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Skittles

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Skittles Orchards

DSC_8257rbIn the world of grouped things there are litters (kittens & puppies), packs (mules), troops (monkeys), prides (lions), passels (pigs), pods (whales & dolphins), scurries (squirrels), hives (bees) and orchards (fruit trees). So, Wrigley’s new variety mix is simply called Skittles Orchards since it contains Orange, Red Apple, Lime, Peach and Cherry flavors.

Right off the bat, I knew this wouldn’t have anything berry or pineapple ...

The package is a rich green color, so it was easy to spot on the shelf at the 7-11.

DSC_8276rb

Red Apple is different from the new green apple that appears in the Original Fruits variety. It’s not as sour and has a more juice and peel type flavor that you might get from cider instead of a Jolly Rancher candy. The Red Apple flavor is the lighter of the two red colors in this mix ...why they couldn’t make it some other shade of red, I’m not certain because I kept getting it confused with the cherry at first glance.

Lime is, well, classic. It’s a little tart but mostly has the sweet and zesty notes of lime peel. I missed it.

Orange is rather sedate. There are a lot of juice flavors but it lacks a more powerful zest note that the lime has. This was an opportunity for Wrigley’s to put in something like Mandarin Orange or Tangerine ... instead they just threw in a flavor they already make.

DSC_8272rb

Cherry is the darker red and I’m sure that lovers of the Starburst cherry are going to go nuts for this package of Skittles. I can’t tell if it’s actually different from the Wild Cherry that comes in the Wild Berry Skittles mix, but it is nice to see them putting Cherry into another mix.

Peach is disappointing, though I actually liked it. It’s a little tangy and has an immediate sort of balsam note to it, but it lacks that peachness. There more like a vague tropical punch flavor, which isn’t a bad thing.

As far as combining the flavors. Of course Orange and Lime went together, and Cherry and Lime went together. Peach and Orange were okay, but not stellar. And of course Red Apple was like the new Green Apple in the Fruits mix ... it just doesn’t combine well with anything but itself.

There’s nothing innovative about this packet of Skittles, but then again, that’s not what folks want. If that’s what they wanted, varieties like Chocolate Mix and Fizzl’d Fruits would have survived. Instead this mix delivers solid contenders for “I enjoy this flavor” though nothing that would scream, “I love this flavor.” That’s probably enough in the Skittles world where it’s about the variety, it’s all about the rainbow, it’s never about one color. I don’t think this version will survive long, Wrigley’s will move on to another mix up of other tried and true flavors that it’s done before within 18 months.

Just to clarify, there are at least 60 flavors that have been released in the US flavor mixes before. Here’s the list that I have (in alphabetical order): Banana Berry, Berry Punch, Blood Orange, Blue Raspberry-Lemon, Blueberry Tart, Brownie Batter, Bubble Gum, Candy Apple, Caramel Ripple, Cherry Tropicolada, Cherry-Lemonade, Chocolate, Chocolate Caramel, Chocolate Pudding, Cool Mint, Cotton Candy, Dark Berry, Forbidden Fruit, Grape, Green Apple, Green Slushy, Key Lime Pie, Kiwi Lime, Lemon, Lemon Berry, Lime, Mango Lemonade Freeze, Mango Tangelo, Mango-Peach, Melon Berry Burst, Midnight Lime, Mixed Berry, Orange, Orange Creme, Orange Mango, Peach Pear, Peppermint , Pineapple Passionfruit, Pomegranate, Punch, Raspberry, Raspberry Sorbet, Red Licorice, S’More, Sour Grape, Sour Green Apple, Sour Lemon, Sour Orange, Sour Strawberry, Spearmint, Strawberry, Strawberry Banana, Strawberry Lime Burst, Strawberry Milkshake, Strawberry Starfruit, Strawberry-Watermelon, Sweet Mint, Vanilla, Vanilla Swirl, Watermelon, Watermelon Green Apple Freeze, Wild Cherry, Wintergreen.

