Tag: Sour Patch Kids

REVIEW: Sour Patch Kids Snapple and Swedish Fish Snapple Fruit Flavor Mixes

Marvo Leave a comment

Having only Snapple-flavored Sour Patch Kids would’ve been impressive, but the folks at Mondelez also showed Sour Patch Kids’ less sour fishy friends, Swedish Fish, some Snapple-flavor love. Both packs feature the same three Snapple flavors — Strawberry Kiwi, Fruit Punch, and Mango Madness.

Disclosure: I enjoy Sour Patch Kids more than Swedish Fish.

Let’s start with Strawberry Kiwi (the pink one). The Swedish Fish version had a nondescript fruitiness that made it hard to convince me it was strawberry or kiwi-flavored. But that wasn’t the case with the Sour Patch Kids, thanks to the sour crystals. They kind of acted like salt in that they helped enhance the flavors, and their sourness made the taste more convincing because strawberries and kiwi can be tart. The Swedish Fish one wasn’t a complete fail. After all, sugar is sugar, but after tasting them, I found myself preferring to fish out the other two varieties.

The Fruit Punch Swedish Fish (the red one) had a taste that was instantly recognizable as the sweet red beverage. My taste buds picked up on more of a tropical fruit vibe with the Swedish Fish. But, again, the flavors stood out more with the Sour Patch Kids due to the sour crystals. While I still noticed tropical fruits, the sour sprinkles made my mouth taste more cherry. Both ended up being my second favorite in the packs.

Finally, we have Mango Madness (the orange one), my favorite in both mixes. However, that might have been influenced by the actual fruit being top-tier to me. But, unlike the two above, I slightly prefer the Swedish Fish version more than the Sour Patch Kids one. Maybe because they taste truer with them being sour. But sour mango, not so much. So, having that tang there was different and kind of took away from the mango flavor. But again, both are my favorites in their respective packs.

Both Snapple mixes are great, but, not surprisingly, probably due to my bias, I prefer the Sour Patch Kids one. But for you, I guess deciding which one to pick up depends on whether you’re Team Sour Patch Kids or Team Swedish Fish.

DISCLOSURE: I received free product samples. Doing so did not influence my review.

Purchased Price: FREE
Size: 8.02 oz (Sour Patch Kids), 8.04 (Swedish Fish)
Rating: 8 out of 10 (Sour Patch Kids), 7 out of 10 (Swedish Fish)
Nutrition Facts: Sour Patch Kids (12 pieces) 110 calories, 0 grams of fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 25 milligrams of sodium, 27 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 23 grams of sugar (including 23 grams of added sugar), and 0 grams of protein. Swedish Fish (5 pieces) 110 calories, 0 grams of fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 30 milligrams of sodium, 27 grams of carbohydrates, 22 grams of sugar (including 22 grams of added sugar), and 0 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Limited Edition Sour Patch Kids Oreo Cookies

Vin 6 Comments

Oreo cookies? Great.

Sour Patch Kids? Great.

Frosted Flakes? They’re gr-r-reat, but they have nothing to do with this review. This review is for Sour Patch Kids Oreo. Surely, that combo couldn’t possibly be great, right?

We’ve reached the “dart throwing” phase of Oreo flavor variants. While those kids from the sour patch have invaded cereal and ice cream recently, I didn’t have Oreo on my Sour Patch Bingo card.

These bizarre confections are starting to pop up in stores. I was able to snag a 4-pack at 7-Eleven, and I’m thankful that’s all I got. Like actual kids, I think four is the absolute max anyone can handle.

Both the cookies and the crème are speckled with colorful Sour Patch Kid-flavored dots, which, unfortunately, aren’t chewy. They mimic the crystalized sugar that coats the kids.

The sour batch of sour patch smells really good fresh from the package, but nothing like a cookie. It’s Sour Patch by way of Pixie Stick. If you’re wondering why I know the distinct smell of Pixie Sticks… let’s just say I was a Very Dumb Kid, and some Pixie Sticks may have made their way into my nasal cavity.

The Oreo cookie has a bit of a graham flavor, but I don’t think the SPK flecks really come through with much flavor. It’s a hint –- the ghost of a Sour Patch Kid. Innocence lost.

The flecks in the crème, however, definitely pop, but they’re sour, so it’s kind of off-putting. Something about a simulacrum of a dairy product being sour just doesn’t sit right. As far as the actual flavor, it reminded me of sour orange sherbet more than anything, but I think most people would know these are Sour Patch-inspired.

