I've never been a big fan of Blue Raspberry flavoring, but the coloring of these Gummy Sharks was very attractive so I thought I would give them a shot. Additionally, recently I've had some positive experiences with Blue Raspberry gummies, including the flavors from Trolli Big Bold Bears and Albanese Krunch Bears. These are vibrant and fun in appearance, but I think the positives stop there. Unfortunately, the flavoring of these was terrible, a generic sickening sweet flavor. Maybe the fun shape and color is enough for a child, but I suggest you look elsewhere for your sugar high.
Texture: These have an ok texture, chewy with a marshmallow foam bottom, similar to the Haribo Frogs, but slightly less chewy.
Flavors: These are supposed to be Blue Raspberry, but they just had an unpleasant generic sweet taste.
Cost: $2.49 for 12oz bag at Pearl's Candy and Nuts.
Availability: These are not easy to find in convenience stores, but I have seen these in bulk candy bins and tourist locations many times, I don't think they are very hard to find.
I've had gummy worms several times over the years and there is something really satisfying about pulling and biting the worms in half. I'm not quite sure which brand I usually buy, since I they always seem to come from the bulk bins at candy stores, but I saw these on the shelf at Wawa the other day and decided to pick them up. I definitely have not tried these before, the worm actually had a head and face, which was surprising and for some reason disturbing. These also only came in three flavor combinations: lemon-lime, cherry-pineapple, and cherry-orange. I remembered having other flavor combinations in the past, but it's been a while so I could be mistaken. These were very soft and don't require a lot of chewing. If you suck on these for a few seconds, the gummy starts to break down an disintegrate, they kind of melt in your mouth. These had a slightly artificial taste, but it was still pleasant. It kind of reminded me of the flavors of the Trolli Big Bears. There was a waxy/greasy texture to these, but it wasn't bothersome. I wouldn't mind having these again, but they are far from a favorite.
I was intrigued by the flavor "Champagne" when I saw these and I figured it was time to try another of the non-pariel gummies. I wasn't a huge fan of the Haribo Berries, but I LOVE the Albanese Krunch Bears so I figured there was a good shot these would be halfway decent. I was surprised when these arrived, they were much smaller then I expected, about the size of a Haribo bear, much smaller then the Berries I previously sampled. These were tart and did remind me of the flavor of champagne, it was vey much like sparkly white grape juice, very authentically flavored. The non-pareil coating was similar to the coating of the Krunch Bears, they were a sweet addition and did not dilute the flavor of the gummy itself. Overall, I thought these were pleasant and unique, but I wouldn't necessarily purchase them again. These were tasty enough to make me interested in trying the Jelly Belly version of the Berries though, which come in four flavors: Raspberry, Blackberry, Blueberry, and Strawberry.
I haven't had Trolli gummys in at least 15 years. I never cared for them, I always thought they had an aftertaste, bad texture, and a greasy oily coating you sometimes find on lower quality gummys to keep them from sticking together. That being said, I saw the Big Bold Bears at Walmart last night and decided to give Trolli another try. I've been counting calories and I find that the larger sized items are a better choice. It's easy to portion the serving size, 4 big bears, instead of counting out 30+ of the traditional sized gummys. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with this product. It definitely doesn't hold a candle to any of my favorites, but the flavors are quite nice, they were not overly intense. There are six flavors: Apple, Lemon Lime, Blue Raspberry, Cherry, Orange, and Grape. The Lemon Lime tasted more like a very sugary Lime, but unlike many Lime flavored gummys, they don't taste like cleaner. The Blue Raspberry has a tropical undertone which I like, I usually pass on Blue Raspberry flavors since they are generally overly sweet. The Orange has a nice zest to it also. On the other side, I felt that the Cherry was a bit weak and the Grape was my least favorite, tasting like flat and warm grape soda. These were very chewy and much softer then the Haribo gummys I am used to. The package indicates they are 4x larger then the regular Trolli gummys, they measure about 1 inch wide, 1.5 inches tall, and .5 inches thick. I didn't notice a greasy coating on these either. Overall, I think this are a nice option, but I wouldn't necessarily seek them out.
