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: 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.

Starburst Noughts and Crosses

Back in March I reviewed Starburst Snakes and Ladders. Today I'll be looking at its sibling, Nought and Crosses.

Head after the jump to read more!

Gossip: New Starburst Packaging, New Skittles Packaging

Remember those new Starburst bags with the odd packaging I picked up earlier this year? It turns out that they were the first wave of new packaging to be introduced across the whole Starburst bagged range. These bags were spotted in IGA.

I also spotted new packaging for Skittles 45g bags - now they're handy boxes!

If you've seen new products or packaging while out and about, I'd love to hear about it! Email the blog, or post on my Facebook page, or tag me in a tweet (@LollyAddict)!

Starburst Very Berry Chews

Unlike its travel buddy Snakes and Ladders and soon-to-be-reviewed Noughts and Crosses, Starburst's Very Berry Chews is very much American made. Although they have different packaging (who designed our bags, seriously!), the contents is much the same - a collection of berry-flavoured chews. Read on for the review!

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!

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!

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.

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.