Au'Some Candy Apps

As soon as these came into my work I was both fascinated and amused by the clever packaging. Au'some (pronounced awesome) is a subsidiary of 'Candy Novelty Works Limited, which, from that name alone, should give you an idea of what sort of confectionery products they manufacture. Au'some itself was established in 1998, and produces some great 'interactive candy'. Their Head Office is in the US, but they have sales offices all over the world.

This particular product is basically a repackage of some of the many products that Au-some sells individually. The package itself is quite large, 17cm long x 10cm wide x 1.5cm deep.  The front cover is created to replicate the face of an iPhone or similar product, with 'app' images representing the products inside. (Interesting to note: the top left app is a sticker for their Facebook page Underneath the app says 'Bobbys'.)

The rear of the package is a neat moulded tray which holds seven different products (eight items but one is duplicated). What I found especially fascinating was that the apps on the front cover actually line up with the products in the tray underneath, so there was no guessing as to what items were inside.

The first product is the 'Sour Candy Bone'. It's very large, a bit over 5.5cm long and 2cm wide, and is about 1cm thick. Mine was a very pale pink, and covered in gritty sour power, while the interior was chalky and stiff. I'm not a fan of sour products in general, but this one was very weak - even I could tolerate it! It has a faint artificial strawberry taste, and is actually somewhat refreshing. The snap is pretty stiff - I had to use my back teeth to bite off a piece - but as with compressed lollies the piece broke up easily.

The next product I tried was the '3-Dees Gummy'. Mine was yellow, and was moulded from two pieces so it had a 3D shape of a bunny. The sculpt is really cute - the bunny is about 3.5cm tall at the ears (including his base), and is lightly textured all over to represent hair. He didn't smell like much, and faintly tasted of a generic tropical flavour. He was made from a very stiff gummy (think Starburst babies, but firmer) and was very average in flavour.

My next piece was a 'Sour 3-Dees Gummy'. I studied the shape very hard but couldn't work out what he was supposed to be - a penguin? A person? The other non-sour 3-Dees piece in the package was the same mould, but even with another to look out, I have no clue what shape it's supposed to represent. (As an aside, I went hunting on the 3-Dees website and found the mould used with their Easter seasonal release, but I'm still no closer to deciphering his shape.)

Both of them had a very stiff chew - similar to the bunny, but different in that they felt more like plastic. They were both strawberry flavour, and again the sour piece was weak in its kick. I actually preferred the sour piece over the other one.

At the top of the package we have the 'Au'some Candy Roll', a basic compressed candy. Mine had 11 pieces all up, each tablet was less than 1cm wide and several milimetres thick. These These felt stale to me - they were very dry and had a sharp snap, with little to no flavour across the different colours.

The blue pieces are 'Blue raspberry flavoured Mega Bitz'. The little pieces were random in shape and quite small, about the size of a Tic Tac, but many were stuck together. I was surprised to discover these are actually gum, which a nice strong blue raspberry flavour (which is a manufactured flavour). They were tart and jammy too. At least, I think they were gum - it felt like it but after a few chews they started to disappear.

Next up was the 'Crunchy Candies'. (If that doesn't sound generic, then I don't know what does.) These are coated compressed candy about the size of a tablet, with little smiley faces painted on one side. Like most coated compressed candy, these had appeal, although I did note that the yellow pieces had a mild lemon taste, the pink was an awful berry flavour, blue was blue raspberry, and green was just bland.

Lastly we had the 'strawberry flavoured Au'some Nuggets'. I'm not sure how to describe these - they're like gummy but softer, and coated. Whatever they are, they are meant to be eaten by the handful to enjoy the jammy-but-artificial strawberry taste. I liked these the best, but not enough to actively seek them out.

For the price I paid (we sell these at $2.20), I was pretty disappointed. It's a cute way to sample different Au'Some products, but the flavour was sub-par on most products. Kids would probably enjoy the variety though.

There's no allergen statements on the back, but you would need to examine the (lengthy but detailed) ingredients list for additives.

Power Poppers Fairy Floss Popping Candy

Fairy floss (cotton candy in North America, and candy floss elsewhere) in and of itself is a pretty simple confectionery. Colourings and flavours are added to spun sugar, resulting in a large, air-filled fluffball on a stick. It's also very light, with servings on a stick often weighing 30g or less. It's a product that is best fresh, but recently mass-produced fairy floss has become available. Here in Australia, we rarely see flavours outside strawberry, although you can occasionally find other flavours here and there.

AIT (Australian International Traders), a distributor, have recently introduced a fairy floss product made in China to the Australian lolly market under the name 'Power Poppers'. Two varieties are available: Fairy Floss Bubblegum' and 'Fairy Floss Popping Candy'. I'll be reviewing the Bubblegum version later this week.

Mass-manufactured fairy floss just doesn't compare to the fresh stuff, in my opinion. When stuffed into packaging, it loses a lot of its volume (which is where a lot of the appeal is for me), and if not carefully packaged, can harden and turn a bit icky. I've also never seen fairy floss (fresh or otherwise) with a product added to it. Wikipedia doesn't mention this either, so this might just be a whole new ball game.

Inside the foil packaging, we have a small, firmish handful of bright pink, strongly-scented fairy floss. The scent is truly ridiculous - I can smell it from outside the package. It's definitely strawberry, and will clear your sinuses if you're not careful! It's a brighter shade of pink than in the picture, similar to the pink on the wrapper.  It's a small amount of fairy floss, about the size of a child's clenched fist.

