Gimbal's Sour Lovers

My candy stash has been woefully low for the past month, and my blogging has suffered as a result. Well, this review is just the thing to recharge my blogging spirit. Not long after posting a review of the highly disappointing Nobel Blueberry Sours, a PR representative for Gimbal's candy offered me samples of Sour Lovers gummies. In other words, the product in this review was provided by a PR company, but I promise that I treated it just like any other candy I review.

I had never seen Gimbal's products in stores and only vaguely remembered reading a review of earlier products on Candy Blog, but now that I've had Sour Lovers, I'm afraid I'm hooked. Sour gummies have been one of my favorite candy categories since I was a kid, and Gimbal's did an amazing job. There were 12 distinct flavors, and I liked every single one of them.


Meyer Lemon was tart and tangy, with just the right amount of sour - enough to make you pucker just a tad, but in a pleasant way. The flavor had a zesty, citrus feel without tasting at all like a cleaning product.

Georgia Peach had a distinct peach flavor, and while it was sour, it was a bit sweeter and fruitier than many of the other flavors.

Watermelon had that classic watermelon candy flavor (real watermelon never tastes that intense), charged up with a nice sourness. That's another great thing about these candies - they are sour throughout, not just in the outer sugar coating.

Bing Cherry fell somewhere between real cherries and cherry Kool-Aid. It had a nice, rich flavor and a great sour/sweet balance.

Mango was one of my favorites of the bunch. It reminded me so much of real mango that it almost seemed pulpy.

I'm not sure why Sour Blueberry was named as it was; all of the flavors are sour! But anyhow, this one was tart and just a bit bitter (but in a good way, like real berries). It was a good blueberry, but if I didn't know, my guess would have been raspberry.

Strawberry Daiquiri had a lovely sweet strawberry flavor, and it felt pretty authentic. It seemed to have some citrus as well, making it extra sour.

Fuji Apple tasted a lot like apple juice. It was sour and fruity, but if I had to pick a least favorite flavor, this would be it. I didn't have any trouble eating it, though.

Baja Margarita tasted just like margarita mixers from grocery stores. To give you an idea of the flavor authenticity, if you are nursing a hangover, you may want to skip this one until you feel better. It definitely packed more than just lime flavor!

Pomegranate had an earthy, juicy flavor that was richer than the cherry. It was the least sweet of the bag, but I'm afraid it's been so long since I've had pomegranate seeds that I can't comment on the flavor well.

Tangerine was extra sour and extra citrusy. It had that classic vitamin C-laden flavor I used to crave as a child and still enjoy. This was another top flavor.

Grapefruit was sweeter than the real thing. It was tart, but less so than Tangerine or Meyer Lemon. It had just enough grapefruit bitterness to give the right effect.

I'm so glad I got to try these. As a sour candy lover, I can say Sour Loves definitely got it right. The texture of the gummies was thick and sticky, a bit like a fruit gem. I found that about 6-8 gummies at a time hit the spot, so I took several days to review these properly. Every single time I tried them, I was impressed.

I should also mention that both Gimbal's Sour Lovers and the Gimbal's factory are free of just about every common food allergen (peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, gluten, soy, fish, and shell fish), and Sour Lovers are kosher pareve.

The only minor annoyance was that they got stuck in my teeth, making me want to brush. I can certainly forgive that - it's candy, after all. Everyone I shared these with (my husband, my father, my boss, and some coworkers) enjoyed them - though my husband wanted me to leave the bag open and let them get a little stale because he claims it improves the texture. Honestly, once the bag is open, I'm not sure I could make them last long enough to get stale!

A

Gimbal's Fine Candies website

Tirol Matcha Soy Latte and Peach Pie

I am such a sucker for new flavors of Tirol, and I can't resist matcha anything, so purchasing these flavors from napaJapan was an easy decision. It's slowly getting warmer where I live, meaning the end of chocolate shipping season is in sight and I need to get all my orders in soon before I come home to a pile of melted KitKats!

