Gossip: Allen's Killer Pythons size change review

So this isn't a review per se, but rather a look at old vs new. Earlier this month, Nestle, the Allen's parent company, announced it was halving the size of their Killer Python snakes. The day after I read that article, I went on the hunt to find an old packet to do a comparison, but do you think I could find one anywhere? Both Coles and Woolies had the new stock in already. I took me until a few days ago, when I was in a Big W, to find an old bag hanging on the shelves behind the new stock (clearly someone doesn't know proper stock rotation). So, finally, let's compare!

Cadbury Marvellous Creations Jelly Zingers

We're chugging along on the train to Joyville, steadily checking Cadbury's new additions to the Marvellous Creations range. Next up are Jelly Zingers.

Trolli iDots

In a recent Gossip post, I talked about a new product by Trolli called iDots, and then promptly forgot all about it. Mostly because I don't have access to those beautiful milk bars that are a treasure trove for all sorts of quirky, wonderful lollies - now all my lollies come from supermarkets and other majors. So imagine my surprise when I came across iDots, tucked away on the bottom shelf of the confectionery aisle of Big W!

 Head after the jump to read more!

Starburst Snakes and Ladders

Recently three new varieties of Starburst jellies have popped up at my local Coles supermarket - Noughts and Crosses, Snakes and Ladders, and Very Berry Chews. Today I'll be looking at Snakes and Ladders - and why does the pack look so different to other Starburst, anyway?

Head after the jump for more!

The National Confectionery Company Squishy Bugs

Jellies with oozy centres aren't new. Way back in 2003, Starburst introduced the " first ever jelly lolly filled with liquid on the Australian market" with their Squirts Crazy Babies. (Although they're not available in Australia, Google indicates Squirts Crazy Babies are available in New Zealand.) And of course there is TNCC's current 'Bliss' range, which centres around berry-shaped jellies with an aerated base and an oozy centre. But the idea otherwise tends to come and go on the market.

Head after the jump to read more!

Gossip: The National Confectionery Company Wild Things

I just came across this image on the National Confectionery Company's Facebook page - looks like we might be getting a new release soon!

I haven't been able to find any information on these new jellies, so if you see them while you're out and about, please let me know!

Fino Berry Flavoured Jells

Last week I reviewed the other flavour of Fino Jells, the Citrus bag. This week it's the Berry bag.

Fino is an Australian brand with a strong social conscience. A lot of thought has been placed into the sourcing and production of their ingredients, resulting in a product that is gluten free, all natural and suitable for vegans. Be sure to check out their FAQ for more info on the brand - I applaud a brand that has such a strong moral behind it.

Follow the jump for more!

Fino Citrus Flavoured Jells

Made in Australia, Fino is a brand that specialises in all natural, vegan, gluten free jellies. They have a strong philosophy based on producing a confection without artificial additives, so the flavours are sourced from fruits and the colours from plants, fruits and vegetables. The gelling product used is pectin (commonly used in homemade jams) sourced from fruit and vegetables, whereas most commercially made jellies use a wheat-based glucose product. If you're at all inclined towards natural products, their FAQ is worth a read.

Fino only produces two products - Citrus Flavoured Jells, and Berry Flavoured Jells (the latter will be reviewed next week). This review focuses on the citrus jellies.

Come on down for the rest of the review!

Starburst Limited Edition Dessert

Starburst have released their next seasonal limited edition variety of jelly. It doesn't actually have a name as such - rather, the seasonal bags are listed as 'Limited Edition' and the flavour underneath. This year's variety is based on dessert flavours. What I found interesting about this bag is that is quite a bit larger than usual - 280g vs the usual 180g. The price is the same, however, as the usual bags. Last year's Limited Edition was at 170g. (Edit: I've since found 170g bags of the Starburst Dessert lollies, so I think my 280g was just a fluke.)

The brand is well known for its fruit-inspired flavours, so dessert flavours (even if they contain fruit) are a slight deviation from the usual. The bag contains four different flavours: strawberry shortcake, lemon cheesecake, raspberry slice and apple pie.

Each flavour is moulded and coloured to look a little like its flavour as well. The pieces are quite small - about the size of my thumb - so it takes quite a few to have a mouthful. Their designs are quite cute.

