What are Limited Edition Galactic Fruit Gushers with a Mystery Flavor?
General Mills is re-releasing a limited edition lunchbox favorite: Galactic Gushers, featuring Asteroid Apple, Berry Star Clusters, and a Mystery Flavor (“Unidentified Flavored Object”). The product is available exclusively at Walmart.
How are they?
First, if you have never eaten a Gusher, a) do you eat vicariously through junk food bloggers? and b) they are kind of their own species. Not quite gummy candy, not quite fruit leather, Gushers are dense and chewy with a burst of fruit-flavored liquid in the center.
Galactic Gushers, to reinforce the outer space theme, are the Jupiter of Gushers in that they are large in mass and volume. This box – well-decorated with glittery letters and a rich purple celestial background – contains 20 pouches, each of which holds about 8-10 Gushers.
The flavors are distinguished by color: bright green (Asteroid Apple), sapphire blue (Berry Star Cluster), and dark purple (Mystery Flavor), a color combination that could be recycled if Jewel Tone Gushers or Cool Side of the Color Wheel Gushers ever hit shelves. Details like a swirl motif and edible glitter to resemble planets and stars would have been a fun addition to boost the galaxy imagery.
The Asteroid Apple’s hint of tartness tastes like a typical artificial green apple flavor, and the Berry Star Cluster mimics the concentrated sweetness and flavor of blueberry jam.
The Mystery Flavor was harder to pinpoint, because the taste of each purple Gusher seemed to vary slightly. Perhaps primed by its purple shade, I first guessed grape, then recognized a sweet note that reminded me of boysenberry.
For help, I turned to the Galactic Gushers promotional site, which lists the following as potential flavors:
- Big-Bang Blue Raspberry
- Meteorite Mandarin-Melon
- Satellite Strawberry-Kiwi
- Light-Year Lemon-Lime
One more taste detected acidity in the Gusher goo that seemed to point to Big-Bang Blue Raspberry as the Mystery Flavor.
Is there anything else you need to know?
You can guess the mystery flavor at GalacticGushers.com daily through April 30th for a chance to win prizes like gift cards and Gushers swag.
As of this writing, “Big-Bang Blue Raspberry” is in the lead with only 48% of the vote. I wonder if Gushers purposefully designed the Mystery Flavor pieces to taste inconsistent, or if the minor flavor differences I detected among them were just my imagination.
*X-Files theme plays*
Conclusion:
After the novelty of the Mystery Flavor wears off, you are left with three perfectly acceptable Gushers flavors and perhaps a reinvigorated urge to storm Area 51.
Purchased Price: $5.88
Size: 16 oz. box (20 – 0.5 oz. pouches)
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 pouch) 80 calories, 1 gram of fat, 0.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 45 milligrams of sodium, 18 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 10 grams of sugar, and 0 grams of protein.