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!

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In a nutshell, iDots are quirky. The pack describes them as 'flavoured jelly shapes with whole milk chocolate coating and sugar coating'. They are kind of a cross between a candy-covered chocolate like M&M's, and jelly lollies. The bag is 42g and holds about a handful's worth of the large-ish, egg-shaped pieces. Each little stone is covered with a candy shell in pastel colours, and they have a soft gloss finish. The shape is not identical; some pieces are a bit wonky. They smell softly sweet, but have no distinct scent.

As with most lollies that have a sugar shell, there's no flavour to the shell itself. Biting into a piece reveals a thin layer of chocolate, about 1-2mm thick, over a jelly centre. The chocolate layer doesn't have much of a flavour on its own, but it adds its own unique sweetness to the bite. (Interestingly, the chocolate is rather quality stuff, made from cocoa butter and sugar as it should be. It also contains a minimum of 30% cocoa solids and 18% milk solids. Trolli could have used mockolate but used the good stuff instead. Kudos!) The jelly centre is interesting. It's a quite soft jelly, soft enough that without the shell and chocolate, it breaks apart very easily. It also appears to be the same colour as the outer shell, though I couldn't discern any difference in flavour between colours.

Altogether, the combination is great. The textures work in a pleasing fashion together, and the chocolate adds a nice depth that prevents it getting too sweet. I enjoyed the sharp crunch of the shell biting into each piece. The jelly being quite soft is what makes this lolly stand out, I think; there's a great play on textures that ensured the bag didn't last longer than 15 minutes on my desk.

Score: 5 out of 5 jelly beans.

Trolli iDots are made in Germany. They contain glucose syrup (from corn), soy and milk. They may contain traces of peanuts, tree nuts, gluten and egg.