Strawberry Shortcake has a red translucent, matte top on a more opaque yellowish base with cute fluted edges. The top of it features a detailed little strawberry. As with all Starburst jellies, it's quite squishy and bouncy. I was surprised to note that each section of the piece had a different scent; the base had a bit of a buttery biscuit smell, while the topping had a faint, sweet berry note. The taste is nowhere near as "full on" as most other Starburst products; it's very half-hearted and mild and doesn't taste like much of anything. I couldn't even get a decisive handle on what the flavour was supposed to be.

Lemon Cheesecake is shaped like a triangular piece of cake, with a slice of lemon sculpted on the top., The top layer is translucent yellow on a base of aerated white. I get very little scent out of this. Unlike the Strawberry Shortcake piece, I do get some flavour notes, namely a lightly tart lemon note. The aerated white base is supposed to add creaminess but it doesn't get that far. The piece does a passable job of adding some sweetness to the lemon flavour, however.

The square Raspberry Slice also has a white based, topped with a layer of red and a berry-like blob on top (it actually looks a lot like the generic 'berry' mould used for many jellies). I suspect that this is supposed to resemble raspberry jelly cheesecake slice, which is jelly (Jell-O to Americans) on a layer of cheesecake with a biscuit base. My pieces smelled strongly of the biscuit base from the Strawberry Shortcake, but a little playing brought a mild berry scent to the surface. This piece is actually pretty tasty, although mild; it's a little sweet and berry-inspired but again doesn't quite make it all the way.

Apple Pie was the flavour I least expected to see here. I thought that this might have been Key Lime Pie at first (a popular dessert in the States, but relatively unknown in Australia). The piece is also slice-shaped like the lemon cheesecake, but with the yellow base of the Strawberry Shortcake. It also features a little moulding on the mid-green translucent top - this time predictably of an apple. That biscuit base scent is very strong, and it's all I could get off these pieces. The taste of these is, like the other pieces, bland and half-hearted. I couldn't tell what flavour this was supposed to be. It had a mild sweetness and that was it.

I was quite disappointed with all of these. Although they are edible, I feel that they are easily heading into 'epic fail' territory, which in my house means they would end up in the bin.

Score: 2 out of 5 stars.

A serving size is 25g (approximately six pieces), the product is glucose-based, and contains wheat.

Allen's Cheekies Zesty Citrus and Luscious Raspberry

(Apologies for the radio silence, folks! But back to your regularly scheduled reviews.)

News about Allen's new Cheekies broke a few weeks ago. Nestle have had a very strong media push - magazines, social media, in-store displays and posters to name a few outlets - to launch this new range. They are described as a flavoured jelly with a soft centre - similar to The Natural Confectionery Company's Bliss range. However, the Cheekies come in two flavours, Luscious Berry and Zesty Citrus, compared to the TNCC's four (five if you count the seasonal release).

 
The packaging is pale yellow with a large red and white 'Cheekies' logo, and girly floral print (which is very slightly different between the two flavours). There is also a little transparent window in the front so you can see the lollies. I found the method of packing these quite strange. The Cheekies are available in two ways: a single 72g pack (which contains two servings of six pieces each), or a joined twin pack of two 60g packs (which contains four servings of five pieces each). Both flavours are available in both ways - I picked up both to illustrate the differences. Cheekies are targeted at women, so I suppose that might have something to do with the twin pack (one for now, one for later), but the different sizes between the two options are interesting!

Unlike the TNCC Bliss range, Allen's Cheekies don't have an aerated white base, and they do have different moulds for the different flavours. The Luscious Berry flavour has two moulds: a little generic berry shape, and a peach-inspired shape. Both measure about 2cm wide by about 1.6cm tall. The peach is a soft rose pink colour and slightly translucent, , allowing you to see the deposit of deep purple 'soft centre' (it's more like ooze or goo) inside. The berry shape is a darker red in colour, and although it has the purple goo centre, it's a little more difficult to see. The pieces smell sweet and of generic berry flavour. I think the peach piece might be a little bit different but I couldn't really tell.

The peach piece does taste a little bit like artificial peach (think iced tea), but it takes a while to get there. The purple centre doesn't taste like anything that I could tell. There's also less of the goo than there is in the TNCC Bliss range. The berry piece is similarly bland and uninspired with a flavourless centre. It was really just like eating a standard raspberry jelly and  having it be a bit softer than usual. Colour me unimpressed.