Matcha Soy Latte sounds like it was made for me (I don't get along with lactose), although I'm certain it was made with milk. Peach Pie sounded more like something my sister would love, but since last year's Apple Pie Tirol was so well executed, it seemed worth a taste.


Even though I love actual peaches, peach-flavored candy and chocolate often doesn't agree with me. In Tirol's Peach Pie, the flavor was pretty good. The white chocolate felt cool to the tongue and had a mildly sweet flavor, but I was reminded a bit of artificial sweetener. There were chunks of peach gel and "crust" crumbles in the chocolate, and the piece pieces alone had a good, fairly authentic flavor. The crumbles added a crunch that reminded me of soft granola, but they didn't add much flavor. It was nothing like the peach pie I'm used to, but still a good, unique Tirol flavor. My husband really liked this one. B


If my heart made its own Tirol flavor, it would be Matcha Soy Latte. The chocolate was a bold, grassy green with a white stripe in the center, and it smelled like milky green tea. I was delighted to find the matcha flavor stronger than the average green tea chocolate. It was slightly bitter but well balanced with some sweetness. Inside the flavored white chocolate, there was a gummy center that added a fun texture and a mildly sweet flavor (perhaps this was supposed to represent soy milk). I really enjoyed the strong matcha flavor, but didn't get much of a sense of soy milk. It's possible that it pulled a bit more vanilla than normal, but I'm not sure. A

Japanese Snack Reviews also reviewed the Matcha Soy Latte Tirol.

Tirol website

Mars Starburst Sweet Fiesta

The thought makes me cringe now, but I used to play with my Starbursts like modeling clay to create hybrid flavors. I would mold two or more flavors together, make little shapes, and eat them. The idea of handling candy so thoroughly grosses me out these days, but maybe it was part of the reason I rarely get sick as an adult.

The newest (to my knowledge) offering from Starbust is called Sweet Fiesta, and it offers a more sanitary set of hybrid flavors. The fiesta includes Strawberry Pineapple, Peach Guava, Cherry Mango, and Melon Berry. Though the flavors are different, I was certainly reminded of the recent Skittles Blenders.


I could smell the pineapple in Strawberry Pineapple, which got me excited. It had a sour, juicy, slightly woodsy flavor, and I could taste the pineapple much better than the strawberry (fine by me). It was a great combination of sour and sweet.

Peach Guava had a tropical, papaya juice-esque flavor. I could only catch a slight hint of peach, and this one was quite sweet and juicy.

Cherry Mango had a fantastic cherry flavor that seemed better than the regular cherry Starburst, but I couldn't figure out why. I didn't taste the mango, just a modified cherry. It reminded me of fruit punch.

Melon Berry had a very fake melon flavor with a richer berry background flavor. It was my least favorite flavor of the bunch, but it wasn't bad.

Overall, the combinations felt fresh, and although some of them missed the mark, it was hard for me to save any for my husband (though I managed to leave him one of each flavor and a spare Melon Berry).

Check out some other reviews at Sugar Hi and Sugar Pressure.

B+

Starburst website

Peach Upside Down Cake

It's peach season, the most yummiest of seasons! Besides being the sweetest, juiciest, most satisfying of summer fruits, peaches rank number one for me in fond childhood summer food memories. It just sort of comes with the territory when you grow up in South Carolina, the first second largest grower of peaches (we all know monstro-agro California doesn't really count, right?).

One of those memories is of peach upside down cake my Mom used to make after visiting the State Farmer's Market, a huge market with 500 stalls (makes Philly's city markets look laughable) about a mile from our house where sun-wrinkled, old farmers from all over the state would convene to sell the season's bounty out of the back of their filled-to-the-brim pick-up trucks.Sweet peach slices are placed in melted butter and brown sugar at the bottom of a pan, then a basic, homey cake batter is poured over top, and the whole thing is popped in the oven. Out comes what looks like any ordinary cake, but upon a flip of the pan onto a platter, the caramelized peaches and magic of peach upside down cake is revealed. Oh, how I loved that flip of the pan!

