Jolly Rancher cherry lollipop review

Left over from Halloween here is a lollipop review I found in my kid’s candy bag.  The packaging is cool but does the actual candy live up to it?  Check out the video and see what you think.
 

 
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Almost Perfect Candy

I was out in Whitby, Ontario last week and my brother in law clued me into the Almost Perfect store.

This is the kind of store a lot of you may have seen if you live in or near an urban center. This is essentially an irregular food store. It's full of food that's been rejected, not over any health concerns but most likely because the food was discontinued, or possibly seasonal and the major retailers don't want it on the shelves anymore.

You can also find some of these items if you are the kind of person who goes on factory tours. I remember when I was a kid going with my parents to both the Ben & Jerry's factory in Vermont (or maybe it was headquarters), and most significantly when I went to Hershey Pennsylvania. These factory tours of course ended at the gift shop, and both of these companies offered "irregular" food products there. As a kid this just fascinated me to no end. The products may be slightly off, but they're crazy cheap and just awesome.

Almost Perfect seems to offer more of the straightforward food items focusing on seasonal stuff, maybe with misprinted packaging, or remainders of limited editions. They specifically have a pretty decent candy section too, which was of course my main reason for wanting to go.

Some of the items like this entire stand of Allan candy was a bit weird. I'm not sure why any of it wouldn't be on the market. These are the guys who make "Big Foot" and I'm sure I'll get to their products sooner or later in reviews. These are weird flavors, so maybe they were just limited time or discontinued. Hard to tell since I'm not that familiar with their product lineup.

More likely is seeing something like this Imported Continental European Dark Chocolate. Seems fine and all, but nothing I would imagine anyone would buy, especially if its not an in house brand or some kind of off-shoot loss leader to get people into the store. Without a good brand name behind it why on earth is anyone buying it? My guess is they are not. And that's why it's at Almost Perfect.

Here is a very interesting one, and something I wish I could've reviewed. But I wouldn't feel right reviewing something from Almost Perfect when I really don't know why its there. Most likely this unique variation on the classic Hershey bar didn't sell and was discontinued, but I don't know.... maybe it was awful, or maybe its still in development. Whenever the reason its not sticking around I don't think Hershey wants it representing them.

Do you suppose these Reese Eggs were sitting around in a warehouse since Easter? My guess is yes. The sure tasted great though, I bought a bunch of these!

Here are some great looking Red White and Blue M&Ms. I suppose these are from this past 4th of July. We'll see if they turn up again next year.

I love the idea of Fierce Cinnamon Hot Tamales. Do you think maybe they were too fierce for the public? Are these still available in real life?

Here's another one that I'm not sure of. Don't these exist on the market now? Why is this one here? Could it be because it has the "New" label on it?

Finally a simple question. Whats wrong with all these Jolly Ranchers???

This is totally a store that's good and bad at the same time. I mean how cool is it going to a store to get something no one else has? BUT then the truth sinks in, maybe other people don't want this stuff. for a reason...

I'll have to keep my eye out for more 'irregular' candy, or off the beaten path kind of stuff. Let me know in the comments if you've ever been to a store like this and what your impression has been.

Thanks for joining me, later all.

Jolly Rancher Fruit Chews - video review

Today we've got a brand new candy under review for you, it's the Jolly Rancher Fruit Chews.


Yeah... not so great. For more on this please check in with the written review, or all of our reviews, not surprisingly over on the Reviews Page.

Jolly Rancher Fruit Chews review

Today's review comes via request, I'm having a look at the new Jolly Rancher Fruit Chews.

 

Since this blog is still a relatively new entity I haven't gotten too many requests yet, but as always, I am definitely open to suggestions. Please let me know if you want to see anything special here on the blog, or on YouTube by dropping me a line at walkingthecandyaisle@gmail.com.

Just to peel back the curtain a little more for a quick minute as well, sometimes I do these reviews on the blog before doing the video reviews, sometimes afterwards, and sometimes concurrently. In this case I'm writing the blog after the fact but I've only just realized that I forgot to take any photos of the stupid stupid stupid packing debacle.... for more on that please reference the video. Did I say it was stupid? Ok, sidebar done.