Once I ate the cookie whole, I came up with a weird overall flavor and texture profile in my head. Picture a package of Fun-Dip, but for some reason, the powder got moist and turned into a goopy mud. That. Why that? I don’t know, but even the bland cookie acts as a little bit of a sour neutralizer like the Fun-Dip stick does.

I don’t think these are very successful as a flavor, but as a gimmick… sure, why not? It’s fun. It’s weird.

I definitely think orange is the fruit flavor that comes to the forefront, so just picture orange Sour Patch Kids and bland Teddy Grahams in one bite. A kid would probably like that, no?

I have to add the fact that the aftertaste on these is kinda awful. Malic acid just lingers on the side of your tongue. SPKs are supposed to be sour and THEN sweet, but here, it’s the opposite. The sourness gets more and more pronounced as you chew, and it takes a while to dissipate.

So, not great, but probably the best they could’ve done. If you’re interested, just go to 7-Eleven like I did. Wait until the dart hits Frosted Flake Oreo Cookies to get a family pack.

Purchased Price: $1.99
Size: 2.40 oz package
Purchased at: 7-Eleven
Rating: 4 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 Pack/4 Cookies) 290 calories, 13 grams of fat, 4.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 gram of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 150 milligrams of sodium, 42 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 24 grams of sugar, and less than 2 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Sour Patch Kids Apple Harvest

Mark 6 Comments

In August, I feverishly go from store to store, trying to find new Halloween/fall products to review for this site. I know all the grocery stores near my home and my places of employment.

Oddly enough, I couldn’t find these Sour Patch Kids Apple Harvest at any of the usual stores. Instead, after a random tip in my Facebook feed, I finally found them at Michael’s, of all places.

New candy seems out of place at a craft store. But this particular candy also seems out of place with the Sour Patch Kids moniker.

These apple-shaped pieces come in three flavors: cranberry apple (red), apple cider (tan), and caramel apple (green).

The most startling thing to me is that these are nowhere near as sour as regular Sour Patch Kids. They’re mildly sour, but not very much. They also are not nearly as colorful as regular SPK. I wondered if they might have used natural colors, but nope, there on the ingredients list are Yellow 5, Red 40, and Blue 1. And I do think they’re softer than regular SPK, so there’s less of a jaw workout.

As for the flavors, cranberry apple really does taste like cranberry. There’s a mild bitterness that you might expect in cranberry sauce, but the apple makes it less pronounced. Apple cider tastes most authentic and has the most noticeable apple flavor. And caramel apple has a strong caramel flavor, albeit an artificial one.

Look, I really want to love these. They feel like a more sophisticated version of SPK. And yet, they just aren’t as good. They fit with the apple-scented potpourri or candles you might find at a craft store. They need to be more sour. As is, they’re just a generic apple candy.

These are called Sour Patch Kids, but they are neither Sour nor Kids. That leaves us with Patch. But that doesn’t work either because apples grow in orchards, not patches.

I feel like Michael’s is an expensive place to buy candy. If you want to try these, wait until they make their way to a cheaper store. They’re just not worth Michael’s prices.

Purchased Price: $5.99
Size: 10 oz bag
Purchased at: Michael’s
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (9 pieces) 120 calories, 0 grams of fat, 25 milligrams of sodium, 29 grams of carbohydrates, 25 grams of sugar (including 25 grams of added sugar), and 0 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Sour Patch Kids Lemonade Fest

Mark

Since Sour Patch Kids are famously “Sour. Sweet. Gone,” it only makes sense there would be an entire pack devoted to lemonade, that spectacular drink that perfectly balances sour and sweet. (Seriously, I think we take lemonade for granted.)

Sour Patch Kids Lemonade Fest consists of four lemonade flavors:

  • Strawberry lemonade (pink)
  • Blue raspberry lemonade (blue)
  • Lemonade (yellow)
  • Cherry lime lemonade (red)

Strawberry lemonade has a lovely fake strawberry flavor. Look, this is a candy, so I don’t care if it tastes fake. It tastes just as I hoped it would! I’m not sure if I can detect lemon per se, but it’s hard to notice something that’s known for being sour in a candy that’s already sour.