Related Candies

  1. Morinaga HiCHEW Mini
  2. Mentos: Ume, Honeyed Apple and Lemon Squash
  3. Mentos Rainbow
  4. Skittles Blenders
  5. HiCHEW World Fruit: Dragonfruit, CamuCamu, Durian & White Peach
  6. Skittles (Fruits, Wild Berry, Tropical, Smoothies & Sour)
  7. Skittles Fresh Mint


Name: Skittles Orchards
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Wrigley’s
Place Purchased: 7-11 (Silver Lake)
Price: $1.99
Size: 4 ounces
Calories per ounce: 115
Categories: Candy, Mars, Wrigley's, Chews, 6-Tempting, United States, 7-11

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:50 pm     CandyReviewSkittlesMarsWrigley'sChews6-TemptingUnited States7-11

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Skittles Desserts

Skittles DessertsIt’s a new year and time for a new variety of Skittles.

This year’s flavor variation is called Skittles Desserts and features five different colors themed on dessert creations: Orange Creme (peach), Raspberry Sorbet (red), Strawberry Milkshake (creamy pink), Blueberry Tart (blue) and Key Lime Pie (bright green).

Skittles Desserts

The pink package was pretty easy to find on the shelf. The current varieties of Skittles are the Original Fruits (now with green apple), Wild Berry, Sours, Tropical and Darkside. For Easter there’s also a pastel version of the Original Fruits.

Skittles Desserts

Orange Creme is kind of pointless. It’s absolutely like an orange sherbet, which is to say, orange with all the great things taken out. The addition of the creme flavor component gives it a sort of Play-Doh flavor note that’s a little too fake milk. There’s no zest, though a light tartness.

Raspberry Sorbet has a strong floral note and only a light tartness. There’s also a bitter aftertaste for me, perhaps the food coloring. Overall, it’s a nice flavor that combines well with the others.

Strawberry Milkshake is comforting. It’s just strawberry with a sort of yogurt note. It’s not as floral or as tart, just sweet and slightly creamy.

Blueberry Tart is tough to say succeeds. It does have a lot of blueberry flavor in it, both the deep boiled jam note and the sort of tart and tannic tea flavors. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a dessert like a berry tart, it’s closer to a fresh berry flavor though that’s not a bad thing.

Key Lime Pie is absolutely disappointing. I’ve had a lot of key limes, both fresh, frozen and mock versions. Key limes are definitely different from the standard Persian limes in both the flavor profile and texture. This lime is more Persian than Key. It’s tart, but not overly so, but misses that milky, sort of chalky note that key limes have.

This flavor assortment was lackluster. There were no stand out flavors, nothing new. It’s just a series of small tweaks to flavors that we’ve all seen before from Skittles. I didn’t think they combined particularly well, which is usually one of the features I like best about Skittles. Since the loss of the Lime Skittle in the Original Fruits variety, I’m left without a favorite Skittles package. I haven’t bought them since I stopped finding the bags with the original variety in them. In last year’s review of the Skittles Darkside, I listed a few ideas for new mixes (including Skittles Pies, kinda what they did here).

Related Candies

  1. Skittles Darkside
  2. Skittles Crazy Sours (Europe)
  3. Skittles Blenders
  4. Panda Blueberry Liquorice
  5. Whoppers Milkshake Strawberry
  6. Andes Mints & Dessert Indulgence
  7. Skittles Chocolate Mix
  8. Skittles Carnival Flavors


Name: Skittles Desserts
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Wrigley’s
Place Purchased: Ralph's (Santa Monica)
Price: $.88 (on sale)
Size: 2 ounces
Calories per ounce: 115
Categories: Candy, Skittles, Mars, Wrigley's, Chews, 6-Tempting, United States, Ralph's

POSTED BY Cybele AT 12:12 pm     CandyReviewSkittlesMarsWrigley'sChews6-TemptingUnited StatesRalph's

Monday, February 25, 2013

Skittles replace Lime with Green Apple

Skittles Now With Green AppleBREAKING NEWS: The Original Fruits Skittles are no longer original.

The green Skittle, which has always been Lime in the United States (except for a brief replacement in 2001), has been replaced with Green Apple.