My mom's recipe for peach upside down cake must have appeared in a magazine or popular cookbook in the 70's, because I can find identical recipes (almost word for word) out there, so there's a good chance you've eaten this cake, too. I did a little updating to bring the cake into the 21st century: butter replaces vegetable shortening; and the brown sugar and butter that the peaches sit in has been slightly reduced.Peach Upside Down Cake

1/4 cup butter, plus 1/3 cup butter for batter
3/4 cup light brown sugar
3-4 large peaches, peeled and sliced
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 eggs
1 2/3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt

• Place 1/4 cup butter and brown sugar in an oven-proof skillet and heat slowly on stove-top, stirring constantly until well browned.
  
• Remove skillet from stove, and place peaches in melted brown sugar and butter mixture. (If you don't have an oven-proof skillet, just transfer melted butter and brown sugar mixture to a medium-sized oven-proof dish before adding peaches.)
• In a large bowl, cream together 1/3 cup butter and sugar. Add milk, vanilla extract, almond extract, and eggs and mix thoroughly.
• In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.
• Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until incorporated.
  
• Pour batter over top of peaches in skillet, smoothing batter out to the edges.
  
• Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes, or until the middle is firm and the top is golden.
  
• Cool cake for 10 minutes, then place a platter on top of the cake dish. Carefully invert the cake dish while holding the platter on top so that the cake slides out onto the platter . . . upside down!
  
• Serve warm or room temperature.
  

Orbit Perfect Peach and Berry Red

Despite my recent lack of Orbit gum reviews, I have continued my quest to try every flavor. Orbit has made that rather difficult lately, with the barrage of new flavors released in the past few months. I've tried them all, but some of them slipped through the review cracks. Don't worry, things are under control at Gum Alert!

But I did review two of the new flavors, Perfect Peach and Berry Red. I liked the bright packaging, and both seemed like good flavors for summer. I haven't seen much peach gum, so I was especially excited for that one.


Perfect Peach smelled sour and juicy, and the initial flavor was pretty strong and fairly authentic. I was reminded of a sour, not quite ripe peach. The gum felt cool but not minty. The chew was nice and bouncy without being too tough, but most of the flavor was gone within a few minutes. B


Berry Red smelled so much like medicine. It didn't taste as quite as strong as it smelled, thankfully. The gum was tangy and juicy, with a false mixed berry flavor that reminded me of bubble gum. Again, the texture of the gum was good, but it lost flavor quickly. The gum was chewable, but too medicine-like for me to buy again. C-

Orbit website

Nestle Mixed Juice KitKat

Every time I review a snack, I try to approach it with an open mind. Whether it's something I know well or something I suspect I won't like, it helps to try and forget expectations and taste as if everything were brand new. Of course, a little prejudice is normal and unavoidable - taste buds are strongly tied to memory.

I ordered some Mixed Juice KitKats from NapaJapan, knowing full well that they wouldn't be a likely hit with me. It was quite a challenge to forget that notion as I sampled it, but review blogs are 99% subjective, so I don't feel too bad about it.


The KitKat smelled like sweet fruity cream, and at first, all I could taste was white chocolate. After the chocolate melted a bit, the fruit flavors emerged, but I could only pick out banana and a hint of peach. When mixed in with other fruits, banana tends to dominate, so I wasn't surprised.

It wasn't bad, just very sweet and heavy on the banana. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of the vegetable juice KitKat of last year, without the nasty aftertaste. Overall, it was a forgettable KitKat and one of the weaker offerings so far this year.

Check out more reviews at Jen's KitKat Blog, Japanese Snack Reviews, Tasty Japan, and Razterized.

