looks dark and shiny and you can see it is on a stick to make it easier to eat.  The front of it says Cherry and Green Apple Flavor.

With the packaging off, you can tell this Gummi Bear isn’t quite as soft as normal small Gummi bears.  I gave it a taste though and have to say, the Green Apple flavoring is quite good.  It is sweet and tart and tastes extremely similar to Australia’s Apple Liqorice.  The ears on this thing were delicious.

The Cherry side of this bear was not as good as the Green Apple.  Also, even for being on a stick, the Gummi bear is hard to eat.  This thing is made out a different type of gelatin than regular Gummi Bears and is denser than the regular Gummi candy.  This explains why it weighs so much.  The candy itself tastes good, but I can only recommend this bear to extreme Gummi enthusiasts.  Or a diabetic whose blood sugar is crashing.

Oh, also…this thing is kind of creepy.  I think it’s giving me the heebie jeebies because it is so big.  I think I’ve seen a puppy that was bigger than this thing once.  The picture below is what I think this Gummi bear will look like in my nightmares after I’m done consuming, this half-pound monstrosity.

The Black Silicone Pig of Nightmares?