Panda Licorice Cremes

i have a beef with these candies, a big beef. as you can see from the package, this bag contains little licorice bits filled with three different flavors of cream: banana, caramel and strawberry. they have them all on there, with their little pictures that show which flavor corresponds to which color. the beef i have (and it is a big one) is that when you open up the bag, all of the pieces look way too similar to tell them apart (which you may or may not be able to tell from my crappy picture). now, there is one which is distinctly pinker than the others, which i assume to be the strawberry, but the rest of them look identical, at least to my inferior eyes. so i figured, "i'll just pop one in my mouth and i can tell the difference, banana and caramel are very different flavors, you know." and here is the beef, part two: there is no flavor, save that of sub-par licorice. i realize that licorice can be an overwhelming flavor, but this licorice is not even that strong. certainly not strong enough to drown out a well-made banana creme. the ingredients list molasses, beetroot concentrate, and licorice extract, but i think most of what i'm tasting is from the molasses. yes, this is an "all natural" snack, but i don't see why that means it has to taste like crap. i mean, "all natural" doesn't mean "all cardboard," does it? or does it? perhaps it does.

so i have never tried any other Panda licorice, they also make just plain black or red licorice bites. i've always been so excited for the brand, what with the panda and the black licorice (which i do admit to being a fan of), but this particular candy is not doing it for me. i prefer a more licorice-y taste, something in the Good & Plenty vein, and i definitely would have preferred to taste the other flavors. sorry Panda, you have not wooed me.

rating: 2