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: New M&M's, New Skittles Tropical and new Starburst!

It's all happening at the moment!

Reader Chris has already spotted the brand new M&M's seasonal release in the wild, and the flavour is 'Vanilla Shake'.

Interesting! I love vanilla so I'm looking forward to reviewing it! Thanks for sharing, Chris!

In addition, Starburst (distributed by Wrigley's) also have not one, not two but three new releases out on the shelves already! Photographed below is 'Very Berry Chews', 'Snakes and Ladders' and 'Noughts and Crosses'. The latter two are an interesting play on the classic games.

I didn't even know Skittles were releasing a new seasonal release, but I suppose it is that time of year! New 'Tropical' flavour mix is in a bright blue package. Have you tried it yet?

Lastly, I have new releases from Lindt and The Natural Confectionery Company that will be reviewed very shortly - stay tuned!

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!

The National Confectionery Company Sour Chews

Last month I reviewed the other new release from TNCC, their Smoothie Chews, which you can check out here. The sister release is Sour Chews, small tangy fruit-flavoured pieces designed to compliment the existing Fruit Chews product as well.

The pieces are described as 'sour fruity with a tasty tang' and come in four flavours: grape (purple), lemon-lime (light green), raspberry (dark pink) and apple (dark green). Like the Smoothie Chews, the Sour Chews have the flavour name printed on the wrapper, as well as Fantale-esque questions for you to 'ponder while you chew'.

Three of the wrapper colours are the same as those used in the Smoothie Chews bag, so if you were to combine both ranges in a bowl, well - be sure to read the labels because you may get a surprise. It was quite cold when I reviewed these, so the chew was a little stiffer than usual to start with, but then softened.

Raspberry is a solid musk pink piece. It smells a little of artificial colour (odd as TNCC products don't use artificial colours or flavours). On the tongue, it's nowhere near as sour as I expected - and I'm not a fan of sour products as all. It's a little in the realm of raspberry cordial, which a half-hearted tang thrown in at the end. Neither the flavour nor the tang is strong - no eye-watering here - but it was enough for me. There's also a really weird taste in that that reminds me of something unpleasant, though I can't for the life of me describe it. I didn't like the taste of this one at all.

In the light green is lemon-lime flavour, and it's a pale yellow piece that smells faintly of lolly bananas and a mild citrus flavour. Thankfully this one comes with a good sour burst, right from the start. It starts with lemon but then lime quickly joins the party. It's a little like Solo with a tang of lime trailing behind. This one is lovely, and refreshing to boot.

Grape is the purple piece, and it's a muted magenta colour that smells like grape Hubba Bubba (it looks a bit like it, too!). Like the other pieces it is not very sour, but has a mild tang that makes the mouth water. The flavour is warm and leans in the direction of grapes but doesn't really get there. I'm actually really surprised to find that this is a dead-set replica of the Hubba Bubba flavour, just more sour. Considering these are from a different company, it's a little bit mind-blowing!

Finally, apple is a light lime-green coloured piece that sadly doesn't smell like anything at all. It does get the green apple flavour spot on though - a little grass, a lot of sharp tang and a fair bit of apple juice makes this a surprisingly realistic flavour. Like the lemon-lime flavour, apple is refreshing.

Given the mild sourness from each piece, I found four pieces plenty for the afternoon. My tastebuds have had enough of the flavour rollercoaster! When I finished the bag, I avoided raspberry and went straight for the lemon-lime every time.

Score: 3 out of 5 stars.

Like the Smoothie Chews, The National Confectionery Company Sour Chews are made in Thailand. They are a sugar confectionery, contain wheat, glucose syrup and may contain traces of soy. A serve is 3.3 pieces.

The Natural Confectionery Company Smoothie Chews

It's been a while since The Natural Confectionery Company added something new to their massive range of lollies. (The last was Strawberries & Cream Bliss, back in October of last year.) TNCC have already produced a range of chews, a lolly type which isn't hugely common here in Australia. They are available in a bag, and years ago were also available in a bar format. The current 'Fruit Chews' bag contains the following flavours: raspberry, strawberry, blackcurrant, orange and lemon.

 
 The first of TNCC's two new Chews bags is 'Smoothie Chews', a bag containing lollies that are a 'smooth combo of fruitiness and creaminess'. (The other flavour is 'Sour Chews' which I will be reviewing at a later date.)