C+

KitKat website

Tirol Peach - Chestnut - Persimmon

I was a little confused by the name of this Tirol variety pack, as my knowledge of Japanese proverbs is rather limited. The full Japanese is 桃栗三年柿八年 (momo kuri sannen kaki hachinen), which roughly translates to "it takes time for one's actions to bear fruit." More literally, it means "peaches and chestnuts in 3 years, persimmons in 8." Please correct me if my translation is bad.


I loved the cute characters on the bag and chocolate wrappers, although the peach is a little creepy. I'm pretty familiar with peaches and chestnuts, but I have never tried persimmon (even though I do see them at the supermarket occasionally). According to Wikipedia, the taste is similar to plums and dates. However, I'm not sure it matters for this review - I'll get into that in a minute.


First, I tried the creepy peach. It smelled like peach, and had a gooey gummy center. The gummy did have the texture of peach flesh, but the flavor was nearly overpowered by the taste of sugar. It seemed like most of the fruit flavor was in the chocolate. This was too sweet for me, and something about the peach flavor felt a little fake.


Chestnut smelled toasted, and had a strong, nutty flavor with hints of coffee. It wasn't as overwhelmingly sweet as the peach, but the white chocolate could have been a little richer. The glaze in the middle was nice, though, and overall, I was satisfied.


Last up was persimmon, but as you can see in the picture, this one was actually more like chocolate coated senbei. I'm not sure where the persimmon comes in, and am hoping that one of my readers can help me understand. Still, this was my favorite of the three. The milk chocolate (which seemed a little waxy here) went so well with the mild soy sauce flavor of the crunchy cracker center. It was very well balanced, and I would love to have a bag of just this variety (maybe with a few chestnut thrown in). Forget the peach.

On their own, I would say peach is a C+, chestnut is a B+, and persimmon is an A-. Overall, that averages to a B!

Check out another review of this pack at Tasty Japan!

Tirol website

Morinaga White Peach Hi-Chew

Somewhat recently, Hi-Chew released a series of "World Fruits" flavors, which included this White Peach flavor. The area around Mt. Fuji in Japan is known for white peaches (among other things), explaining the image of Mt. Fuji on the package.

White peaches, according to a little online research, are popular in Asia and less acidic than yellow peaches, which tend to be more popular in the United States. Both types are available where I live, but I haven't had as much exposure to the white variety.

I also noted that on the English Morinaga website, there is a link to a "Massage from the President." Oops.


I was a little surprised at the scent of these, because the candies definitely smelled peachy, but they also reminded me of butter. The flavor was sweet and a little acidic (and a little buttery), and much like a white peach. It was quite juicy, and the tartness intensified with every chew.

These were good, but not one of my favorite Hi-Chew flavors. The flavor was fairly authentic, and certainly different from the taste of a yellow peach. My husband thought much more of them than I did, but for me, there was something just a little off that prevented me from scoring these higher. Maybe it's just peach candy in general.

B

Morinaga Hi-Chew website

Lotte Toppo Peach Milk

Of all the Pocky-type snacks out there (and there are tons), Toppo is probably my favorite. There are tons of flavors, and I like that the chocolate is throughout the whole biscuit. This Peach Milk flavor came from JBox/JList.

I am a little wary of peach flavored snacks, as they tend to taste a little fake. Also, Toppo is usually a little oily, but I've always liked the kinds I've had in the past.


Indeed, this smelled like fake peach, but it didn't taste as fake as it smelled. The peach flavor was not perfect, but didn't taste like chemicals. The light crunchy coating was great, and with the peach cream inside, it reminded me of a danish.

This Toppo was a light and satisfying snack. Even though it was not terribly authentic, it was enjoyable for both me and my husband. I didn't feel overloaded with sweetness or the taste of preservatives, so I'd call that a successful Toppo. Most things I try end up being in the B range, I notice. Maybe I should be more critical....

