I'm Back!

You may have noticed it's been quite awhile since I updated. The reason for that is because I recently moved across the country and was then busy with my undergrad. But school is almost over for the year and I'm ready to get my sour on again. A new city means new sources for sour treats.

I'm open to any suggestions for weird and wonderful candies I should try. I may not be able to find that particular sour treat in my area, but I'll do my best to hunt it out.

Review - Efruiti Sour Fruit Juice Berries

I've been eating the Efruiti berries for years. You'd probably recognize them from the bulk bins first at health food stores and now, more frequently at supermarkets. I believe you can even buy them pre-packaged now. I tried to look this candy up, but I can't find any sites except for a few distributors who sell Efruiti stuff. If you've never heard of them, well, maybe it's a local thing!

These berries are covered in a tasty layer of sour sugar. What makes these a cut above your typical gummies is the fact that they're flavoured with real fruit juice and that makes them darned tasty. Sure, the Toxic Waste candies are good if you want an extreme sour hit, but these are great for hitting the sour craving without destroying your tastebuds for three days. They come in two flavours, one pinkish, the other purplish, though there isn't a real great difference between them. I have no ingredients to go by since these are from the bulk bin. The darker berries seem to be flavoured with grape juice or blackcurrant, or perhaps both. The gummi itself is tart, which makes them yummier than regular sweet candies with a sour dusting. The pinkish one isn't as tart (in the gummi) nor is it as flavourful, but it makes a nice contrast between the two.


THE SOUR LINE

Are Efruiti berries super sour? No. Are they tasty and easy to snack on? Yes! I'm also partial to the gummi varieties and when I buy them in bulk, I tend to mix the two. Any candy that manages to be at least somewhat natural has my vote.

News Article: The Sour Trend

"Kids want Razzles and Chiclets and Airheads and bubble gum. They want the old stuff, too, says Beth Miller, owner of Suckers Candy (3256 N. Damen Ave.; 773-549-1706). Ring Pops and Pop Rocks. Gummies. All the old Wonka stuff like Laffy Taffy, Nerds and that sugary juice mix with the candy stick, a.k.a. Fun Dip. The stuff they learned about from their parents.

"I sell a ton of Pop Rocks," Miller says. "I can't keep them in. [Kids] love any kind of bulk."

But the current king of confection is sour candy, from Sour Patch Kids to sour watermelon slices to sour gummies. Kids want anything that causes their mouths to pucker."

Pucker up: Sour candy is sweet. - The Chicago Tribune


My apologies for slow updates lately! My tastebuds had a burnout after the five Toxic Waste candies in a row and I'm coming up on the end of the semester. I hope to be back to my regular schedule soon!

First Taste - Toxic Waste

Finally, after a month's worth of reviews I've found a candy that not only justifies the sour label, it hits the high end of the scale. Toxic Waste is sour, extreme and hazardous.

A few hours after eating these, the roof of my mouth was still quite sore. I do recommend these as a sour fan, but what I wouldn't recommend is eating more than one in a row. Powerful stuff!

Way to go, Toxic Waste! Erm. Feels weird to say that!

Review - Croc Tears

If nothing else, I have to give this candy kudos for the name. Sour candy that makes you cry big crocodile tears? Get it?! Ha ha ha.

These are yet another candy dubbed 'extra sour.' After my experiences lately, I remain dubious.



First up is lemon! It's tart and quite tasty. The texture is quite SweeTart-like, except a bit denser. The lemon taste isn't readily apparent, but what lemon-yness there is tastes quite natural.

Blue. I'm guessing that this is actually blueberry rather than blue raspberry. The flavour's actually quite nice, but it's not particularly sour. If I had to compare it to another flavour, it'd be blueberry-dominated fruit punch.

Purple. I couldn't tell you what this is actually supposed to be. If it's grape, the flavour is very subtle. I put a lemon in my mouth at the same time as the purple and aside from undertones, these taste the same.

Orange. This one actually tastes quite citrusy. It's almost identical to sour Fun Dip powder.

Red! It could be strawberry, it could be cherry. I can't really tell! It tastes nice, but not any more or less sour than the others.

And last but not least, green! It's lime. Ish. It's not bad, but it's not particularly good either. EDIT: On further consumption, it appears the green is watermelon, not lime.




THE SOUR LINE

While they're not 'extra sour' they are pleasantly tart. For eighty cents? Each of the 'tears' are dense enough that you could suck on it for several minutes. There's quite a bit to a box, so they're a good value. They're tart and tasty! Still, yet another candy that labels itself 'extra' or 'super' sour for no reason!

Review - Sour Patch Kids

When I'm reviewing my sours, not only am I looking for the pucker factor, I'm looking for the flavour factor too. Sour Patch Kids might not make your eyes water, but they sure taste good. They come in four varieties and each looks like a foot. It's supposed to be a 'kid' but it's decidedly indistinct. Check out the wikipedia article on them for the interesting story of the candy's evolution

Lime: Margaritaville! No, really. The combination of sour and sweet in this is very margarita-like.

Raspberry: A fun and unusual flavour for sour candies. Usually the red is cherry or strawberry. Tastes exactly like Swedish Raspberries once the sour's worn off. In fact, I suspect it's the same candy base.

Orange: "I've got my spine, I've got my orange crush." With the fizziness from the sour and the sweet, artificial orange flavour this does indeed taste like Orange Crush. That's not a bad thing! In fact, it brings back a lot of memories.

Lemon: Lemonade. Tasty, tangy lemonade!

THE SOUR LINE:

The reason that Sour Patch Kids have remained a classic is because they've managed to balance a nice sour pucker with good flavour. The mistake a lot of sours make is that the coating is applied with no thought to flavour combinations. The result of that is less than pleasing and nothing more than a marketing gimmick. Sour Patch Kids were created with taste in mind.
These are a classic and they set a standard for all other sours. There's not many candies that I enjoy all the flavours in a pack, but I find all the candies very tasty. Maynards in general really know how to make a tasty gummi.

Everything in Moderation (even sours!)

Some of you may have noticed that I have another blog, Budget Organic. It's a project I intend to pick up on in the future, but for the moment candy gets what free time I have between classes and work. You may be wondering then, how someone who believes in living a green, organic and sustainable life can balance that with a love of that oh-so-consumer item, candy. The answer is just that - balance. I may munch on Sour Skittles and SweeTart Shockers, but I also eat well, take public transit, buy organic groceries and walk whenever possible.

I have long believed in the mantra, 'everything in moderation.' If you deprive yourself of everything in life, then you're not going to ever enjoy yourself. What I do is balance my candy consumption with whole grains, lots of veggies, vegetarian meals a few times a week and a complete lack of fast food (except on very rare occasions).

The candies you see me review are not polished off in one sitting (or not at all in the case of Mentos Sours and Jones Soda Co. Spiked Punch) unless they're small packages and have only one of each flavour. If there's one thing I learned through my time working in a specialty candy store it's that one is often enough to feed that craving and make you feel good.

So enjoy life! Eat that candy! Just trade a bag of Sour Patch Kids for that trip to McDonald's.