Flavors: There are six flavors: Apple, Lemon Lime, Blue Raspberry, Cherry, Orange, and Grape. The flavors are decent, but I didn't care for the Grape and the Cherry was kind of weak and bland. I thought the flavors were less then bold, much lighter in flavor then I remember from Trolli product, but I preferred it that way.
Cost: $1.97 for a 8oz bag at Walmart.
Availability: Trolli products can usually be found in most convenience stores in this area.
I love Jolly Ranchers, they have great tangy flavors, so when I saw these at Walmart, I decided to give them a try. Surprisingly, there are only two flavors Watermelon/Green Apple and Cherry/Orange, but I think that was a great decision, you don't really need anything else. These little nuggets are full of tang and zip, I just couldn't get enough. The flavor combinations worked very well together. The outer shell is the primary flavor, the inside paste adds a subtle layer to the overall taste. The entire nugget is also coated with sour sugar, but it is not an overpowering coating. The dust on these reminds me more of the dust on the Haribo Sour Mango then the strong dust on Sour Patch Kids. I think a lot of the sour flavor comes more from the candy itself, allowing the sour sugar to be less intense. I am a bit ashamed to admit that I ate the entire 6oz bag of these over the course of the night. However, this did allow me to discover that unlike many sour candies, eating large quantities of the Awesome Twosomes does not burn your mouth, a problem I have experienced with Sour Patch Kids in the past. I definitely think these are worth a try if you are a sour gummy fan.
Texture: These are very chewy and soft with a sour sugar coating. The inside paste is pretty squishy but the overall texture was very nice to me.
Flavors: There are two flavors: Watermelon/Green Apple and Cherry/Orange. I prefer the Cherry/Orange, but only slightly more, both flavor combinations are delicious.
Cost: $1.97 for a 6oz bag at Walmart.
Availability: I haven't noticed these before, but I assume they are readily available since most Hershey's candies can be found in any convienence store.
As a long time gamer and fan of the Mario series, I had to try these when I saw them at CVS. The packaging was so attractive to me, featuring Mario, Yoshi, Diddy Kong, and Donkey Kong. When I opened the wrapping and pulled out the plastic tray of my five new friends, I was pleased to see that I got all four characters and at least one of each of the four flavors: Strawberry, Watermelon, Mixed Berry, and Orange. The detail to the gummies was amazing and these were pretty big, about 1.5-2 inches. Unlike most gummies, these had detailing all around, even on the back which is usually flat on a traditional gummy bear. The flavors were pretty good as well, except the Mixed Berry had a strange after-taste, almost garlicky? The texture was slightly hard, it had a good chew to it. Overall, these were very fun and I would definitely purchase them again, especially if I had kids with me. Check out the Au'some website (www.3-dees.com) for their other 3-Dees lines. They have super cute animals in their Wildlife series, holiday themes, and other licensed lines like Kung Fu Panda.
Texture: These were slightly hard and chewy, I liked the texture overall.
Flavors: There are four flavors: Strawberry, Orange, Mixed Berry, and Watermelon. The Mixed Berry has an unpleasant after-taste for me, but the other three were pretty good.
Cost: $1.95 for a pack of 5 gummies at CVS.
Availability: I haven't seen the Au'some gummies around before, but these seem readily available online. I noticed that there is a theater box of 10 gummies so these are probably sold at some movie theaters and retail locations like Target where theater sized boxes of candy are sold. Amazon also has good deals on different lines of 3-Dees, including a sour version of the Nintendo gummies.
As I previously reported, I have heard that German Gold Bears are much better then the bags sold in the US, which are produced in factories in Turkey. A few months ago I tried the Saft Goldbaren, or Juice Bears, which are my new favorite. I had to try the regular Goldbaren to compare to the others. This package contained six flavors: orange, lemon, pineapple, strawberry, raspberry, and apple. The texture is very similar to the Gold Bears found in the US, though they are slightly less chewy. Something interesting was since apple is included in this pack, as green, the strawberry is pink in this package instead of green like the US version. I felt that in general, these tasted very similar to the Gold Bears, maybe a bit more intense, but overall mostly the same. The red raspberry did taste a bit more like an authentic raspberry. Overall, I don't think it is worth the extra effort to track down the Goldbaren over the Gold Bears, unless you are an apple fan, since that flavor is only available in this pack. Otherwise, try the Saft Goldbaren if you want something different.