At first I was disappointed with the amount of popping candy that I found in the bottom of the package. There was barely a teaspoonful worth, just kicking around at the bottom. It wasn't until I gently tore apart the bundle of fairy floss for photos that I discovered a small void inside, that held more popping candy. The popping candy is in honking big pieces too, as you can see in the photo.

The strawberry flavour is quite evident, in both the floss and the popping candy. It's sweet but pleasant, a bit like the cheap hard lollies you can find in the $2 shop. There's no tang or kick to it, but then again the package isn't exactly making any claims as to the quality of their flavouring.

On finishing the fairy floss, I still had a large amount of popping candy at the bottom, so it was fun to tip all of that into my mouth at once. Good popping!

Ring Pop Spinners

Everyone remember Ring Pops? The gigantic lollypop on an uncomfortable plastic ring? Yep, they've reinvented the wheel and pushed out a new version - Ring Pop Spinners.

Available in four flavours, the Ring Pop Spinner is your average Ring Pop, with the addition of a patterned cardboard circle that slips onto the plastic base, and you can then use the base as a spinning top. There are nine cardboard patterns to collect, as illustrated on the back of the packet. The four flavours available are blackcurrant, orange, cola and strawberry. I picked up the orange for review.

Ring Pops are still as huge as I remember. The actual gem lollypop part measures a bit over 2.5cm tall, and is the same at the widest point (the base, by comparison, is just 1.5cm). It's a pretty decent-sized mouthful, whether you're a kid or an adult. I can't tell from photos online if the base has been modified to allow it to spin or not.

The lollypop is quite transparent but not quite clear, adding to its gem-like appearance, with a few tiny bubbles scattered throughout. There are no voids or large bubbles, which should mean it will be a smooth melt. The edges of the mould are already slightly smoothed-off, helping to avoid those nasty mouth cuts I'm sure many of us remember from childhood.  Disappointingly, there's no scent, and the flavour is mild, like watered-down cordial. There's no zing or kick, although that's to be expected when the only flavouring is from sugar and ambiguous 'flavouring'.

I finished it quickly in about 20 minutes. For what it's worth, the spinning was interesting (my pattern was half black, and the other half had four sections of  lines in a jagged fashion) but not a motivating factor in purchasing this again. I played with it for thirty seconds and then binned it.

Chupa Chups Caramel

I was excited when I heard at the Accredited Trade Show back in July about a new Chupa Chup flavour to be launched in the Australian market. From what I can find online, I don't think this is a flavour new to the world, as I can find references to it in the UK, and ltos of caramel-flavoured Chupa Chup lipgloss (?), but it is new to our little island market.

As one would expect, it's a 'milky' Chupa Chup (opaque) and skim milk powder is included in the ingredients list. It's been ages since I last had a Chupa Chup (plus I don't particularly enjoy the milk ones anyway), but I was surprised to find 'with milk' written on the wrapper beneath the 'caramel flavour' tag. The wrapper itself is an orangey-colour with pale green-yellow lines, and includes little pictures of caramel being poured as the graphical representation of flavour. The colour reminds me a lot of orange Chupa Chups (RIP *sniff*).

The lollypop itself is a muted dark tan or medium brown colour, complete with moulding markings. Happily, it smells delightful: warm, gentle notes of what smells like caramel topping. It's sweetish but not overpowering like you might find in a fudge. On tasting, the sweetness comes to the forefront, sharpening the previously mellow brown sugar flavours. It's a lot like a strong caramel milkshake, especially with the bright-but-not-overpowering sugar flavours. The melt is smooth and there is very little grain texture, plus I was lucky enough to not have any air bubbles. (Yay for no mouth cuts.)

I usually give up on lollypops after a while and crunch them, but I took this one all the way through. If I'm looking in the future for a long-lasting caramel flavour hit, this will be the one I choose.

Crown Zappos Chews Pineapple

Crown Confectionery is a Korean company, established in 1947. As well as Zappos confectionery, they also produce biscuits, chocolates and other snacks and confectionery.

Zappos are an exceedingly popular sour product from Crown. The sour chews are the flagship product, but the brand also applies to lollipops, sour straps, bubble gum and other confectionery. The chews are available in many flavours: peach, grape, tutti fruitti, orange, strawberry, raspberry, and cola was a new addition last year. As of this month, the newest addition is Pineapple.

The 26g bar is paper-wrapped in the colours of the flavour. Pineapple comes wrapped in green and yellow, with a picture of a cartoon pineapple on the front. Inside, the seven pieces are wrapped in lime gren wax paper decorated with little pineapples, and what I assume are the Korean symbols for 'pineapple'.

The chew inside is a pale yellow but doesn't smell of much. There's a mild sweet note that smells like dried-up Passiona (which is a passionfruit-flavoured drink) but it doesn't go anywhere near the lip-curling tartness of what I'd expect from a pineapple-flavoured product.

Like most Zappos chews, the sour is relatively mild and tolerable. Thankfully the pineapple flavour makes a bold appearance at the start, crashing in as soon as the chew is in your mouth. It's lovely and tarty enough to make your mouth water, and even carries the mild underlying sweetness that is nice and refreshing. The chew doesn't carry much bounce - once bitten into the chew shrinks a bit in size as each bite milks it of flavour. After about 30 sections it becomes too soft to chew, so it's not a long-lasting chew.

Once the chew is finished the sour disappears fairly quickly, but leaves behind a refreshing sweet note for a few moments. It's an impressive approximation of a difficult flavour, and I will easily finish the pack and go back for more.

Zappo chews are a glucose product, and do not contain any fruit extract.



Have you tried these? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!