I have two kinds of Laffy Taffy with me here today: Sour Apple and Strawberry, and while I know I normally only try to do reviews for one flavor of candy at a time. This one seemed like there could be at least a few generalizations made.
Laffy Taffy is a fairly unique product. While most people will have had some local salt-water taffy at some point in their lives (perhaps your local county fair?) There aren't too many nationally packaged taffies on the market. In fact I can only think of this one.
Will it stand up to county fair / artisan comparisons? No probably not, but this sure is interesting.
Laffy Taffy, and indeed all Wonka candy has a lightheartedness to it that I love. The design work on the packaging, the advertizing, everything about the way they imprint their candy makes it seem genuinely like a lot of fun. I was happy to see Laffy Taffy incorporated into the Wonka brand (after Nestle launched it) because this is such a different candy it fits well into the oddball universe of Willy Wonka.
Speaking of irreverent fun, Laffy Taffys all have jokes actually written on the packaging. Sure Bazooka Joe may do it as well, but this is pretty fun. The jokes are not great, but since they're (at least theoretically) submitted by customers they are fresher than the average joke you'd find in a Bazooka Joe, or a box of Cracker Jacks.
As for the candy, I have to dock Laffy Taffy on the ease of opening. If you watch the video review you'll see a sad state of affairs trying to get through what should be a simple wrapper. I know it doesn't happen everytime, I get that, but it did happen this time, and unfortunately during a review.The candy itself is slightly tacky to the touch, but its bursting with smell and the colors, especially on the Sour Apple Taffy, totally pop.
Biting into the candy is very different than you might get biting into your local artisan taffy. This feels processed, and sugary. but not in a really bad way. In fact I honestly like how manufactured this feels. Laffy Taffy has intense flavors and that's a good thing, but it comes at a cost. You'll need to give the candy a good chew or two to get the full effect. This won't be melting in your mouth. My recommendation if you really want to get the most out of it... put a whole piece in your mouth at once. The you get a very full mouth of tastes in a slightly complicated but enjoyably chewy situation. And not to get gross here, but this is the kind of candy that while eating you'll find a lot of salivating over. Its necessarily a very wet eating experience.
The taffy can get caught in your teeth, and probably will. That's unfortunate as well because the flavors are really pretty decent. I'm not a huge Sour Apple fan but I actually thought this was good.The gumminess and pull of the taffy is close to bubble gum (rather than say like caramel).
In spite of my few gripes I want to be clear, Laffy Taffy is really good. It's interesting and different, the flavors a strong, and I've found through experience that even flavors I don't like in other contexts (like banana) can work well in Laffy Taffy form.
Walking the Candy Aisle rates Laffy Taffy - 4 / 5
You should definitely check this out if you have not before. For the video review of Laffy Taffy you can look below this post, or check out all of the reviews over on the Reviews page.
Laffy Taffy is a Wonka candy, and made by Nestlé, please check them out online at http://www.wonka.com/