Texture: These are very similar to Gold Bears, slightly less hard and chewy.
Flavors: There are six flavors in this pack: orange (orange), raspberry (red), strawberry (pinkish red), lemon (yellow), pineapple (clear), apple (green). These are very similar to the Gold Bear flavors, the red tastes a bit different, slightly more authentically like raspberry fruit.
Cost: about $.71/oz, $4.79 for a 200g bag on Amazon
Availability: I've heard that these can be tracked down in German delis in the city, but I just ordered mine online.
I decided to try one of the sour versions made by Haribo so I purchased the Sour Mango Gummies, imported from Germany. These had a great flavor, they had an authentic mango taste and the sour sugar was not overpowering, it was a pleasant slightly tangy sugar. These are not that similar to the sour gummies you find in the US, like Sour Patch, these are much better. The texture was great, nice and chewy, and these were a nice large size. I highly recommend these.
Cost: about $1.02/oz, $6.49 for a 175g bag on Amazon
Availability: I haven't noticed these anywhere in stores, but I wasn't really looking so I can't say for sure that they aren't available. My bag was an import and they are easily purchased on the internet.
My last product review from my Pearl's order is for Haribo Techno Bears. I was drawn to these because of their metallic appearance, it made me very curious since usually a candy with this kind of gimmick would be cheap and terrible, but these were Haribo so they may actually be good. Unfortunately, I wasn't really impressed. I'm not sure if my batch was a bit older and stale or if the texture is always this way, but these were very tough, much harder then the Gold Bears. These were about 1.5-2x's larger so they are more of a mouthful but the flavors were lackluster. For the most part they seemed like lighter flavoring of the Gold Bears, the only new additions were the Apple and Sour Raspberry. The Apple was boring and the Sour Raspberry had a medicine taste to it. As I said, it may have just been a stale batch since others have given this a positive review, but in my opinion, these are not worth it and the only appeal is the metallic coloring and the larger size.
Texture: These were much harder then the Gold Bears, to an unpleasant degree. It was too much work to chew these.
Flavors: There are 6 flavors: Pinapple (purple), Lemon (yellow), Sour Raspberry (blue), Orange (orange), Cherry/Strawberry not sure which (pinkish red), Apple (green)
Cost: $0.33/oz, 9oz bag, at Pearl's Nostalgic Candy, Chocolate, and Nuts (pearlscandynh.com)
Availability: These aren't as widespread as the Gold Bears, but they are easily located at candy shops and grocery stores. Several online retailers also carry these at decent rates.
I have read elsewhere that German Gold Bears, Goldbaren, are far superior to the Gold Bears imported to the US, which are actually made in Turkey. Naturally, I decided I had to try these at some point. In searching online, I found that there are actually two versions sold in Germany, the regular Goldbaren and the Saft Goldbaren. I decided to try the Saft version first.
At first I thought saft translated to soft, but it actually translates to juice. This makes sense since this version is actually 22% natural juices and uses natural colors and flavors. As you can see from the image above, the colors are lighter and muted compared to the traditional coloring of gummies. I actually think these are quite pretty. When I opened this bag, a pleasant fruit smell wafted out. I reached in at random and pulled out a yellow colored gummy, lime. I was shocked, this tasted like a was eating a fresh lime or lemon. I must admit, at first I was not a fan because I was expecting a more traditional sugar candy taste. This was completely different and after eating a few, I realized that these are fantastic, I just had to get over my preconceived notion of what a gummy should taste like.