One little preface before I get into the review properly, I have a real bias going in here. I am not, nor have I ever been a big fan of Jolly Rancher candies. I don't like the texture of their traditional hard candies. Its too hard, then breaks apart weirld in your mouth, oftentimes into dangerous shards, and is too damn sticky. Also it gets in your teeth in a super annoying way. I also don't like the flavors, they seem... artificial. They are certainly strong, but not in the same fruity way that Starburst or Skittles are. Jolly Rancher just totally taste wrong to me and always have. I know people love them but I am simply not one of those people. I honestly am trying to give these new Fruit CHews a fair shake, but I am not the target audience.

Ok, as for these Fruit Chews. To start with I am impressed. The packaging is great. I've always loved Jolly Rancher's sense of style. The art design from the ground up is great. Its got a logo that pops and is memorable, good strong colors, fun design. And I have to say in this specific case I love the cigarette style packaging. There's a tear strip on the back and then it opens exactly as a pack of smokes does. only inside its got a handful of individually wrapped fruit chews. I also am a fan of the fact that these are individually wrapped candies. I much prefer something like this that I can share, or eat slowly than your average theater candy box full of loose open candy.

I am disappointing in the mix though.Fruit chews come in four flavors: Cherry, Watermelon, Green Apple, and Blue Raspberry. In my box however I only got one Watermelon, and one Blue Raspberry. Whats up with that?! Even though I think its lame I can kind of forgive a 100 flavor bag of Jelly Bellies for being a bit short on its flavor mix, but this is pretty inexcusable. Getting a good mix should be easy here.

Ok, onto its candy time.... If I an get it open. Sure some of them seem to open alright, but my god, WTF happened in the video review? If you haven't watched it, you probably should, Of the three Fruit Chews I've eaten in my life, and yes just to let you know I've only ever had three. 2 for the video review and then one for this review, I had a hell of a time getting two of the packages off. A hell of a time. The fact that two out of three gave me trouble is pretty distressing. These should have been fine... Bad job Jolly Rancher.

As for the candy once you do get it open, well it's pretty much what you'd expect. its kind of like a big piece of Hubba Bubba gum. Only big a day glow green. The texture is tacky and only a little pliable. When you bite into it though you understand why. This is one of those candies that starts harder and then quickly goes soft in your mouth. What else it does though is get sticky pretty much right away. This candy will get stuck in your teeth. Badly. That is annoying.

The flavors as well are very intense in a familiar Jolly Rancher way. If you like the classic Jolly Rancher flavors, then you are in luck, the Fruit Chew definitely captures that spirit. But to me as I said above, thats always been too intense, in a way that i don't like. Its frankly hard to articulate why I'm really not feeling this candy, but suffice it to say I am not.

Are you the kind of person that likes Jolly Rancher usually? If you are then I think you'll like these new Fruit Chews. I'll give that I do prefer these to the regular Jolly Rancher candy, but not by much. Its not that its terrible, its just totally not for me and I know it. I am going to pass on these and unless you are a real Jolly Rancher fan I think you should too.

Walking the Candy Aisle rates Jolly Rancher Fruit Chews - 2 / 5

Jolly Rancher are made by Hershey's. For more on them please check out http://www.hersheys.com/jolly-rancher.aspx/ Also note that these fruit chews come in a Tropical variety, and they also just launched the Crunch 'N  Chew line alongside these Fruit Chews. If you like these then they may be of interest to you :) Stay tuned for next time when hopefully I'll find something I like a bit more...

Walking the Ice Cream Aisle

Sidestepping the candy aisle today I took a stroll down the ice cream aisle today at my local Target.

Let me tell you there are a lot of candy and chocolate bars to be found in ice cream these days. Here's some of what I came across.

YUM!

 

The Girl Scouts would be proud :)

 

These are GREAT!

 

I don't think these Popsicle flavors would work in regular ice cream but they seem a good fit here.

A classic

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This is a San Francisco delicacy!

Ice cream for DOGS!!!

Ok, so I threw a few others in there too but wow, it's pretty awesome to see so much chocolate and candy in the ice cream aisle!