Thursday 17 May 2012

Allen's Caramel Chicos

It's no secret that Chicos are one of my favourite lollies. The chocolate-flavoured gummies are consistently soft, chewy and pretty darn cute to look at. When I heard that Allen's was releasing Chicos in a caramel flavour, I just about jumped for joy.



The original chocolate Chicos are scented, but they don't really smell of chocolate in the true sense of the word. They're warm with a little kick that heads in the direction of cocoa, but doesn't quite get there. The scent reflects the taste; it's tasty, but lacks the creamy mouthfeel (obviously) and depth of what you would expect from a chocolate-flavoured product. They are pretty one-dimensional, not very sweet, and excellent for mindless eating at the movies.





On the other hand, the new caramel Chicos have a very definite scent. It's sort of fudgey, inspired a little by caramel milkshakes or a caramel latte (don't worry, there's no coffee), but with more sweetness than the chocolate version, and a little like burnt toffee. The smell was quite strong when I opened the bag, but dissipated quickly.







In terms of taste, the Chicos are not as strong in flavour compared to the chocolate version. It's quite a soft flavour mostly only released when chewed; it's gentle on the palate, and very fudgey in taste. The little bit of milkiness I identified in the scent isn't present, thankfully; any other flavours would wash out the already-mild caramel.




As with the chocolate Chicos, the caramel ones have a nice, firm chew, are soft and pliable to the touch, and bounce nicely when chewed. Allen's are very good at making sure their gummies are fresh.



The caramel Chicos would be good for you if you find the chocolate ones too strong.

Caramel Chicos contain wheat, starch and soy.

7 comments:

  1. Are these still around? I haven't noticed them in my local supermarkets.

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    1. They should be! My little shop still has full stock, and I've seen them at Coles. Safeway/Woolworths don't seem to carry them as much, though. I don't shop at IGA/Foodworks etc so can't comment on those. I'm not aware that they've been discontinued so I suppose your stores might just not be carrying them?

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    2. I did end up finding them today at a Coles, so thanks for your info :)

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    3. Oh good! How did you like them?

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    4. Like you mentioned, definitely not as strong a flavour as the originals. I found they seemed to have more of a creamy aftertaste than anything.

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  2. Somebody told me that Chicos are not really chocolate flavour but are chicory flavour. I have never liked Chicos but couldn't work out why. I like chocolate but always found Chicos had a strange aftertaste. I have the same after taste in Bickfords iced Coffee mix .... which uses Chicory as a coffee substitute! So it's the chicory flavour I don't like!

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    1. How interesting! I had to go and look up what chicory was as I'd never heard of it before. If that's true then that's some good detective work, Anonymous!

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