These are softer then the Gold Bears in texture, but still a bit firmer then other brands of gummies. They are about the same size as the Gold Bears, maybe a tad larger. The flavors are unique and incredibly refreshing. There are six: raspberry, black current, apple, pear, peach, and lime. Though I was initially turned off by the realistic lime flavor, this was actually my favorite in the end. All of the flavors were naturally sweet tasting and slightly tart, like real fruit. The raspberry tasted like fresh raspberry, it was unbelievable. These flavors were written directly on my bag. I've seen some other online reviews only showing five flavors, leaving off the black current flavor in their listing. I'm not sure if Haribo added this flavor later or if people are missing the difference between the raspberry and black current. Though they are photographing as two very different colors (see the raspberry and black current right next to each other in the image above on the bottom left), in person they are easy to mix up and the flavors are similar. I think the black current has more of a tangy sour flavor compared to the raspberry though.
Overall, while I still enjoy my traditional Gold Bears, I think I actually prefer the Saft Goldbaren. Unfortunately, I don't believe these are available in the US and online retailers are the only option. I purchased mine on Amazon since a 450g bag (about 1lb) through the Euro Food Mart seller was $10.98 with free shipping. In comparison, the bulk rate for Gold Bears on Amazon is $14.98 for 5lb. As usual, you get what you pay for and believe me, these are worth the price hike. Be warned though, 1lb won't last as long as you think!
Texture: These are a bit softer then Gold Bears, but still firmer then other brands.
Flavors: There are 6 amazing flavors: Raspberry (red), Black Current (reddish purple, very similar color to the Raspberry in person though it is photographing much darker), Apple (green), Pear (clear), Peach (Orange), Lime (yellow).
Cost: about $0.69/oz, $10.98 for a 450g bag on Amazon
Availability: These are only available in Europe, possibly only Germany for all I know. However, these can be easily ordered from online retailers. The packaging seems similar to the regular Goldbaren packaging, which has different flavors. Make sure you are ordering the Saft version.
Found this amusing photo floating around on the web, it was on various sites, but I believe it originated on Laser Bread's Flickr account. There's some awesome stuff on there, so you should take some time to check it out.
I finally made it through tasting all 11 flavors of the Big Bears. These were very large, about 3-4 inches tall each so you really can only eat one at a time. Check out the image above of the Big Bears compared to a Haribo Gold Bear.
I ordered these directly from the World's Largest Gummy Bear Website. Other online vendors sell these, but by ordering directly, you can pick and choose your flavors for a 6 pack of the Big Bears. Other vendors have pre-made packs of different flavor selections, mostly of the traditional flavors like Cherry, Lime, Orange, and Blue Raspberry. The shipping on these was extremely fast, I received these two days after ordering using the standard FedEx shipping rate.
The first thing I noticed when I opened the package, apart from the size of the bears, was the great bright colors. When I actually opened the containers, the strong fruity smells were intoxicating. The packaging is great, it is a snap shut clamshell that you can open, take out one gummy, and snap back closed to keep the gummies fresh for later. Each bear is nestled in a bear shaped pop-out, keeping the flavors from mixing. Additionally, once you have consumed all of the bears, these containers are great to save for Jello Jigglers or Gummy shaped Jello Shots.
All of the flavors were very intense and the bears had a firm texture. For some reason, I expected these to be really soft, but it makes sense that they were very firm since the larger sizes would require more stability then a very squishy form. Some flavors were better then others. I HATED the Cola and Cherry Cola, they tasted like very flat Pepsi products, like glasses that were left out for days to fizz out before drinking. My favorites were the Pineapple, which tasted like a pina coulda, and the orange and lemon which both had a nice zest to them. I usually really like Grape, but this tasted like Welch's grape juice, which I didn't like, I was expecting the grape artificial flavoring usually used for candy and grape sodas. On the other hand, I usually don't like Blue Raspberry, I usually think they are too sweet, but this one was pretty good, had some blueberry flavoring mixed in there too maybe. If you are ordering a 6 pack, I recommend Pineapple, Lemon, Cherry, Blue Raspberry, Apple, and Orange.
When I first ordered these, it was really just for the novelty of the size. I was expecting these to be very gooey and soft and to have horrible cheap flavors. I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed at least 6 out of the 11 flavor options. Overall, I think these would make a fun gift and while I can't comment on the texture of the larger sized bear options, I can say that there are some good flavor options available for any sized order.
Texture: These were very firm, a good texture for a gummy of this size.