I noticed the new packages on shelves last week here in Southern California (but they’re probably rolling out all over the country on different timetables). Haley, a reader, mentioned in the comments on the Darkside Skittles review that Midnight Lime in the Darkside mix is now the new home of the much-maligned citrus.

Skittles - Now with Green Apple

The Green Apple Skittle is a fine tasting Skittle. It’s a mix of actual apple juice flavor, with that sort of peel note to it and the artificial Jolly Rancher. It has a good mix of tartness and sweetness, but it’s actually less tangy than I would have hoped.

The perfection that was the Original Fruits Skittles is now gone. The best feature of Skittles is their combine-ability. Every flavor went with every other flavor in a surprisingly versatile way.

Strawberry & Lime was a daiquiri. Lemon & Lime was a soda. Grape & Lime was a great fruit punch. Orange & Lime was a citrus cooler.

As nice as Green Apple is, it doesn’t play well with others. It’s too head strong. Green Apple and Grape is a wreck. Green Apple and Lemon is passable, but only because Lemon is making up for Apple’s failings. Green Apple and Strawberry is a battle in my mouth, the floral notes of the berry are quite strong, but the plastic note of the Green Apple just steamrolls it. Green Apple and Orange is, well, just fine.

Skittles Facebook Page

Reaction on Facebook, since I’ve been glancing at the page, isn’t generally positive. More than half of the new messages posted there are negative about the Green Apple (the other posts are general comments with only one I saw that was positive about the flavor).

I’m not sure if this is a publicity stunt and Wrigley’s is planning for a backlash and then will, with much fanfare, return Lime ... or if it’s really a sign of the times, that Lime has had its day, that it’s a 20th century fruit living in a 21st century candy bag. This was mostly an American phenomenon, anyway, Australia went Green Apple more than 10 years ago.

For me, this ruins Skittles perfection. I liked every single flavor in the package. I would eat them all, sure I would rank them but I didn’t pick around a certain flavor. (I give the cherry Starburst away instead of eating them myself.) I still like Skittles ... but I’m far less likely to buy them with the new flavor swap.

Note: The Easter Pastel Skittles still have Lime for 2013.

Related Candies

  1. Skittles Darkside
  2. Skittles Crazy Sours (Europe)
  3. New Flavors: Skittles Sour & Wonka Runts
  4. Skittles from the UK
  5. Skittles (Fruits, Wild Berry, Tropical, Smoothies & Sour)
  6. What Made Hershey’s Want to Change Chocolate?

POSTED BY Cybele AT 11:31 am     CandySkittlesMarsWrigley'sChewsUnited StatesHighlightFeatured News

Monday, January 7, 2013

Skittles Darkside

Skittles DarksideThere’s a new flavor variety of Skittles out, they’re called Skittles Darkside.

There have been over a dozen Skittles varieties over the years, and still the original flavor set remains the same in the United States, with good reason. It’s a great variety. But that hasn’t stopped Mars, and now Wrigley’s the present owner, from introducing new items to the market every 18 months or so. Most quietly disappear, but some make the cut and hang around.

I learned of the existence of Skittles Darkside on The Impulsive Buy and over the weekend searched stores for them. The heart on the front led me to believe that this item would be shelved with the Valentine’s Day candy. I did eventually find it at Target, but not in the seasonal aisle (as that was still occupied by a stubborn amount of Christmas decorations) but on an endcap in the frozen food section also populated with clearance holiday blends of coffee.

Skittles Darkside

The flavor set of the new mix is intriguing. The tagline of “The Other Side of the Rainbow” is a little ominous but fits with the quirky branding of Skittles. The flavors are blood orange, forbidden fruit, midnight lime, pomegranate and dark berry. The pomegranate and blood orange were the flavors that really captured my imagination.

Skittles Darkside

Pomegranate (Dark Red) has a deep flavor with a good cherry and berry flavor. It’s tangy, but doesn’t have that tannic bite that real pomegranates do. If I wasn’t told this was pomegranate, I’d just say blackberry. Not that there’s anything wrong with a good blackberry.

Dark Berry (Purple) is a lovely color, just a little more red than the grape in the Fruits Skittles. The flavor is good, it’s well rounded with a floral and berry jam mix of notes and maybe a little blackcurrant.

