Haribo Turtles

The Haribo gummi domination of Australia continues with the introduction of these cuties: Turtles.

Haribo Mega-Roulette

Common around the world but new to Australia, Mega-Roulette is a roll of disc-shaped gummis from German company Haribo. Google tells me they are pretty popular, going by the number of places where you can buy a whole box!

Haribo Happy Cola

Haribo is a well-known gummi brand all around the world. The German brand's most popular product would have to be their Gold Bears, but they and the rest of their gummi brethren have only become available in Australia over the past five years or so. So while the Haribo products I review aren't new to the rest of the world, they are new to the Australian market.

 Head after the jump for more!

Starburst Squirts Crazy Babies

Well, here's a blast from the past! Way back in 2003, Starburst introduced us to Squirts, their signature Gummi Fruits with a liquid-filled centre. They were revolutionary, bringing the liquid-filled lolly to the Australian market for the first time. (View the commercial here; note the plastic tray packaging.) The release expanded to include Squirts Crazy Babies; the same idea, used on the Starburst Babies. And then, inexplicibly, the product faded from the market in 2009-2010. Google the  product name to see a number of forum posts lamenting their disappearance

Luckily for us, Squirts Crazy Babies seem to be back! Head after the jump to read more!

 

Gossip: Whittaker's L&P Slab, New Snickers LE, New Big Boss Flavour and More

More new releases!

New Zealand chocolate brand Whittaker's is releasing a 'truly Kiwi' variety of their famous chocolate, called the L&P Slab. The small slab will be made from white chocolate infused with L&P soft drink flavour, and mixed through with popping candy. L&P is made from a mix of lemon and 'carbonated mineral water from the town of Paeroa'. Lemon-flavoured white chocolate? This will surely be a challenge to the tastebuds! The flavour has been available in NZ for a little while now, but soon it will be reaching Australian shores.

Remember Big Boss, the giant lolly cigars which are now just sticks? They were originally released in caramel flavour, and about five years ago we saw Tutti Fruitti (blue) released. Now a new flavour range is joining the ranks: Sours, which contain sticks in the flavours of Blackcurrant Blast, Atomic Apple, Gob-Puckering Grape and Wuss-Out Watermelon. (I love those names!) I think these may only be available as the single piece as sold in milk bars etc - I doubt we'll be seeing them in retail bags sold at larger stores. If you do manage to get your hands on them, please send me a review!

Following on from above, remember Fizzers? From the original flavours of Creaming Soda, Strawberry and Orange, the range has expanded to include lots of new flavours, and the newest is Blue Buzz Mixed Fruit.

Haribo will be launching a new product here in Australia: Mega-Roulette, a roll of small gummi pieces in assorted flavours. As with most Haribo products, Mega-Roulette is not new to the rest of the world.

It's that time of year, when Mars Snickers appears in a brand new limited-edition flavour. This year we're seeing Snickers Almond, available in both medium and king-size bars. The flavour has been available in the US for some time, but I don't think we've had it here in Australia before.

Gossip: Lots of new Cadbury flavours, plus more!

It's been a bit quiet here at Lolly Addict as I've been busy in school, but the confectionery and chocolate companies have kept the new releases rolling! Expect to see reviews of these in the coming weeks.

Cadbury is getting the party started with five brand new flavours to their large block range, plus the return of fan-favourite Black Forest. The new flavours are Dairy Milk and Picnic, Cherry Ripe, Dairy Milk and Toffee Crisp, Dairy Milk and Strawberries and Cream, and Dairy Milk and Milk Crackle.

Cherry Ripe has already landed (as part of the 90th anniversary of Cherry Ripe), and Picnic has just arrived. The other new flavours are sure to be close behind!

(This isn't official gossip, but while in IGA a few weeks ago I spotted some Dairy Milk and Tropical Pineapple blocks with fresh expiry dates (2015)  but old packaging. Any theories as to the sudden and silent appearance of these? They may just be old(er) stock that IGA has bought to clear out the warehouse. Who knows?)

Lindt's Excellence range just keeps on growing. This time around is a unique flavour - 'Zest of Lime' with dark chocolate.

Nestle's Wonka subbrand has just put out a new flavour and a new size - 'Cookie Creamery' in a medium bar (45g).

I also just discovered today that Cookie Creamery will also be released in the larger ~140g blocks, so that suggests to me that we may also see the other Wonka block flavours released in the medium bar size too.

I'm starting to think that Woolworths has some sort of deal going on with gummi manufacturer Haribo. Late last year we saw the pallet lot of The Smurfs come and go; now we've got three new (to Australia at least) flavours.

Finally, way back in August of 2012, Starburst released 'Mixed Berries' as one of their Limited Edition bags, which I reviewed. It seems the flavour has made a comeback into the regular lineup, as spotted at an IGA store recently. If you'd like to read the review, just click the link there.

Haribo The Smurfs

Unlike in the rest of the world, Haribo is not a brand that is massively popular in Australia. Its products have only been available in major supermarkets for the past couple of years, and I've found if you mention the brand to someone, I tend to get a bit of a confused look in return. But internationally Haribo is well-known for their range of gummis (especially Gold Bears). I personally am a fan of their Berries. In partnership with the recent The Smurfs movie, Haribo have released a themed bag of gummis.

 The bag features the classic Smurfs cartoon characters on the front, including Papa Smurf (red) and Smurfette (blonde hair) as well as different 'regular' Smurfs. The bag itself is bright blue, a colour synonymous with The Smurfs range, and also a colour that stands out from the rest of Haribo's range, and the window at the front reveals the Smurf gummis inside. The back of the pack is very plain, with an ingredients list in small print and a nutritional information panel. The pack says the contents are 'fruit flavour gums'.

Inside we have a collection of Smurf-shaped gummis in three different colour schemes: yellow and blue, red and blue, and clear and blue. Although there are different moulds in use, each gummi is around the same height of 3cm, around 1.5cm wide at the head, and around 1cm thick. The gummi is bouncy to the touch, a good mixture of soft and firm. I think these are softer than the Gold Bears, and they break easily when bitten.

The lower half of each gummi is blue, which is a berry flavour of some description. It's relatively mild, but has a nice jammy note to it. It could be that blue raspberry flavour that lolly makers love so much. The clear heads of the regular smurfs is hard to pinpoint. It could be a very weak lemonade, or perhaps even pineapple. No matter what it is, it goes well with the berry body, producing a gummi that is tasty. The regular Smurfs have several different moulds; I only managed to photograph two as the others were a bit mutated and squashed.

Papa Smurf's head is also difficult to identify. Maybe it's because I ate too many regular Smurfs beforehand, but I don't get any flavours beyond a basic red cordial taste. It improves with the addition of the red body, however. He only has the one mould.

Smurfette's head is most definitely lemon; it's quite bold compared to the other flavours in the pack. I didn't think it would go too well with the berry, but they compliment each other well enough. She too only has one mould.

As the flavours are pleasant and mild, I enjoyed this quite well. Mixing the flavours works well for all three, as well as eating them singularly.

Score: 4 out of 5 stars.

Haribo The Smurfs are made from glucose syrup (from wheat).