B-

Lotte Website

Nestle Yellow Peach KitKat

Here's the other part of the Peach KitKat review: Yellow Peach. I'll come right out and say it - this is the weaker of the two. They were similar, but there were some nuances that made all the difference.

Based on the picture on the bag, I'm assuming that Yellow Peach was supposed to taste more like the peaches readily available in the United States. This gave me a better idea to what I should compare it.


It smelled similar to the White Peach, but the peach scent might have been stronger in the Yellow Peach. My first bite was good, at least initially. The white chocolate was smooth, sweet, and creamy, but didn't really taste like peach.

The peach flavor kicked in as a weird, sour aftertaste. It wasn't good, and ruined the bar for me. White Peach actually tasted like peach, and the flavor was better. I don't mind eating the Yellow Peach, but they were definitely not impressive.

C+

KitKat Website (Japanese)

Nestle White Peach KitKat

I decided to split my review of the Nestle Peach KitKats into two parts because I wrote a review of White Peach last night, and meant to bring Yellow Peach with me to work today and review it, but grabbed another White Peach by accident.

These were purchased at the same store as the Purin KitKats from yesterday's review. That Japanese store (Mitsuwa Marketplace in Arlington Heights, IL) never seems to have KitKats in stock when I go there, so I was thrilled to see these.

For some reason, white peach came in a pink wrapper, but in Japanese, the word 桃 (meaning peach - the fruit) can also mean pink. I think Japanese peaches tend to be pinker in color than the ones found in the United States.


The bar smelled just like peach juice I have had in the past, and I was pleased that it didn't smell fake. The taste was also peachy - sweet, juicy, and refreshing. As with most white chocolate KitKats, it was a little over sweet, but in the small size, it didn't bother me too much.

I was pleasantly surprised, since my previous experience with fruity KitKats has been pretty negative. The peach flavor tasted genuine and pleasant. Both my husband and I (and Kelly at Sweet Pursuit) liked this one better than the Yellow Peach, which I will post about soon.

B+

KitKat Website (Japanese)

Skittles Crazy Cores

These have been out in the United States for quite some time now, and there are a ton of other sites that have reviewed them, but I might as well throw in my 2 cents. Everyone's tastes are different, so if your tastes are similar to mine, maybe you'll relate to my take on these.

I have loved Skittles ever since I was little, so a new variety is extra exciting. I remember when Tropical Skittles were introduced, and I devoured those, despite my feelings about banana flavored candy (hint: negative). So, when I saw that the Crazy Cores would include flavors I typically like, such as mango, peach, and lemonade, they sounded pretty promising.


Mango Peach, peach with an orange core, had a tropical feel and a nice amount of tartness. Peach seems kind of neglected in American candy, and this tasted like a passable mix of peach and mango. It was my favorite of the bunch.

Melon Berry, which was pink with a green core, tasted berry sweet and not too melony. It was my least favorite, and just didn't have that tart punch that even the Wild Berry Skittles carry.

Cherry Lemonade was red with a yellow core, and the outside tasted like a cherry cough drop. That was a big negative right off the bat, but I did enjoy the citrus zing of the lemonade core.

Blue Raspberry Lemon was blue with a yellow core, and a little perplexing. The coating had an almost perfumy taste to start with, and that was downright gross. But it faded quickly, leaving a classic blue raspberry flavor (like Blow Pops). The lemon was mellow and sweet, and could have used a little more sourness.

Strawberry Watermelon, green with a pink core, was my second favorite. The strawberry was like a good sucker - bright and a little tart. The watermelon core tasted fresh and light (and fake), and it wasn't too sweet.

I am not sure why there are two flavors with lemon-based cores, but these Skittles were at least enjoyable. The regular flavors are better, but the Crazy Core concept was fun to eat. After my third Skittle, I could feel a sugary film in the back of my throat, which one of my coworkers calls The Skittle Spits. Just thought I should warn everyone.

B-

Skittles Website