Flavors: There are 11 flavor options. I recommend Pineapple, Lemon, Cherry, Blue Raspberry, Apple, and Orange. Other flavors were not as great in my opinion, but I took notes on all of them throughout my taste-test, which took several days. All flavors were very intense and smelled very fruity.
Pineapple (Clear)- tasted like a Pina Coulda, very good
Grape (Purple)- tasted like Welch's grape juice, I didn't really care for this
Lemon (Yellow)- slight zest, didn't have a "cleanser" taste like some lemons do, like a lemonhead but not sour
Cola (Brown)- very flat Pepsi, not pleasant
Cherry (Red)- typical cherry flavoring, ok for cherry candy lovers, nothing special
Lime (Light Green)- I'm not a fan of Lime candies, they all have that "cleanser" taste, this one did a bit too, but less then others, lime candy lovers will probably like this
Blue Raspberry (Blue)- nice berry taste, some blueberry flavoring in there too I think
Apple (Dark Green)- tasted a lot like a green Jolly Rancher
Bubblegum (Pink)- slight classic bubble gum flavor, overall just a very sweet taste, ok, not great though
Cherry Cola (Maroon)- VERY flat Cherry Pepsi, my LEAST favorite
Orange (Orange)- very intense orange, slight zest, reminds me of orange Jello flavoring
Cost: $11.95 for a 6 pack
Availability: These are available from several online retailers, including Vat 19, which sells all of the World's Largest Gummy Bear Products. Ordering directly from World's Largest Gummy Bears, www.giantgummybears.com, allows you to make up your own 6 pack though. Pricing is about the same everywhere, so you may be able to track down some coupon codes for free shipping or something with other retailers.
Every time I search for something gummy related I get so many hits for versions of the Gummy Bear Song. I watched it once and now I can't get the song out of my head, so annoying!
I ordered these Gustaf's Gummy Pigs at the same time as the Cows, otherwise, after the Cows, I probably would have stayed away from Gustaf's Gummies. Luckily, these aren't too bad. They have the same foamy light texture as the Cows, but the flavor is much better. Unlike the Cows, I don't feel like I am eating flavored fluoride. These are supposed to be Strawberry, but the flavor is more of a light fruit, not really identifiable as Strawberry. They aren't as sticky as a traditional gummy texture, so if you have issues with gummies sticking in teeth and/or braces these may be an alternative gummy for you. These are very cute, but I won't buy again unless I have a need for a pig themed candy for some reason, which I doubt. However, unlike the Cows, the Pigs will likely be eaten at some point. The Cows are already in a landfill somewhere.
Texture: These are a light fluffy, kind of foamy gummy.
Flavors: These are supposed to be Strawberry. I'm not really getting that, but they do have a pleasant light fruit flavor.
Cost: $0.33/oz, 9oz bag, at Pearl's Nostalgic Candy, Chocolate, and Nuts (pearlscandynh.com)
Availability: These are imported from the Netherlands so they can be found at specialty and candy shops only.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
No new review today, I'm still working my way through the Big Bears, one at a time. Once I taste all of the flavors, I can post a review. In the meantime, check out these spoofs of Guillver's Travels and Dune using a World's Largest Gummy Bear and a World's Largest Gummy Worm. I found these on candywarehouse.com while pricing the Big Bears.
I added these gummy lobsters to my order at Pearl's simply because I have never seen a gummy lobster before and the unique shape prompted an impulse buy. A bit of online research reveals that these are a popular tourist item in New England. Unfortunately, I don't think these go much beyond the novelty of the shape. This is the first bag of gummies that I have noticed an intense smell, and not in a pleasant way. They don't really smell bad, but they smell sickly sweet and artificial. The taste is a light generic cherry flavor but at the same time is intensely sugary sweet. The texture is too rubbery and soft for me. I would definitely pass on these, but they aren't as bad as the Gustaf's Cows.
Cost: $0.33/oz, 9oz bag, at Pearl's Nostalgic Candy, Chocolate, and Nuts (pearlscandynh.com)
Availability: I think these are fairly common in New England, especially at tourist attractions. I've never been, so I can't say for sure, but my online research indicates this is the case. I've never seen these in bulk stores in my area, which isn't too far away, in New York.
