Because this candy has 6 flavors, and such amazing packaging, I am splitting it up into multiple reviews.

Check out THIS POST on the aesthetics.

And THIS POST for the other 3 flavors.

Today I’ll review 3 flavors of this soda candy:

• Cola (brown)
• Orange (orange)
• Lemon (yellow)

Cola:

You can taste the cola flavor the second this hits your tongue. This candy starts out tasting a little flat, similar to the Haribo gummy cola bottles, but when you hit the fizzy center it really starts to shine. These are really similar to the other cola hard candies, (reviewed here) , but these are much fizzier.

Orange Soda:

This might be the most accurate soda flavor in the bunch! This candy honestly tastes just like a glass of orange soda! As it dissolves, you can detect some sweet mandarin notes, but the overall flavor is unmistakably orange soda.

Lemon Soda:

Bright and refreshing. This starts out with a sweet lemon-drop flavor, but as it dissolves the fizzy center brings out stronger citrus notes. These are a little tart, but no where near Super Lemon.

It was tough to pick a favorite out of this group, but if I HAD to pick…

1. Orange
2. Lemon
3. Cola

My love of citrus sodas and candies beats the cola, but all three are delicious. This group turned out a lot better than the last one.

I’m not sure if I’d buy another bag of these, but if they sold individual flavors I’d definitely buy a bag of orange.

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

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Because this candy has 6 flavors, and such amazing packaging, I am splitting it up into multiple reviews.

This review will focus on the aesthetics.

You’re not supposed to judge a book by it’s cover, but sometimes I buy things just because of the packaging.  When I saw this on the shelf, I just had to photograph it. There is so much going on! There are colorful flavor-sentai, bold text, and bright foiled backgrounds. I love all of the colors! Although the design is very busy, I would love to have this blown up as a pop-art piece.

There are 6 soda flavors:

• Orange (orange) 
• Grape (red-violet)
• Melon (green)
• Ramune (blue)
• Cola (brown)
• Lemon (yellow)

Each flavor has it’s own sentai mascot, similar to a Super Sentai or Power Ranger, with an outfit that represents that candy’s flavor. I think this is adorable! Plus, the actual candies are shaped like the mascot as well.

Something about this packaging that I really like is that each individual wrapper has a question and answer on it. Sadly, I can’t read it! Such a pity! (I’ll be posting more photos of the questions and answers later this week, and if anyone can translate them I’d be very grateful.) 

This packaging is colorful, adorable, and I love it! I hope the candy inside tastes just as good as it looks.

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This was a little gift from my mother. She likes to read my posts (hi mom!) and wanted to get me a little something to review. I’ve actually had this candy before, but it was so many years ago I can’t remember what it tasted like, so I feel like I am reviewing it for the first time. 

The packaging features large, bold, illustrations against a neon red and a true green background. While the colors are bold, they work quite nicely with each other. The illustrations and black text give the box a vintage look and feel.

According to Wikipedia, “The candy’s name, Botan (kanji: 牡丹, hiragana: ぼたん), means “peony” in Japanese. A peony blossom is shown on the label, next to an inu-hariko, a dog-shaped traditional toy for Japanese children.”

I like this packaging, but I wish the “Botan Rice Candy” was written in white instead of black. I think the black is easily lost in the background.

The box may be tiny, but it contains 6 pieces candy, which is a decent portion. There is also has a fun sticker inside! (I got a skateboarding pink hippo!) Each piece of rice candy is wrapped in an edible rice paper, which prevents it from sticking to the clear plastic wrapper.

When I unwrapped the candy I was surprised that it was soft and chewy. For some reason I remembered them being hard candies.

The first thing you can taste is the starchy rice paper. It has a mellow, rice-y, flavor which is plesant. (It tastes the way uncooked rice smells.) That layer slowly dissolves, and when you start chewing, you get really nice, zesty, orange notes. It is like eating really good orange gumdrops, or orange slices. The texture is fantastic! It starts out a little bouncy, but it turns into a slow dissolving chew. (Kind of like an orange Starburst, but MUCH softer.)

These are really yummy! I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy these, for some reason I remember not liking them when I had them years ago, but I loved them! I definitely see myself buying more in the future.

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

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Since the cans were so awesome, I had to split this review into two posts.

This one will focus on the actual beverage. Check out THIS POST to read about the packaging and see more photos. 