The four flavours included are apple & raspberry (green), mixed berry (purple), mango & passionfruit (orange) and strawberry & banana (pink). These definitely sound like smoothie-inspired flavours that I'm excited to try. Unfortunately when I tipped the bag contents out, the selection was definitely lopsided, with only three Mango & Passionfruit chews included, but lots of Mixed Berry.

Each of the chews are wrapped in a colour-coded label, also marked with the name of the flavour, so they are good to toss a couple in your bag. The pieces are about 2.2cm long by 1.5cm wide and high, so they are not too small but also not too big. The chews are also each made up of two colours representing the flavours.

Apple & Raspberry is up first. Apple and raspberry flavour mixes remind me of a childhood favourite, the apple and raspberry-flavoured Prima (which is a flavoured fruit drink for non-Australians). This chew has a green outer and pink centre. It feels quite stiff and has a mild berry scent. In the mouth, the apple is the first obvious flavour but is quickly balanced out by the raspberry, leading me to believe the colours are purely decorational and not individully flavoured. The chew softens quickly, and tastes a bit like a toffee apple (an actual toffee-covered apple) - it's sweet but delightfully tart and very juicy. I don't get any 'smoothie' notes from this as the flavours are bright and bold. I really enjoyed this flavour and wish I had a bag of them all by themselves.

Next is Mixed Berry, in the purple wrapper. This chew has a pink outer with a dark magenta centre. It has a mild sweet scent of nothing in particular. The first flavour I get is a tart raspberry, followed by notes of mellow blackberry. Like the Apple & Raspberry, the flavours are quite strong - they make me think more of smoothie syrup rather than a smoothie itself. I found this chew a little bit tart as well, but not as much as the Apple & Raspberry, and a little less sweet.

Mango & Passionfruit is in the orange wrapper, and has an orange outer and yellow centre. It has a vague citrus scent that is nothing interesting. The mango flavour is very strong and bold. It's actually quite a close representation of real mangoes in flavour. I did get a touch of creaminess in the flavour, but not enough to balance out the flavour. I couldn't taste the passionfruit at all. I am not a fan of mangoes so didn't not really enjoy this chew.

The final flavour is Strawberry & Banana in the pink wrapper. It has a yellow outer, and pink centre. This is he most smoothie-like of the flavours. The banana is first present, but quickly sweetened by the presence of the strawberry. It's nice and much less mild than the other flavours, and is also more creamy.

If you feel contemplative while eating these, check out the wrappers - they contain questions. I wonder if they are supposed to rival Nestle's Allen's Fantales (which have movie star trivia questions). The questions are rather boring: "Who is your favourite relative?", "What song do you secretly love to listen to?", "What is the most embarrassing thing you have done?" but I suppose they have to keep them family friendly.

Interestingly, these are made in Thailand! The Natural Confectionery Company Smoothie Chews are a sugar confectionery, and contains wheat, glucose syrup and may contain traces of soy. A serve is 3.3 pieces.

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).

Gossip: New Cadbury and TNCC products!

Unfortunately I don't have any detailed information, but I heard today from one of my wonderful reps that Cadbury will be putting out a new bar later this year or early next year that is supposedly similar to a Twix (which is owned by Mars). A Twix is a bar (pair of fingers) made of milk chocolate, biscuit and caramel, so it could be interesting to see what Cadbury does with that.

Cadbury also owns The Natural Confectionery Company, and there are two (count 'em, two!) new TNCC gummy varieties due out later this year. This one I don't know any more about, but I will keep on twisting the arm of my Cadbury rep for more gossip as soon as it comes out, I promise!

Natural Confectionery Company Jelly Joiners

There are six flavours in the packet, indicated on the back as: crispy apple, delectable smooth banana, juicy orange, tangy lime, sweet cinnamon and ripe raspberry. Keen-eyed visitors might recognise the lime and raspberry flavours - they were used in the TNCC Christmas 2011 release 'Merry Blissmas'.

As with most of TNCC's gummy products, they aren't oiled (like the type of oil you find on products like gummy bears), but have a muted, somewhat dusty appearance. The colours aren't as bright as the illustrations of the front of the package, but that's what you get when you use all-natural colours. I actually had a bit of trouble telling cinnamon from banana and from apple when they were all mixed together in the bag, but spread out on the table, the colours are more recognisable.