Forbidden Fruit (Blue) tasted a bit like melon and currant to me. A fruit punch, but less generic.

Blood Orange (Coral) is not a deep red like the juice is. Instead the pieces are more of a dark salmon color. The flavor is nicely juicy, more of the juice flavor of a tangerine than the traditional orange. But it’s missing a note, an orange peel flavor to give it a true roundness. It’s also not that intense.

Midnight Lime is a puzzle. I don’t know what makes it midnight-ish. I have some Fruits Skittles around, so I tried the lime ones as well. They’re lime Skittles. There’s very little difference. The color is a bit more on the medium green side instead of bright light green. There may be less zest, but I wouldn’t say that’s a selling point.

It’s not the best mix I’ve had, partly because it’s lacking the versatility of pairings. The combinations don’t zing like the classic Fruits do and the Pomegranate and Dark Berry are too similar while the Blood Orange and Midnight Lime are too bland for something billed as Darkside. I’ll probably finish the bag, but it appears that the regular Fruits that I picked up for comparison will disappear first.

I liked the idea there are more Skittles flavor varieties to explore. I’d like to offer up a few more suggestions:

Skittles FruitsSkittles Soda Pop - root beer, cola, lemon-lime, ginger ale, and whatever that flavor Dr. Pepper is. Other possibilities would be Mt. Dew, Squirt (grapefruit), cherry cola, cream soda. Of all of my flavor mixes I’ve been mentioning, I think this one has the strongest shot. It would depend largely on whether they spend the money on licensing the soda names (like Jelly Belly does) or if they go generic. With generic names they can play more with flavors and of course keep more of the profit for themselves.

Caffeinated Skittles - these would be sold in small packages only to prevent caffeine overdose. Flavors might be coffee themed, or maybe more like energy drinks. One package would equal to about 100 mg of caffeine, this would mean that the taste would be affected too much. There would be an instant outcry from parents about the inappropriateness of the product for children ... gamers and college students would hoard them.

Ice Cream SkittlesSkittles Citrus Mix - I’ve mentioned this before, it’s not like they’ve never existed before, there was a version in Australia for a few years that had Lemon, Mandarin, Pink Grapefruit, Lime, Orange. I would tweak that a bit and have Yuzu, Pink Grapefruit, Tangerine, Meyer Lemon and Kalamansi. Yeah, that’s going to happen.

Skittles Spicy - this is a wide open area. It could be something like the popular combination of Mango and Chili, or more like the classic spice jelly beans: spearmint, peppermint, cinnamon, licorice and clove. I predict these would be a huge failure.

Skittles Fruits (Germany)Skittles Pies - you know, the flavors of popular pies, only in chewy lentil form! Banana Cream, Spicy Apple, Lemon Meringue, Cherry, Chocolate Cream.

Skittles Intense - just more flavored than the regular Skittles. Not more sour, just 20% more flavoring.

Skittles Natural - all natural colorings and flavors. Or maybe just blank Skittles, with no colorings at all. Then you don’t know which flavor is which.

Skittles are gluten free and gelatin free.

Related Candies

  1. Skittles Blenders
  2. Skittles Fizzl’d Fruits
  3. Skittles Crazy Cores
  4. Skittles Chocolate Mix
  5. Skittles Carnival Flavors
  6. Skittles (Fruits, Wild Berry, Tropical, Smoothies & Sour)
  7. Skittles Fresh Mint
  8. Skittles Ice Cream


Name: Skittles Darkside
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Wrigley’s
Place Purchased: Target (Eagle Rock)
Price: $2.69
Size: 10.5 ounces
Calories per ounce: 114
Categories: Candy, Skittles, Mars, Wrigley's, Chews, 6-Tempting, United States, Target

POSTED BY Cybele AT 10:50 am     CandyReviewSkittlesMarsWrigley'sChews6-TemptingUnited StatesTarget

Friday, May 4, 2012

Skittles Crazy Sours (Europe)

Crazy Sours Skittles (Europe)Skittles were introduced in 1974 in the UK then in 1979 in the United States. While the flavors in the classic Fruits package vary whether you purchase the US or European variety, the flavors have remained the same.

