Smart Sweets™ Sour Blast Buddies, 1.8oz Sac

The Diet: an honorable journey towards the goal of healthiness. For many aficionados of assorted fine candies, however, it is one of the most vulgar of four-lettered words. But, I am here to tell you today, sweets-lovers who are wrestling with this seeming paradox of healthiness and candiness, fret not! For I bring tidings of great joy - brought to you in part by the fine folks at SmartSweets, Inc™.

Discovered with the other, albeit less good-for-the-gut sweets on the shelf of my local Target®, here we have on the chopping block today are Smart Sweets Sour Blast Buddies. Enclosed in a bright yellow, plastic-y feeling sac, this product not only caught my eye, but with the bold headline "3g of Sugar Per Bag!", I was reeling at how this was possible.

First, after utilizing the much-needed "rip here" location in the upper left of the enclosure (the material itself is un-rippable without this initial manufacturer-provided tear), the consumer is greeted with some colorful little buddies glistening with sour powder. The assortment of flavours he or she will find includes Berry, Blue Raspberry, Lime, Lemon, and Orange.

Upon placing an aforementioned buddy into one's mouth, one's sour taste bud receptors are given indications of a mild amount of sourness. When applying pressure using the jaw to bite into said buddy, some sweetness is then received. Note that all flavors described are in fairly mild amounts (less than that of Sour Patch Kids®, for example). Speaking of biting, however, I must say that the texture & consistency of these buddies are where the only unsatisfactory aspect occurs. They quite gum up the works of the consumers mouth, and the gooeyness is difficult to extract from the depths of one's teeth (especially the rear molars). This phenomenon does not ruin the whole experience, but merely tarnishes it a slight bit.

Overall, these Sour Blast Buddies are an excellent and recommended way for candiephiles to provide themselves with the flavours and sweetness they so desire, while maintaining the course of their metaphorical road-trip to healthy living.

The photograph below represents my ranking of flavours:

And my personal favourite...

Overall rating: B


Note from the Editor:
I myself have enjoyed multiple servings of two of Smart Sweets™ other offerings: Sweet Fish™ (a low-sugar clone of Swedish Fish®), and Fruity Gummy Bears. I believe that these two products outshine the Sour Blast Buddies in their texture, amount of flavour, similarity in taste to their full-sugared counterparts, and overall satisfaction. Regrettably, however, I have consumed these products quicker than I could document with photos and detailed notes, & therefore cannot give a full, unbiased review of them. Such is the life of a Candy Connoisseur!

SweeTARTS® Sour Gummies 10oz Resealable Pouch

Welcome back, lovers of all things assorted, fine, and sweet! Today's entry into the ever-lasting Battle of the Candies is SweeTART® brand Sour Gummies.

Now, when I first caught eye of this bright yellow package adorning the shelf of my local grocer, it flew into my shopping vehicle apparatus faster than you can say, "Assorted, Fine Candy Reviews". Much faster, in fact, as that phrase does take a fair bit of tongue work to expel from one's mouth. I have been a connoisseur of the original SweeTART® sour variation since the olden days, back when they were referred to as SHOCKERS. My love affair for those fine candies thrived through the rebrand into "SweeTART® Extreme Sours".

But, I digress. Onto the review of the Sour Gummies.

Up first on the review block, the external packaging. The plastic material used is generally unoffensive. There is a convenient "Tear Here" location in the upper corner. Once the consumer follows those directions, they are greeted with... a ZipLoc® style package resealer! At AFCR, this signals an utmost respect from the manufacturer regarding the consumers' appetite. Bonus points for this one, Wonka.

Next, the candies themselves. Great consistency, great amount of flavour, acceptable amount of sourness. Although they do not hold a candle to the likes of Warheads® brand candies in the sourness department, or even the standard chewy edition of this candy being reviewed, they are plenty sour for normal taste buds. I believe the gummy consistency and great fruit flavour makes up for the slight lack of sourness here. All flavours are tasty, with a pleasant lack of a watermelon flavour.

There is one point I must make here. On the rear face of the packaging, a claim is made as shown below: "No bag is ever the same!" In my opinion, this could be a lame excuse for shoddy quality control. The quote could be synonymous with saying, "We purposefully disregard our consumers' right to consistent variety in the bag!" If this phenomenon ever results in a bag entirely full of my personal favourite flavour, however, I will applaud Wonka...

I regret to inform that my mouth devoured these candies before I could do an accurate flavour ranking on them. However, I am happy to report that I was still able to capture my customary favourite flavour photograph, as shown below.

Overall Rating: A

Starburst® Fruit Chews Original 7.2oz Bag

"Great fruit taste, real fruit juice!" Well I would imagine that if you use real fruit juice, it obviously is gonna taste like fruit.