 

 

The Zesty Citrus pack contains two flavours, orange and blackcurrant (not sure how that is citrus), and it also has two moulds: one is an orange, that is also orange in colour, and has a greenish centre. The second mould is a new one I've never seen before, of round berries with a point on a branch, which must be blackcurrant.  It's a dusty dark pink colour, and also has a greenish goo centre.

The orange piece is quite nice; although it is slightly artificial in flavour, it is still definitely a citrus fruit and slightly tart as well. The green centre was tangy and lent towards lime a little. There was far less of this goo than in the Berry pieces. The blackcurrant piece is fairly tasteless until you hit the ooze centre. The tangy lime flavour didn't quite rescue the piece, but at least gave it a flavour.

I found these very disappointing in flavour. The best part of the product is squeezing the ooze out of the jelly - but then again, I can do that with the TNCC Bliss range, and then enjoy eating them too.

2 out of 5 stars.

Allen's Cheekies are made in the Czech Republic. They are a glucose syrup product , and may contain milk traces.

Gossip: New Allen's Minties, Jelly Beans and More

Allen's Lollies, owned by powerhouse Nestle, has been busy with all sorts of new creations!

First up, the brand as a whole is slowly moving through and changing all of their lollies over to natural colours - which means bye-bye to artificial food dyes. That also means no more blue snakes in the Snakes Alive packs, or blue racing cars in the Party Mix bags. But it's all for the greater good, right? Curiously, I haven't seen a whole lot of advertising about this.

Allen's have just released their own take on The Natural Confectionery Company Bliss lollies under the name of 'Cheekies'. I will be reviewing both flavours shortly.

The Jelly Beans are getting a shake-up with two new flavours: 'Sour Rush' and 'Funfair Thrills'. Coles seem to be stocking them already (and IGA as well according to Allen's Facebook page), but Woolworths doesn't have them yet. Have you seen them around?

Finally, there's an update to the 90-year-old favourite Minties, in the form of 'Choc and Vanilla Smooth Mint' flavour. What do you think; do they sound good?

Gossip: New Cadbury Packaging and Blocks Land, New TNCC Chews and More

First up: The new 220g Cadbury blocks, complete with new foil wrapper and new piece shape have landed in stores. I spotted these in Woolworths. The new rounded square seems to be consistent across all varieties (nut-filled, soft centre, etc), although the Mousse varieties were still in their cardboard wrappers.

The Old Gold range is also included in the new packaging, and the designers seem to have given that range's layout a bit of a shake-up in general.

Also in Joyville, Cadbury has released another new Marvellous Creations flavour alongside the Clinkers, Raspberry Chips and Marshmallow bar I reviewed a few days ago. The other new flavour is Clinkers, Gummi Bears and Choc Biscuit. Sounds good - keep an eye out for it!

Next up, I spotted the Aero blocks have changed the shape of their bars. Previously, the bars were wide and stubby, and marked in 'strips', and now they seem to have adopted a square piece with a domed bubble on top. (Sorry for the blurry picture.)

I also spotted the brand new 'Aero Bubbles' in Woolworths, which I will be reviewing shortly, so no picture yet. ;)

The Natural Confectionery Company have been busy and have added two new products to their range: Smoothie Chews and Sour Chews. These were also spotted in Woolworths and I'll be reviewing them when they go on special.

I spotted these Limited Edition Double D Sugar Free Gummy Bears on the shelf as well at Woolworths. I don't know how long they have been on the market so far. I may not get around to reviewing these, but they looked nice and squishy.

Finally, I saw these bags of Fino Premium Confections at Coles last week. They seem to be gourmet sugar-covered jellies (also known as jubes). They come in two flavours - citrus and berry. The price tag was also at a premium (around $5.50 for the 120g bag) so it's unlikely that I will be reviewing these. Perhaps one of our readers would like to review them and share a guest post with us!

Natural Confectionery Company Strawberries & Cream Bliss

One of the two new products The Natural Confectionery Company has put out this season is a new flavour in their soft-centre Bliss range. Previous releases include Tropical (now discontinued), the holiday release Merry Blissmas, and the currently-available sour Tangy Bliss and Berry Bliss. The newest flavour is Strawberries and Cream.