Out of the three cans I purchased…

• Bulma
• Master Roshi
• Yamcha

I decided to drink Yamcha. (Sorry Yamcha.)

Thanks to the translated ingredients sticker, I kind of had an idea of what this soda would taste like. The ingredients listed orange as well as lactose, so I think this will be a creamy orange flavor (like a Creamsicle).

I popped the can open and sure enough, it smelled like a zesty orange soda. The “orange” scent reminds me more of a mandarin than a traditional Florida orange, and there were some sweet, sugary, notes but that is pretty typical for an orange soda. I didn’t detect any hint of vanilla or creme.

Once poured, you are able to see the bright lemon-y color. It reminds me of Stewart’s Orange ‘n Cream soda. (I used to love that soda brand.) Most orange sodas use dye to achieve that highlighter-orange-color related with the product, but this one looks more like a carbonated juice. (Although it isn’t, this has it’s share of unnatural ingredients.)

The soda has a sweet, syrupy, taste that reminds me of mandarin orange cocktail, but the lactose adds a nice creamy finish. It’s like I turned canned mandarin oranges with whipped cream into a drink. It is very sweet and somewhat refreshing with mild carbonation (the sugar makes it a bit too syrupy for me to say it is really refreshing).

I was pleasantly surprised! These drinks aren’t bad at all! In fact, I might even buy this as a soda without the nostalgia of Dragonball. It reminds me of Sac Sac, without the fruit pulp.

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

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Although Easter is a month away, Easter candy has already hit the shelves.

The packaging is the same bright lemony color as traditional Lemonhead packaging, and it features the grape, cherry, orange, apple, and traditional lemon mascots. Springtime novelty aside, the design is pretty typical for this brand. The logo and mascots haven’t changed much over the years, but I think this classic, familiar, look suits the product.

Although the package boasts “springtime shapes” all of the candies in my bag were chick-shaped. According to the website, I was supposed to have bunny shaped jellies as well, but this bag had no bunnies at all. (I guess quality control dropped the ball on this one.)

The candies all have a generic gumdrop/jelly bean scent. They smell like sugar and generic fruity flavors. Even when I smelled the individual flavors, none of them had a distinct fruity smell.

Inside there are 5 different colors/flavors:

• Red: Cherry - the flavor is a lot like a cherry Jolly Rancher, but it is much sweeter.
• Orange: Orange - has a nice clementine flavor and a citrus peel taste. I really liked these, and I normally dislike orange candies.
• Yellow: Lemon - Tasted a lot like lemon Pledge…this was pretty bad.
• Green: Apple - this one tasted like a very artificial green apple.
• Purple: Grape - is very mild and artificial, it’s the only flavor that is similar to it’s hard candy counterpart.

I love jellies and gumdrops, but some flavors of this variety are better than others. (Lemon was the worst in the bag, and I feel like orange was the best.) Would I buy these again? No, but I don’t regret my purchase. (Unless they made a bag with all orange.)

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

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Candy Coated Ding Bats - ???

Another birthday gift from my boyfriend.<3 A bag full of these itty bitty batty candies.

Since these were a gift, I have no idea where he got them. I was able to find then in bulk online, so there is no packaging to review here, just candy.

Visually, these candies are stunning! Each little bat is bright, glossy and perfectly shaped. They feel very nice in hand and so far I haven’t had any trouble with the candy coating melting onto my fingers.

I love how these look! They have nicely detailed wings and you can even see a hint of the bat’s body. Personally, I think they sound very nice in their baggie when they clack against each other, but that might just be me.

Beneath the shell, they have a sweet-tart center. The orange bats taste like an orange sweet-tart inside, and the black might be black cherry. I haven’t found any flavor listings online, so I can’t say for sure, but I would definitely guess black cherry.

I have been munching on these since he got them on October 6th…and now I have less than half left. ^^;

These are delicious and addictive! I had to move them away from my computer so I wouldn’t eat them all before posting a review. 

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

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Cotton Candy Cobwebs - Target : Cherry Hill, NJ

My boyfriend gave me a bag filled with candy for my birthday a few weeks ago, and this was one of the Halloween Treats inside.

I love cotton candy. I love spiders. My boyfriend saw this… and must have known it was right up my alley.<3

Overall, the product itself is nothing special, just an orange tinted and flavored cotton candy. The wrapping is a bit interesting though. I hadn’t seen prepackaged cotton candy in cone-form before, and I like this shape a lot. (It reminds me of the paper cones covered in cotton candy you get at fairs and boardwalks.)