First, as always here at AFCR, the bag review. This one was a bit of a let down. It's like the bag is made of chewing gum. For approximately the first inch of rippy bit, it is a nice constant flow of rippage. Then, the malleable waxy plastic texture takes place and the force necessary to rip said bag nearly doubles. Then after one does achieve opening of the bag, a big no-no at AFCR is encountered: DOUBLE WRAPPING. Yes, in addition to the grody exterior bag, there is internal wrapping as well. However, this wrapping is not too shabby, being easy to peel and unlikely to leave residue on the candie it is concealing. One might describe the surface as waxy on bottom, which is the fancy way to say dis stuff ain't leavin' no sticky. 

The candy itself lives up to its claim of using real fruit juice, as the taste buds can tell an underlying juiciness which can only be achieved by using said real fruit. This creates a very rich flavorful blast. Below is my ranking of flavours:

And of course, my personal favourite...

Overall rating: B

Sour Patch Kids™ (Version with Blue) 5oz Bag

"Sour, sweet, gone." I must disagree with the manufacturer's slogan, as my observations indicate the flavor is initially SWEET, then SOUR, rather than the order that Mondelēz Int. claims. But beyond that point, the final word, "gone" holds much truth, as my mouth devoured these fine candies.

The opening sequence was delightfully simple, with the material the five ounce sack is made of being just the right consistency to tear. It was to my satisfaction that there was not an internal sack, as is the case with candies packaged in boxes (don't get me started on those...) I must point out, this version of the Sour Patch™ children is updated. The previous edition included only four colours: Red, Orange, Yellow, & Green. One might say it was about darn time they started manufacturing blue coloured ones. The candies themselves are a nice gelatin consistency, being nice and gooey but solid enough to have something to chew. My ranking of flavours is as follows:

And my personal favorite:

Overall Rating: A

(I know mom always said not to play with your food, but...)

Trolli® Sour Brite Crawlers One Pound Bag

Gummy worms are good; Trolli® Sour Brite Crawlers are better. These sweet, tangy gelatin Lumbricus Terrestris are in my opinion the kings of the gummy world. I must give my further appreciation to the Trolli® corporation for generously offering a pack of these tasty creatures weighing in at a whole 30.4 ounces, also known as one pound.

Trolli® claims on its packaging that these are the "Best-Selling Gummi Worm" and I can uphold that statement to be true. Trolli® also claims that these worms "Make your day." They certainly make my day! The consistency is just right - not too gooey but not hard to chew. The sweet flavor one's taste buds receive is soon replaced by a pleasantly tart one. There are only three flavor choices in each bag, but that seems to be plenty to satisfy the likes of this fine candy reviewer. My rankings for flavor are as follows:

(My one complaint is that number 3 takes up over half the bag...)

And my personal favorite:

Overall rating: A+

Reeses® Pieces® Stocking Stuffer

The Reeses® Pieces® seasonal candy cane makes for quite a festive looking stocking stuffer. But, does its taste hold up to its looks? Come on, let us find out!

The initial impression upon attempting to open the outer package is already not so good. Trying to separate the red curved lid from the translucent results in confusion: Where is the seam to rip the label? One must resort to blindly grasping both parts and bending, hoping the thin clear plastic doesn't bend and crush the candies inside.

Now that that ordeal is over, the taste test can begin. The small, oval candies very much resembles Skittles®. This very point, I believe, is the candy's greatest downfall, as you place a Piece® on your tongue and instead of getting the expected fruit flavor of a Skittle®, one tastes the savory flavor of chocolate and peanut butter.

Now, don't get me wrong, I enjoy Reeses Peanut butter cups® as much as the next fellow, but there's something about these Pieces® that don't sit too well with me. I do believe it is as I stated earlier, the connection in the mind to the shape of Skittles® candies being fruity and the taste buds not relieving that stimulus.

Overall rating: C+

Chewy Lemon-Head (& Friends) Fruit Candy

Alright, I've been thinking. When life gives you lemon(head)s, don't eat the lemon flavored ones. Make life take the lemon ones back. "I don't want your stupid lemons, what am I supposed to do with these?!" (play portal 2 if you havent yet)

Anyway, heres lemonheads and friends.



Flavorful and nicely chewy, this candy is of a high class. Irony sets in as the lemon flavored ones are the worst. They are overly sour. Who wants to eat a lemon anyway!? However, the other flavors are quite well. Here is a photographic ranking of flavors




and my personal favorite:




Plus, they're made with real fruit juice, something these newfangled candies that the chinese sweatshops are cranking out lack.