The shape of the lolly is like a mutated version of a Lego piece, meant to facilitate and encourage buyers to play with their food and 'join' the pieces together before eating. The pieces are about 3cm long and 1cm high. Unfortunately, many of my pieces were horribly squashed and/or bent. The ones used in the photo seemed to be more of an exception rather than the rule.

Ripe raspberry is a common TNCC flavour. Earlier this year, they released a whole bag of snakes in this flavour. It's a very jammy flavour, sweet and a bit like red cordial. As expected there is no tartiness.

The orange-flavour piece is rather poor compared to other orange-flavoured pieces on the market. There's no tartness or juiciness, not even a juice flavour. It's more like mild orange cordial - nice but uninteresting.

Dark green lime is average. No bitterness, just a vague green flavour that doesn't really lend itself to anything.

Apple is pale green and is a surprisingly sharp representation of apple. Compared to the other sweet pieces, apple is refreshing and bold.

Banana is recognisable as bright yellow. It is a relatively good approximation of its fruit, unlike the other pieces in this pack. It's a very mild flavour though, quickly disappearing off the tongue. 

Cinnamon is, I believe, TNCC's first item in their range with this flavour. The cream-coloured piece doesn't actually taste at all like cinnamon, but carries a vague, half-hearted warmth and sweetness. It's like coke syrup divded by ten. There's none of the full-frontal warmth or kick that I associate with cinnamon. By itself, the piece is bland, but not one I would avoid if eating these separately.

The pack recommends five flavour mixes.

Lime (dark green) and cinnamon (cream) is supposed to produce cola. I was surprised to find that the combination makes a pretty good cola flavour. It's a bit dollar-store in terms of depth, but still a good party trick.

Pear is made by combining apple (light green) and banana. After tasting apple earlier, I can definitely see how this flavour could be achieved as I already could tell there were pear notes present. Adding banana intensifies the sharpness of the apple, if only briefly. It's not quite pear but gets pretty close.

Mixing orange and banana will apparently get you bubblegum. I couldn't taste it - it just tasted like banana and orange to me.

Mandarin is made by combining apple and orange. I got a few whiffs of mandarin but it was more like the flavour found in flavoured water - a vague idea but not enough to really call it mandarin.

Raspberry and lime together creates raspberry lemonade. I've never actually tried raspberry lemonade so I can't comment on the realism of the flavour, but the pieces together complement each other well. Lime suddenly has a bit of depth when added to the raspberry. The flavour is still sweet but the lime does actually taste a little closer to the bitterness it's supposed to represent than it did before.

A few weeks ago, there was an ad spread in That's Life magazine, over three consecutive pages. (Excuse the terrible iPod photos.) At first I thought the ad showed additional flavours to the ones listed on the packet, (which would be really cool) but no, it's just the packet flavours advertised again.

I should point out that the packet says a serving is about 6 pieces and there are approximately 7.2 servings per pack. It's really easy to go over that serving size when playing with the different flavour mixings.

TNCC Jelly Joiners are a wheat glucose product.

Natural Confectionery Company Merry Blissmas

(My apologies for not posting sooner; I was on a team planning a national event and blogging fell by the wayside.)

I'm getting back into the swing of reviewing with this bag from Natural Confectionery Company.  A step up from its usual range, this bag of 'lime and raspberry flavoured jellies' clocks in at a huge 300g, and these little babies aren't cheap, either. At my convenience store we're selling them at $6.99 per bag; Coles Online is selling a bag for $6.42 ($2.14 per 100g) at the time of posting. They are pretty expensive for a seasonal product, so I hope they live up to the price.

The bag features a gold band with white stars, perhaps to help the package distinguish itself more easily from the rest of the TNCC range. The graphic on the front is of the familiar 'raspberry' shape we are all familiar with, with one raspberry in a light green colour, the other in a darker red, and tied together with a red ribbon. As with all TNCC products this item has no artifical colours or flavours. These jellies also have a 'soft, fruity centre' and already I'm wondering if this is a reuse of the machinery that makes the Tropical, Tangy and Berry Bliss ranges. The name certainly suggests so.