Blue raspberry lemonade is good, but I’m not sure I would guess it was raspberry in a blind taste test. It’s more generically sweet and sour.

I think plain lemonade is the sourest of the bunch. It’s just regular lemon, but sometimes you just need the simple classics, and I’m glad it’s in the mix.

Cherry lime lemonade is fascinating. It has a hint of bitterness like you would get from actual limes. Whatever cherry is in there takes a backseat to the lime. This is the closest to something you would find in nature.

Honestly, if I were just mindlessly eating these, I think the cherry lime flavor is the only one I would notice is different from the others. If I eat all four at once, it’s very sour, but no flavor sticks out. Even though they are all similar, I think I like these four flavors more than I like most Sour Patch Kids mixes!

While many candy mixes have fan favorites, I don’t think there’s one flavor I look forward to more than the others in this case. I might have favorite Starbursts, favorite movies, or favorite children*, but I don’t have a favorite of the Sour Patch Kids Lemonade Fest mix.

*Note: I don’t actually have children. Which means I get to keep these all to myself!

Purchased Price: $2.75
Size: 8.02 oz bag
Rating: 8 out of 10
Purchased at: Dollar General
Nutrition Facts: (12 pieces) 110 calories, 0 grams of fat, 25 milligrams of sodium, 27 grams of carbohydrates, 23 grams of sugar (including 23 grams of added sugar), and 0 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Sonic Sour Patch Kids Slush Float

Jenna 8 Comments

Sonic Sour Patch Kids Slush Float Whole

I had already slurped half of my Sonic Sour Patch Kids Slush Float through a straw before I started to wonder if I should be using a spoon instead, and that feeling of confusion perfectly sums up my experience with this new offering from Sonic. It can essentially be broken into three parts — the Sour Patch Kids, the slush, and the float — and they never quite work together.

The majority of this hard-to-describe dessert consists of the slush, which is watermelon-flavored and so sour that I’m glad that this isn’t a video review because the pucker it put on my face was not pretty! I was impressed with how smoothly it went down, though, appealingly liquid-y with gritty ice bits intermingled well enough to give it texture while avoiding the classic Slurpee problem of sucking out all the flavor syrup right away and then getting stranded with a plain cup of ice.

Sonic Sour Patch Kids Slush Float Spoon

The “float” part comes from the iceberg of vanilla soft serve that sits atop the slush, but I found the name a little misleading. One of the greatest pleasures of a traditional ice cream float is the way the scoops of hard ice cream melt to combine with the soda into a new substance, milky yet flavorful and somehow more than the sum of its parts. That’s what I hoped for here, but it just didn’t happen. The rich soft serve was so intimidatingly thick that not a drop could be sucked through the straw, and even as I lingered over the treat, it showed no signs of melting into something more mixable. With the unyielding ice cream trapping the slush below, I had to do some serious digging to capture both components in the same spoonful, and when I did, there was no harmonious mingling of flavors, just a cold, shockingly tart lump.

Sonic Sour Patch Kids Slush Float Lid

Of course, to complement the sourness of the slush, there are the Sour Patch Kids candy pieces themselves, but you’d be forgiven for missing them. Their signature “weird little gremlin-person” shape has been traded out for a form that looks more like Fruity Pebbles and doesn’t amount to much more than a colorful garnish. These flakes pretty much all either sat on top of the ice cream or sunk to the bottom of the slush, so they were mostly only present in my first and last sips/bites. But, to give credit where credit’s due, whenever I did encounter them, they were pleasantly chewy, never frozen stiff like I’d feared.

Sonic Sour Patch Kids Slush Float Sign

Though it had its tasty moments, my biggest problem with the Sour Patch Kids Slush Float is that it didn’t capture the versatile flavor profile so perfectly summed up by the Sour Patch Kids slogan, “First they’re sour. Then they’re sweet”. That rapid transition from intensity to relief works brilliantly in a candy where the sour coating can be sucked off to reveal the sweetness underneath, but the slush and the ice cream here never blended well enough to pull off such a trick. I kept wishing I was separately munching Sour Patch Kids candy, slurping a slushie, or licking vanilla ice cream because, like the naughty children in the Sour Patch Kids commercials, these ingredients just did not play well together.

Purchased Price: $2.99
Size: Medium
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 520 calories, 11 grams of fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, 200 milligrams of sodium, 106 grams of carbohydrates, 92 grams of sugar, and 3 grams of protein.