Rocky Mountain Huckleberry Gummi Bears
Name: Wild Huckleberry Gummi Bears
Brand: Rocky Mountain
Place Purchased: Missoula, Montana
Price: gift from Amy
Size:
Calories per ounce: no nutrition information on the package
Type: Gummi Bears
I know, you're asking yourself, "what is a huckleberry? and is a wild one better?"
Well, first, a huckleberry is related to the blueberry and cranberry, or so says Wikipedia. And if my experience with wild strawberries and wild blueberries means anything, the wild ones are smaller and more expensive and hopefully organic.
However, upon further examination of the package, I found the following ingredients listed: Corn syrup, sugar, gelatin, artificial color, citric acid, artificial flavor, lactic acid, mineral oil and carnuba wax. Hmm, nowhere in there does it mention huckleberries.
No matter. these fellows are cute anyway, with the carnuba wax shines and their A emblazoned on their little chests. Wait, what's the A for? Got me, they're distributed by the Benjamin News Group and the brand seems to be "Rocky Mountain", not really any A initials there. Are they adulterous bears?They're very soft bears, with a nice tart flavor and a pretty smell, a cross between blackberries and violets. They're cute and fresh and so easy to pop in your mouth even if they purely a chemistry experiment. The color is exquisite, especially if you line them up on the desk. The trick, if you must know, if you want to get them to stand up is this: get a clean piece of white paper then lick the bottom of the bear (lightly, we don't want a lot of slobber) and then press them down gently on the paper in a row. A little backlight and they're practically luminous.
Rating - 7 out of 10 (they might be gone by the end of the day)
9 Comments:
I had other huckleberry goods to choose from, including a white chocolate thing called Bark which was packed with transfat. I really wanted to get some Spokandy, but my choice there was a very boring looking chocolate.
Someone brought a bunch of this huckleberry candy to our office recently (just some chocolate stones and some huckleberry canes) and it was passingly good. Wish they'd given us a few bags of the gummies instead. I LOVE gummi bears. Not as much as Swedish fish (why are they so addictive? Are they packed with heroin or something?) but they're more afforable. 8^)
Think I'll keep my eyes open for these.
nerd alert on the photo instrux! heh. i had a similar journey of disappointment w/ dreyer's/dreamery black raspberry avalanche ice cream (pls forgive me for going off-topic here) where i LOVED the black raspberry flavor then looked @ the ingreds and found no actual black raspberry in the black raspberry ice cream. chemistry, i guess
Chemistry is gooooood.
Hey, better living through chemistry!
Artificial flavours are usually made up from the same chemical compounds that comprise natural flavours. The only difference is they're mixed together in a vat in a lab rather than in a berry.
Everything is made from chemicals.
After tasting the adulterous little things, I have to say, these look alot better than they taste. They tasted like grape flavouring and had a very un-gummi consistency. Alas, the smell was so alluring, it was too good to be true.
Bruce - you're right about artificial stuff being the same as the real thing, but one of the things that "real" flavoring adds is something unexpected. Especially when you have something like a fruit or a spice, there are lots of other compounds in there that make up the flavor - some people can detect them, others can't. Some are brought out by other ingredients, others hide them. Some people like the volatile oils in citrus flavors, others prefer just the juicy/tartness.
For consistency I guess artificial is the way to go, but like those folks who drink vintage wines (where a blended wine would give a more consistent flavor) we're all pursuing some sort of elusive flavor perfection. Sometimes I like a Hershey bar for that reason, and sometimes it means I'm gonna go for a single origin bar for the risk involved.
i always enjoy it when an indulgent item has some good-for-you aspect. it makes a gummi (or an ice cream! yay ice cream) w/ even a tiny proportion of Real Fruit seem virtuous, even if you really know better
Maybe the 'A' on the bears is like, "We're A+ quality!" Or something.
Man, now I want some purple gummy bears....
Darn you and your candy blog!!!
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