Upon opening the bag, I'm greeted with a faint, nondescript sweet scent that for some reason reminds me of the toy shop nearby. (Yeah, I don't know either.) The jellies themselves aren't as bright or glossy as the graphic on the front suggests; rather, the lime-flavoured jelly  is a boring and dull olive-green, while the raspberry-flavoured one is more of a muted dark pink. I'm seeing a little variation in the colour of the raspberry jelly, but the lime stays depressingly boring.

  As well as the raspberry and lime jellies, inside the bag I'm also finding these little blogs, which from the texture I think are escaped 'middles', or the soft centres. The funny part is that they have been through the moulding process; you can see the ripples. There were about four or five in my bag, and they were all from the raspberry jelly, not the lime. Interestingly, I've never had this problem with the rest of the Bliss range.

A bite reveals that these are seasonal additions to the Bliss range. Like the other varieties in the range, these jellies have a similarly-flavoured centre. I'm finding as I make my way through the bag that the amount of soft centre, and the placement, varies a little with each jelly.  Though I haven't found any that are actively oozing, it's easy to make some of them burst just by squeezing it gently.

Disappointingly, the raspberry jelly doesn't taste very raspberry at all, and instead just gives me a vague 'berry' taste. There's a little tartness from the outside jelly, but the inside centre only serves to soften  the tartness rather than follow through with further notes. By itself, the centre is very jammy and overly sweet.

The lime surprisingly does taste strongly of lime juice (surprising, because I can't any mention of lime in the ingredients list). There's a big sharp note of lime from the outer jelly, and the soft centre continues with this rather than overwhelming it as with the raspberry. The lime is not as sweet as the raspberry, and eaten together they contrast each other nicely.

As with the rest of the Bliss range, the texture of the outside jelly varies. Some are tougher, like a cheap jelly, while others are very soft and easy to squish.

Just for kicks, I just happened to have on hand some Tropical Bliss (which I think have been discontinued), and I've pictured the Merry Blissmas alongside an orange-flavour jelly from the Tropical range.

Natural Confectionery Company I Love Red Snakes

The Natural Confectionery Company is fully Australian made, and has its roots in early Australian confectionery. It originally began as Sunrise Confectioners in 1941, a company which also made other products, such as aniseed rings, barley sugar, bulls eyes and chocolate bullets. Their second factory was based in Prahran, Victoria, and in 1991 they moved to a bigger factory in Camberwell. 

The following year, Sunrise Confectioners founded The Natural Confectionery Company, and focused on their all-natural range of jellies. In 2003 they were bought out by Cadbury Scheweppes (now owned by Kraft, and the range of lollies, which are free from artificial colours and flavours, is now the most popular range on Australian shelves.

TNCC jellies have a nice soft chew that doesn't stick to your teeth. The flavour generally isn't overpowering, but this factor also makes it very easy to eat a whole bag in one sitting.

I spotted this new offering from The Natural Confectionery Company in Coles last week, and had to pick up a bag. The Coles Online website lists this as a limited edition product, although I can't find any mention of it on the TNCC site.

I'm amused by the bag's title. They aren't just 'Red Snakes'; they are 'I Love Red Snakes'. The front of the bag also says: 'Taste our new raspberry flavour'. I had a bag of regular TNCC Snakes at home and checked; the original range also includes a ripe raspberry flavour, so I'm curious to know if this bag really is new. Unfortunately I didn't have any raspberry snakes from the original bag left, so comparisons will have to wait for another post.

As soon as the bag is opened I can smell a strong scent that reminds me of raspberry jam, and there is a very slight medicinal note there as well. It's not an off-putting scent; it's warm and inviting.

The snakes themselves are the same length and shape as standard TNCC snakes, and the texture is the same. Up close the jam notes are stronger, but the first flavour that comes to the taste party is of a very mild, sweet berry tea. It doesn't lean directly towards raspberry - there's no tartiness or sharpness like you would expect from the fruit. The chew is almost as stiff reluctant to break as a gummi bear. While the jellies are soft, they are not as soft as some of the other jellies available, such as Allen's Snakes. However, there are no little pieces left in my teeth and the snakes leave a pleasant, somewhat floral taste behind, but it doesn't stay for long.

I can see this product being popular with kids. The TNCC range of jellies have a mild flavour that could work well for littlies, and they have the benefit of being free from artificial colours and flavours.