Valentine's Day 2010 Recap: SweeTarts Hearts Gummies

parent co.: Wonka; Nestle

pkg. size: L-7.5" x H-6"

candy size: 1" diam.

weight: 11 oz.

quantity: 70-75

country: united states

description: tangy candy

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these are kind of gross. they are cloying and way too sticky in my teeth. perhaps the most disappointing thing is the fact that they have no specific flavor. just sweet and sour, which can be good in some cases, but not this one. after eating a few i felt the need to brush my teeth, and possibly get a good cleaning from the dentist. i've already made my appointment.

rating: 2

ingredients: glucose syrup, sugar, water, potato starch, gelatin, and less than 2% of tartaric acid, malic acid, sorbitol, fumaric acid, lactic acid, calcium lactate, sodium ascorbate, artificial flavors, citric acid, fruit and vegetable juice colors, color added, sulfiting agent (for color retention), wheat and corn starch

allergy information: made on equipment that also processes milk

Fun Dip Tropical

when i spotted this "new" Fun Dip Tropical i immediately grabbed it, since b.paul loves the original Fun Dip, plus how can you go wrong with mango? the flavored sugars are actually really good. where the original has cherry, grape and blue raspberry-lime, the tropical flavors are strawberry, mango and watermelon. i probably wouldn't consider strawberry to be a tropical flavor, but it's an improvement on cherry, so i won't complain. the mango was definitely my favorite, it's got a nice mango flavor, with a slightly tart aftertaste. the watermelon tastes a lot like a powdered Jolly Rancher, which isn't bad. a little phony, but still good. the strawberry tastes pretty much like what you'd expect from artificial strawberry flavor. what i didn't notice before was that the sticks in this version aren't the classic white calcium-flavored sticks, but a "tropical" lime-flavored replacement. if it weren't for these sticks this Fun Dip would be a huge improvement on the original. but alas, these sticks taste like bitter lime peel and lemongrass. i don't know what flavors they're using (the package just says artificial flavoring), but they are not working in their favor. fortunately i had an original Fun Dip also, so i took one of the sticks out of that and used it. my advice to Wonka: use the regular sticks and not the crappy lime.

rating: 7

Very Berry Nerds Rope

b.paul loves Nerds and therefore Nerds Ropes are a common sight in our home. i've never seen this Very Berry version before but i'm sure it's more common than i think, i'm just not very aware. i immediately liked this one better than the original because of the blueness of it: blue packaging, different shades of blue Nerds, and what's that, is there a blue licorice rope in there? no. no there is not. they lured me over, the reeled me in and then they unhooked me and threw me back. why not a blue rope? yeah, it doesn't really matter because the licorice here is (to my taste) a berry flavor so it's better than the regular cherry or whatever that other one is. the Nerds are all quite berry-tasting too. although i can't taste any specific berries in here, they have that "berry" flavor - kind of strawberry, kind of raspberry. i do like the rope here, it's not brittle, chewy enough to pull at but not stringy. i would definitely pick this over the original, but it's still pretty sugary (sometimes Nerds hurt my teeth. like pixie sticks).

rating: 5