Obviously a play on the traditional strawberry and cream jelly lolly, the Strawberries & Cream Bliss lolly features a 'creamy vanilla base', on which is a 'soft fruity centre' housed inside a red jelly shell. Unlike the Berry Bliss release, this version uses the same mould for the jelly shell. I'm not entirely sure what it is supposed to represent, as it looks like a child's drawing of a fingerprint and only covers one side of the lolly. The jelly itself is 2cm tall, and about 1.8cm wide at the base. The creamy base itself is thick, around 4-5mm in height. It's a cute size, enough by itself but you could choose to have several at once if wanted.

The Natural Confectionery Co. does not use artificial colours or flavours, so it was no surprise to find the scent not overwhelming. Although not immediately recognisable as strawberry or even generic berry, the gentle and sweet scent is pleasing.

I hope I'm not alone when I admit that the best thing to do with soft-centre lollies is to squeeze them and make the innards ooze out. With the creamy base to act as a solid plug, the textured top of the jelly gave out first, letting the crystal-like centre ooze out the top like a shiny little gem. By itself, the centre is similar in colour to the outer shell - a dark rose pink - but is full of tiny air bubbles that give it a somewhat crystal appearance. It's actually rather pretty. Still, with a whole bag of these on my desk I sucked it up and finished it for the review.

Alone, the centre is firm but a little slippery, and lightly flavoured, like cordial made to the perfect strength. The centre is nice and slightly floral, but although there is a tiny kick to it, there's nothing of the tang of a real strawberry. When the jelly is eaten as a whole, I got a muted version of the centre's flavour. The creamy base plays a nice background note to offset the mild berry notes, but by itself is nondescript. The jelly as a whole is certainly a nice, and more realistic, play on the all-artificial traditional strawberries and cream lolly. It's less sweet and definitely moreish. Just don't expect an in-your-face strawberry taste.

Strawberries and Cream Bliss are a glucose product, and they contain wheat. A serving size is 25g (approximately four pieces).

Allen's Proudly Aussie Mix

I'm pretty sure this product was supposed to be a tie-in with the Olympics, which means I'm a wee bit late posting this review, but you'll forgive me, right?

 

The limited edition pack from Allen's, named the 'Proudly Aussie Mix', contains gummy products in an Australian theme. The graphics on the front show a smiling kangaroo (or wallaby) waving an Australian flag while holding onto a sleezy-looking surfboard (?). There's also a creepily-cheerful koala hanging out in the top right corner.

The description on the back assures us we'll have "a bonza time" (yes, really), with "Kylie the koala, Sammy the surfer, Kenny the kangaroo and all their deliciously proud Aussie friends." They even gave the pieces names. I find it odd to personify things I'm about to eat.

Inside we've got six different shapes of gummies: kangaroo, koala, Sydney Harbour Bridge, a boomerang, a surfboard, and a silhouette of Australia. There are five different flavours according to the back of the pack, and the flavours and shapes were randomised; any shape could come in any flavour.

Sadly I didn't get many blackberry (purple) gummies. I think there were three in the entire packet. The piece smells mild, like jam that has been left to dry out on a plate. It's vaguely floral, but very, very mild, and I would never peg it as anything beyond generic 'berry' flavour. The taste is much the same; it's mild, a little bit sweet and one-dimensional.

Strawberry (red) dominated my packet, along with the orange gummies. Strawberry smells a lot like raspberry cordial; very bold and inviting. In taste, it's bright and warm, and a touch medicinal in that I keep waiting for the aftertaste that occurs when taking medicine (but thankfully never comes when eating this piece).

Lemon is the flavour of the yellow pieces. I tried very hard to try and get a scent from the pieces but the other flavours in the packet were too dominating. Luckily, lemon has a good strong taste to it. It's a little bit sweet, but not like lemonade or any of the other flavours. It's refreshing, with a weeny bit of citrus tang that makes it an interesting piece to eat.

The orange pieces are apricot, and they smell a little bit like peach iced tea. In taste, they are a surprisingly good representation of a dried apricot. There's sweetness of course, but even without reading the packet I could probably have picked this as apricot. It's quite rich (almost like a Starburst gummy), but not overwhelming.

The last colour is green, which means it must be pineapple flavour. But it sure doesn't taste like pineapple. It's a generic and uninteresting piece, so much so that I'm wondering if maybe this is meant to be lemon. But a green lemon-flavoured piece doesn't make any more sense than a green pineapple-flavoured piece!

