Big Bite Gummy Bear (Cherry) - ???

Another item from my boyfriend’s big bag of candy. A gummy bear the size of my fist!

There is a lot of packaging for this bear. First, there is a hard plastic shell around the gummy to keep it safe and shaped. After that, there is a clear sticker holding the shell together and then another layer of clear plastic wrapped around the tape to protect that! I understand the need for it all, but when I was done unwrapping this candy I had a huge pile of waste!

Once free of his gummy-prison, the gummy bear is pretty hefty. This gummy bear is 12 oz! That means this guy is more gummy than a whole bag of gummy bears! 

It smells like artificial cherry.  Not in a bad way, the smell reminds me of cherry lollipops.

Taking a bite was difficult! The outside of this gummy is NOT so gummy. It hurt my teeth to get through the hard exterior. Once I did it was softer inside, but not as soft as typical gummies. This candy has a stiffer chew, but it really does taste like a larger version of a cherry Haribo gummy bear.

After a few bites, my gummy bear split in two! The bear is made with 2 molds pushed together, so I guess the seam wasn’t very strong.

I think this is a really fun and silly gift, but I don’t think you’d ever need another. One is enough for a lifetime. I am a gummy bear ADDICT, and even I might not be able to finish this.

EDIT: I finished it in two days…because I have no self control.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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Kasugai Fruits Mix Gummy Candy - ???

I picked this up from a random convenience store while walking around Philly a while ago. (I really can’t remember where.)

After trying these gummis before, in THIS sampler,  I was excited to get more of them. 

The bag is simple, but it uses stunning images of fresh fruit. I just want to reach into the image and eat a real grape.

Opening the bag I was shocked, there were no grape at all! Only Apple and muscat. I originally thought maybe the grape candies were at the top where I couldn’t see through the bag, but there were none at all! Quality control really dropped the ball on this one.

I have had these flavors before and I really liked all three, but the grape was my favorite! What a disappointment.

(Here are my reviews of the APPLE and MUSCAT)

While I love these candies, I’ll stick to buying individual bags from the Asian grocery store near my home. That way I know what flavors I am getting.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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Meiji Gummy Choco - Asian Food Market : Cherry Hill, NJ

Gummy candy and chocolate? A lot of people I know dislike the combination, but I actually enjoy it. My favorite example of this combination is milk chocolate covered gummy bears. (I buy them in a little tub at Wegman’s.) This is a product with a similar idea.

These are little gummy centers that are coated in a very thin layer of milk chocolate, and then coated in a white chocolate coating flavored to match the gummy center. In this mix the flavors are strawberry, muscat, and orange.

I love this tubular packaging. It is very easy to store, easy to share, and it doesn’t take up much space at all in a bag or drawer. Meiji offers a lot of their candies in these tube-type packages as well as the traditional boxes, which is nice, but I prefer the unique look of these tubes.

The candies are small and smooth, the overall smell is chocolate mixed with grape gummies, my tube was almost all muscat so I guess that smell overpowered the other flavors.

• Strawberry : Pinkish (Mauve) - It didn’t smell like much on it’s own, and the coating tasted more like a generic white and milk chocolate than anything strawberry. Inside, the gummy was much more fruity and powerful. It tasted a lot like a real strawberry! Sweet, tangy and juicy. I really liked the center, but the outside was very boring.

• Muscat : Green - It smelled faintly like white grape juice, and again the coatings didn’t really taste like much at all. The gummy inside was really bright and delicious. It was a lot like the Muscat gummies I had before. Like the strawberry, I liked the middle more than anything else.

• Orange : Red-Orange - Like the others, this one didn’t smell like much, outside didn’t taste like much, and the center was amazingly fruity!

Overall I liked the gummy centers more than the rest of the candy. When combined, the combination didn’t compliment each other. I found that the coatings actually hid most of the fruity gummy flavors and that I started eating the coatings off just to enjoy the gummy on it’s own.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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Kasugai Gummi Sampler (Muscat and Pineapple) - Chinatown, PA

To see what the other gummies tasted like, check out my reviews apple, grape and orange.

Time for the last two flavors-pineapple and muscat.

Lets start with muscat, muscat is a variation of grape and very popular in Japanese sweets. Will it be the same as the grape I had before? Why offer grape AND muscat in a sampler? Isn’t that a bit redundant?

The spring-green gummies smell like sparkling white grape juice. The smell is very strong, and it seems like it would be carbonated.

The coating on the muscat flavor seems to be more waxy than the others. A bit of the wax got stuck on my front teeth as I took a bite. (I did not enjoy that at all.) The chew is soft and bouncy, just like the apple, and the taste is crisp and refreshing.

It has a very light flavor, more white grape juice than grape jelly. I think this flavor is light and different enough to warrant it’s own bag in this sampler.

Moving on…pineapple!

I love pineapple everything. So I was very happy to see pineapple gummies. When I opened the bag, the smell wasn’t as strong as any of the other flavors.

The candy is almost crystalized on the outside, and they feel stiffer than any of the other flavors.