The actual packaging consists of an outer plastic bag with the printed information, a black twist tie, and an inner bag that has been heat-sealed at the top. It was a decent amount of packaging, I wish there was a way to make it more Eco friendly, or use less plastic.

The candy inside smells sweet and sugary. I don’t smell any hints at it being orange flavored.

It dissolves on your tongue, like cotton candy should, and there might be a very like orange-creamsicle like flavor, but other than that I don’t detect any specific flavoring at all. This is a really nice prepackaged cotton candy, the texture is light and airy. Most prepackaged cotton candies get condensed and they sometimes have the texture of the marshmallows found in breakfast cereal. THIS cotton candy is more like one you would get at a fair/carnival on a paper cone. Light, airy, and every now and again you get a gritty sugar texture.

This is one of the best pre-packaged cotton candies I have ever had.

*Cotton Candy does not come with spider rings…I added them because I am a spider-loving dork.

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

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Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows - Aldi : Medford, NJ

Pumpkin spiced marshmallows are an ingredient in a lot of the holiday recipes I have been seeing on pinterest. (Personally I plan of roasting some up with sweet potatoes, or make pumpkin spiced rice crispy treats with them.)

Baker’s Corner is an Aldi baking goods brand, I have used their mixes and baking ingredients in the past and I have always been very happy with the results. So I had high hopes for their marshmallows.

The bag is a typical marshmallow bag, and like most marshmallows, there is a recipe for crispy rice bars on the back. Nothing spectacular that I would leave out on display, but there is no doubt that the bag serves it’s purpose. Now the marshmallows are nice round pumpkin shapes. Some are more shaped than others, but they are quite cute to look at.

Opening the bag, the spice smell is very strong. Stronger than I thought it would be for marshmallows. I can smell cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. The cloves seems to be the strongest scent and really stands out.

These are definitely pumpkin pie spiced, I could taste it right away. The taste of cloves is pretty strong, so if you enjoy cloves you’ll really like these. (I like them a lot and have been eating them casually ever since I bought them.)

There is no mistaking these for normal marshmallows, but the strong cloves taste could put some people off. (My sister was super excited for these, but she can’t get past the cloves.)

On a pumpkin-y scale of 1-5 (5 being extremely pumpkin-y) I would rate this a 2

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

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Orange Creme Pop Extra Dessert Delights - Target : Cherry Hill, NJ

The root beer float flavor turned out to be really yummy and a great addition to the Dessert Delights line up. Would orange creme pop be the same?

The packaging this time has a red-orange color scheme with an orange creamsicle in the lower right corner. Creamsicle is actually copyrighted, but I have always called all vanilla x orange flavor combinations creamsicle. (I guess it’s like how people call all sodas ‘coke’)

Inside the wrapping, the gum smells like tangy orange juice mixed with vanilla ice cream, but when I opened the foil it took on a more vitamin-like smell. It reminds me of orange Flintstones vitamins. To me, this was a bad sign…

When I started to chew the gum, first it tasted like a yummy popsicle, but quickly the gum-texture stiffened up and the flavor became more like a medicinal orange. Maybe I got a bum pack because the gum stiffened up really quickly! After only 2 or 3 minutes it became difficult to chew and I just spat it out.

It seems like this flavor is a dud, I really don’t like the overall taste of it and the chew tends to hurt my jaw after a few minutes. Maybe something is wrong with the formula, but I really hated this gum. I don’t know what I am going to do with the rest of it I have in the package.

© 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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Sac Sac - Asian Food Market : Cherry Hill, NJ

Here was something random and fun I picked up from the Asian Food Market. Sac Sac! (They were on sale 3 for a dollar)

I am not sure if you can tell from the photo, but these are tiny! Just 6fl. oz. each. The can’s design uses warm colors (yellow, red and orange) and a simplified design.

Why is it called Sac Sac? There is a hint on the can.

When I opened the can to pour it out it was chunky! Why? because floating in the juice are little ‘sacks’ from  mandarin oranges.

The liquid tastes like fruit cocktail. Very sweet and almost syrupy. As you sip you end up chewing the little bits of orange, so the overall experience is a lot like bubble tea. (Sip. Chew. Sip. Chew.)

This was just like having a mandarin orange cocktail cup! It was delicious and very interesting. I think this would be really fun to put in a child’s lunch! (I put it in mine!)

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

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