Despite the somewhat odd flavours, I enjoyed the shapes (even if I did feel odd eating Kylie the Koala during this review). Some of them, like the Sydney Harbour Bridge, are skillfully sculpted, with great detail. (Seriously, click on the photo and look at the close up.) The boomerang is kind of cute, with what looks like some sort of flower on the front. The Australia silhouette includes Tasmania, and there's a bit of a crevice between Victoria and Tassie so you can see they aren't actually joined.  The koala and kangaroo are generic and boring, and as for the surfboard, well - let's just say I only noticed now that there are actually feet prints on the front of the board.

Depending on level of squished-ness, the pieces are about  0.75cm thick, and are roughly about 4cm long. They are a good size for a little bite, or you could combine a few for a mix of flavours.

Interestingly, a serving size is four pieces (I ate more than that writing this review). These gummies are a glucose product, and they contain wheat starch. They are made on equipment that also processes products containing milk powder. The pack notes that it includes "up to five lolly varieties. Quantity of each lolly may vary." I love that they used the word lolly!

Starburst Limited Edition Mixed Berries

Starburst is a US brand, owned by Mars Incorporated. The range is distributed in Australia by The Wrigley Company, which is owned by Mars Snackfoods.

'Limited edition' seems to be the trendy term this year, and Starburst has also jumped on the band wagon. I'm not sure of their frequency, though I would bet it's about the same as the six month-ish on-sale period that Mars uses for their seasonal M&M products. Last season Starburst had a 'summer' flavoured bag (and prior to that was the Smoothie release), while this season's bag is of mixed berries. Rather well-suited to winter, I must say!

The bag itself weighs 170g, which is 10g lighter than the other regular Starburst bags. The package is emblazoned with bold 'Limited Edition', just so you know that, you know, it won't be around forever. The mixed berries are described as having 'full on ... fruit flavours', and the package shows a huge graphical representation of the three berries featured: strawberries, blueberries and raspberries.

When I briefly opened the package for photos, I missed that there are actually four berries in the pack; blackberry is also included, as per the lengthy description on the back. I'll go back and update the photos, but for now you'll just have to imagine that camera-shy blackberry is hiding off-frame.

As soon as the bag is opened, you're hit in the face with a bold, somewhat generic berry smell. It's extremely sweet and one-dimensional, more like jam than herbal tea. Unfortunately, even when separated, the berries all small the same; that doesn't bode well for the tasting.

Blueberry is the smallest berry in the package, and is represented by a deep violet jelly with a flat base, complete with a small rim to impersonate the fruit's crown of leaves. It is just shy of 1.5cm tall at the highest point. and the base is 1.9cm wide. It's a tiny little bite, made to be paired with others. Despite the strongly-sweet scent, blueberry is surprising in its richness of flavour, although it's a far cry from the real fruit. It is mildly jammy, and would combine well with other flavours. This was

Strawberry is large (almost 3.5cm long by 2.5cm wide by 1.5cm high), and there were only a few of these in my bag. The moulding is very cute, with little marks to indicate the seeded skin, and nice detailing on the leafed top. As soon as I've bitten into it I can tell it's an artificial flavouring;  it's a fairly cheap flavour that reminds me of strong but watered-down herbal tea. It's a nice bright flavour, but uninteresting.

Raspberry comes in the generic uninspired 'berry' mould that many confectionery manufacturers use. These dominated my bag, along with the blueberries, probably because they are similar in size. Raspberry itself has a mild tang that allows you to tell the difference between it in and strawberry, but there is no real flavour present. It's boring and extremely generic. I wouldn't be able to tell this apart from any other 'raspberry' lollies produced by any other manufacturer, except for the soft gummy texture that Starburst has down pat.

Lastly is camera-shy blackberry. It has similar dimensions to the strawberry gummy, and its mould looks similar to a bunch of grapes at first glance. The colour is lovely, like a redder version of blueberry's violet tinge. Unfortunately that's where the appeal ends. Like strawberry, there's a nice 'dark berry' sweet flavour, but I didn't get any notes that resembled a blackberry at all. This flavour could resemble a loganberry or even a blackcurrant if you weren't aware of what it was supposed to be.

I was somewhat disappointed with this release. They are very nice if you like the sweet, bold Starburst flavours, but if you're looking for true-to-life taste, keep looking.

A serving size is 25g (approximately five pieces), the product is glucose-based, and contains wheat.