As I tasted the gummie…I was shocked. I feel like I am really eating pineapple. Dried sweetened pineapple! These are amazing. The flavors are so realistic that I almost forget I am eating a candy at all.

Out of all five of the flavors I have tried, I think pineapple and grape are the best of the bunch. I would definitely buy a full bag of those flavors. The worst? I’d have to say orange. The flavor and taste was concentrated and almost pulpy. I was not a fan.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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Kasugai Gummi Sampler (Orange and Grape) - Chinatown, PA

To see what the apple gummies tasted like, check out my review.

Time for more gummi goodness. 

This time it’s orange and grape.

I love oranges, and orange juice, but most orange flavored things can taste a bit vitamin-y. Orange candies remind me of baby aspirin, so I had a few reservations about this candy. 

This gummi’s package claims that it should taste just like orange juice, will it? When I opened the package the smell screamed ‘baby aspirin!’

These gummis have the same texture as the apple ones, but the chew is a little stiffer. The overall flavor is, in fact, orange juice. More like juice from concentrate than fresh squeezed, but there is no doubt that this is supposed to be orange juice.

Now it’s time to try the grape.

Only recently have I started liking grape flavored candies, so I was excited to try this flavor. They smell like artificial grape. (Very much like grape Bublicious gum.) The chew is much softer than either the apple or the orange gummi. These grape ones also melt in your mouth more easily than the others.

How do they taste? Is it grape? To me, they taste exactly like grape jelly. It is almost like I am eating a spoonful of jam. I love it!

Out of the three flavors, grape is my favorite. Orange is alright, but it isn’t crisp or refreshing. I am not a fan of this flavor. The grape? Spectacular! I will definitely buy the larger bag of these next time I see them.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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Haribo Fizzy Cola - Five Below in The Gallery, PA

Now I have had Haribo’s Happy Cola since I was a kid, but I had never seen or tried the Fizzy Cola variation. How different could they be? It’s the other gummies covered in sour coating, right? Wrong.

They are very similar candies, but a bit different. The Fizzy Cola bag has a gradient of colors that I really like! I wish more of their bags would try this effect. The little bubbles that represent the fizz are delightful! The color combination also makes me happy. I love the green, yellow, orange and cola colors. 

Both the Happy and Fizzy Cola bottles smell the same. They have a light flat-cola smell. They also have a hint of lemon or citrus to them, I think this adds to the refreshing flavor.

The consistency of the Fizzy Cola bottles is a bit different, they have a softer bouncier chew. The sour sugar coating does add to a more fizzy taste, but the flavors are still pretty true to the original. If anything it tastes a bit more lemony than the original variety.

These were really tasty, but I prefer the original. These are delicious, but I like my gummies without a sour coating. After a while sour candies can make your tongue hurt.

These are a great candy, I will be buying them again.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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Haribo Happy Cola - Aldi, NJ

Now I have had these little gummi soda bottles since I was a kid, so there are no surprises here.

The bag is a bold red color, which plays off Coke’s classic red labels. (Ever notice how all generic colas are red?) I love the graphics Haribo uses, look at the soda bottle covered in condensation. It just looks refreshing! 

The candies smell like a flat cola, sugary sweet with a hint of citrus. Each little gummi has a translucent top and a brown translucent bottom. They look like half-full cola bottles. I think they look adorable!

Flavor-wise, they taste like cola! Now, this isn’t fresh from the can flavor, it is a bit flat, but there is no doubting that the flavor is cola. They have a light citrus-y flavor to them that reminds me of coke with lemon.

These are one of my favorite summer candies. They are refreshing and nostalgic (at least for me they are).

If you have never had these gummis…you are missing out! You NEED to try these candies!

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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Haribo Wheels Strawberry - Five Below in The Gallery, PA

I like strawberry licorice, my favorite has been the Darrell Lea’s Soft Eating Liquorice, but I wanted to give Haribo’s a try. Their candies are typically inexpensive and tasty. 

The bag labels these as a “chewy candy,” not a licorice. (Red flag #1) A bit unnerving, since I am not sure what these wheels really are. I was hoping the texture would have a similar bite and flavor to licorice.

I opened up the bag…and the room as filled with the strong scent of strawberry chapstick. (Red flag #2) The Smell reminded me of the centers in these Strawberry Marshmallows. (Red flag #3)

As I held one I noticed they were oddly hard. They had no bounce at all and are covered in a very greasy coating. (You can see the greasiness in the first photo where they cling to the bag.) I wouldn’t eat these on the go, or your hands would be a greasy mess.

I took a bite and it was difficult to bite into. More difficult than a ‘chewy candy’ should be. It doesn’t dissolve in your mouth at all! The wheel breaks up into little strawberry chapstick flavored pieces. It tastes a bit more strawberry-like as you continue chewing, but the texture was really off putting. I feel like I am eating something I am not supposed to.

I won’t be buying these ever again, and it is VERY hard for me to find a candy I really dislike. I don’t even know what I am going to do with the rest of this bag, no one in my house wants to eat it!

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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