I sent Albanese Customer Service an email to find out if these were temporarily unavailable or discontinued. Unfortunately, they responded to inform me that these were in fact discontinued. I am shocked since this product was so tasty and unique that it was featured on Food Network. I advise you to snatch these up from online retailers before they disappear forever.
Check out this video I found on YouTube, how the Krunch Bears are made. Considering these were featured on Food Network's Unwrapped, I can't believe they would be discontinued.
I couldn't resist the Albanese Krunch Bears, they are so pretty for a gummy. I checked the Albanese site, and these aren't listed as a current product, so I'm unsure if they are discontinued. Several sites do still sell these, but amazon has been out of stock for quite a while. You will see them sold as "Crunch Bears", "Crunchy Bears", "Krunch Bears", and "Krunchy Bears", but they are always listed as being from Albanese. It may be a lot of trouble to track these down, but I do think they are worth it for anyone who loves to try new gummy candies. They are just as delicious as they are attractive. Unlike the Haribo Raspberries, I felt like the nonpareil coating on these added to the overall flavor, it was sweet and sugary on it's own. These are much larger the the Haribo Gold Bears, about 2-3x's, so each gummy is a good mouthful. The flavor builds as you breakdown the outer coating so resist the urge to swallow and chew until you really get the full flavor of the gummies. It's hard for me to pick a favorite flavor, all six were very good. The flavors were slightly artificial, but at the same time felt authentically fruity. I highly recommend these.
Texture: These are very chewy and crunchy at the same time. An odd but pleasant combination.
Flavors: There are six flavors: Cherry (red), Watermelon (pink), Orange (orange), Apple (green), Lemon (yellow), and I think Blue Raspberry (blue). The blue flavor was hard to pin down because it is a light generic berry flavor, not the usual artificial flavor I associate with blue raspberry. The cherry was a light flavoring, almost like cherry chapstick. The apple had just the right amount of sour notes at the end and the watermelon had a nice tang to it. Unlike other mixes, all of the flavors are winners for this product.
Cost: $0.33/oz, 9oz bag, at Pearl's Nostalgic Candy, Chocolate, and Nuts (pearlscandynh.com)
Availability: These are no longer listed on the Albanese website so I'm not sure if these are discontinued or just temporarily unavailable. Online sites are still carrying these if you take the time to search, but I hope they aren't selling off old stock. It would be a shame for such a good gummy product to be discontinued. The batch I received from Pearl's seemed very fresh so they may be a good place to start if you want to try a small order. I chose Pearl's because many websites require you to place large 5lb+ bulk orders for each product.
I decided to try Gustaf's Gummy Cows from the Netherlands from my recent order. I was intrigued by a vanilla gummy, which I've never had before. The first thing I noticed was the texture of these, they are very soft and foamy almost, like they are mixed with some kind of cream before setting. The smell coming from the bag was more like Circus Peanut candies then something I would associate with vanilla. The flavor itself is not something I would call vanilla. It is a generic sweet taste that kind of reminds me of the "marshmallow" flavored fluoride used at the dentist when I was a kid. The cow shape is cute, and I think they missed an opportunity to add some flavor with the black part of the face. Maybe a bit of anise flavoring would have have kicked these up a notch. Overall, I would not buy these again. I ate two for the purposes of this review and I don't know what I will do with the rest of the 9oz bag, most like they will get thrown out.
Texture: These are very soft and almost foamy, they seem to be mixed with some kind of cream.
Flavors: This is supposed to be vanilla, but it is just a generic unpleasant sweet taste that reminds me of flavored fluoride used by dentists.
Cost: $0.33/oz, 9oz bag, at Pearl's Nostalgic Candy, Chocolate, and Nuts (pearlscandynh.com)
Availability: These are imported from the Netherlands so they are only available in the US at specialty shops or online. Pearl's shipped my order the day after it was ordered and I received it within 2 days. I felt their shipping rates were very fair as well.
Friday, March 9, 2012
I received my first order of gummies this morning!
