Gustaf's Gummy Cows

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.

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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.

I received my first order of gummies this morning!

Reviews for New Gummies Coming Soon

I know I have been reviewing a lot of Haribo products to start, mostly because I felt since the Gold Bears were so great, I could find some high quality gummies from the same vendor.  I placed a large order last night of various gummies from several different vendors so you can expect to see a variety of reviews coming soon. 

One order I am pretty excited about is from World's Largest Gummy Bears.  They have a variety of sizes, ranging from the 26 pound Party Bear to the 2.3 oz Big Bears.  There are 11 flavor options so I chose to order 2 6-packs of the Big Bears, giving me the chance to try each flavor.  Incidentally, this was also the cheapest option- a 6-pack of the Big Bears is $11.95, but pricing goes all the was up to $149.95 for the Party Bear.  These are sold through various online sites, including Vat19, where I downloaded the above images.  My order was placed directly from World's Largest Gummy Bears website.  This way you can mix and match your Big Bears packs from any of the 11 flavors, other vendors have pre-made flavor combo pack options.

As you can see from the image of the guy chomping on one of the Big Bears above, these are quite large.  I'm sure it will take me several days to get through all 11 flavors, but a review will follow at some point so check back soon.

Haribo Frogs

I was definitely attracted to these frogs because I think they are so cute.  They are much bigger then a regular gummy, about the size of a quarter, and they have a marshmallow foam tummy, which adds an interesting texture.  The flavor is not that intense, possibly because the tummy foam dilutes the flavor.  I definitely liked these, but I would still choose the Gold Bears over the Frogs any day.

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Texture: These have the same overall texture of the gold bears, a bit hard and chewy.  The marshmallow tummies do add something a bit different though.

Flavors: The flavor is hard to pin down on this one, it is just a light fruit flavor to me.  I did search online and found that Haribo claims the gummy is apple with a passion fruit tummy.  I can kind of see that once I am thinking about it, but I never would have guessed.  The overall flavor is pleasant, but less intense then the Gold Bears, if these were sour apple instead, I think they would be much better.

Cost: $0.29/oz, 5oz bag, at candy shop

Availability: These are a bit harder to find, I have only seem them sold at candy shops, either in bulk or as a hanging 5 oz bag.  Online retailers, including amazon.com, do have these available.

Where Gummy Bears Come From

I don't have a review today so I thought I would share this amusing comic instead.

Sour Patch Berries

I thought I should review a product that wasn't made by Haribo, so I picked up some Sour Patch Kids Berries in the candy aisle at Wawa (a convenience store).  I really like the regular Sour Patch Kids, so I wasn't too surprised that I enjoyed these.  The flavors were intense and the texture was nice and chewy.  I particularly enjoyed the grape, it reminded me of grape soda, which I loved to drink as a kid.  These are definitely worth a try if you like sour candy.

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Texture: These are very chewy and soft, especially if you continue to chew through the sourness and wait until you get to the sweet.

Flavors: There are four colors and flavors: blue raspberry (blue), cherry (red), grape (purple), and raspberry lemonade (pink). My favorites were the grape and the raspberry lemonade.  I actually couldn't figure out the flavor of the pink on my own and these are so new they are not on the Sour Patch website yet.  Wikipedia says raspberry lemonade so I will just go with it.  In any case, it has a pleasant tangy-berry flavor.  I wouldn't normally think of a cherry for a berry pack, I'm surprised they picked this over strawberry, but I like the flavor, it is very strong, more of a black cherry flavor maybe.  The blue raspberry was also pretty good.  There really aren't any duds in terms of flavor for this pack.

Cost: $0.55/oz, 1.8oz bag, at Wawa

Availability: These are pretty new, but I expect that you will eventually find these anywhere candy is sold.

Haribo Smurfs

My next post is actually for a gummy I tried a while ago, Haribo Smurfs.  A friend gifted me a case of these for Christmas and I was eager to try them.  As you can see from the image, these are extremely cute and the colors are very inviting, to me at least.  The smurf bodies are a bright translucent blue and the hats are clear and red.  These are actually a bit larger then a regular gummy, about an inch tall and half an inch wide, but they aren't that thick, about the thickness of a Swedish Fish.  These are very chewy and I'm not sure I would classify these as a gummy really, even though they are sold as a gummy.  These are more of a wine gum in texture, much like a Swedish Fish in this respect also.  The flavor is a light fruit flavor I couldn't quite put my finger on.  It may be raspberry, very nice but I wish it was a bit more intense.  The batch I had was a little hard but I have read that these are supposed to be very soft so I wonder if I may have had a stale batch.  I definitely will try these again to see if there is a change in texture.  I would recommend trying these if you like wine gum candies, but don't expect them to be like a traditional gummy bear.

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Texture: These are about the same size and texture of the larger sized Swedish Fish, not really the texture I think of when I crave a gummy.

Flavors: The Smurfs are a light fruit flavor that is hard to identify, possibly raspberry or lingonberry.

Cost: $0.44/oz at germandeli.com

Availability: These are reportedly only sold in Germany and are not approved by the FDA.  You can locate these on several international food websites like germandeli.com.