It wasn’t until 1989 that Skittles started to create extra flavor versions of their packages. The Skittles Sours were introduced in the United States in 2000 as a regular Skittle with a grainy sour coating. That same year the European version of Skittles Crazy Sours came out. They’re a bit different in that they don’t look different, but have a different set of flavors from the Fruits set but no tangy coating.

Sour Skittles (Europe)

The colors are a little muted but easily identified as Skittles with the classic printed S on them. They did smell a little more than the standard Fruit Skittles. It was a light, fruity smell, kind of like Froot Loops or Freesias.

Skittles - US Fruits & European Crazy SoursSince they don’t really look like the American Sour Skittles, I compared them to the American Fruits Skittles (on the left).

Green is the Sour Apple flavor, not lime. It’s the most artificial tasting of the bunch, with a more apple cider vinegar tartness than a Jolly Rancher, by far my least favorite of the bunch.

Yellow is Pineapple! What a delight. Why don’t they have any pineapple Skittles in the United States? I loved these. A mix of floral and canned pineapple.

Orange is Sour Mandarin according to Wikipedia. It actually doesn’t say what the flavors are on the package.  It is tangy, but not terribly intense. The orange original Fruits Skittle orange is equally mild in the flavor profile, but of course lacks that tartness.The flavor actually varied a bit from piece to piece, some were notably more sour than others. 

Pink is rather magenta and a Sour Raspberry flavor. The notes are really good, there’s the tartness, the floral berry notes and then a deeper boiled sugar flavor like jam.

Purple was hard to place at first, it’s Sour Cherry. The color is a true, bright purple, instead of the eggplant purple of the domestic grape version. It’s rather good, probably the most sour of all of Skittles in this package and with a really convincing sour cherry juice flavor. It has notes of currant and raspberry and pomegranate

Sour Skittles

There really is no comparison between the American Sour Skittles and the European Crazy Sours Skittles. I can’t say that I prefer them, but the zing was noticeable enough to say that they’re different, but perhaps my mouth has been spoiled by truly sour things so I didn’t find these rose to the level of crazy. I have to say that I prefer the European version to the American sours, but only because they’re not messy.

I don’t know the allergen status of these. Skittles stopped using gelatin a few years ago, though they’re not marked as Kosher.

Related Candies

  1. Haribo Gold Bears from Turkey and Germany
  2. Skittles Riddles
  3. Haribo Maoam Fruit Chews
  4. Skittles Blenders
  5. New Flavors: Skittles Sour & Wonka Runts
  6. Mentos - Pine Fresh (Pineapple)
  7. Skittles from the UK
  8. Skittles (Fruits, Wild Berry, Tropical, Smoothies & Sour)


Name: Skittles Crazy Sours
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Wrigley’s
Place Purchased: Albert Heijn (Amsterdam)
Price: 1 Euro ($1.35)
Size: 1.94 ounces
Calories per ounce: 110
Categories: Candy, Mars, Wrigley's, Chews, 7-Worth It, United Kingdom

POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:53 pm     CandySkittles

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Skittles Riddles

Skittles RiddlesI’ve been waiting for a new variety of Skittles to come along to blow me out of the water. Something that really turns expectations about Skittles on their ear, like the Skittles Carnival limited edition version a few years back. Mostly I’ve been hoping for Skittles Soda Pop: cola, root beer, lemon-lime, orange and grape soda. But that doesn’t look likely. Instead I picked up this teal blue bag of their newest called Skittles Riddles.

The newest version of Skittles have a new set of flavors and a new twist. The riddle is that The Colors Don’t Match the Flavors. There are the standard set of five colors, in this case aqua, light green, blue, red and pink. The flavors are apple, strawberry, punch, watermelon and raspberry. And as they note, they won’t necessarily match up with their colors. Some of the flavors aren’t actually that new, raspberry, strawberry and punch are found in other mixes.

Skittles Riddles

My big curiosity was whether or not the color swap would be consistent throughout the bag. Would all blues be the same flavor, or would it be completely randomized? My initial observation is that they’re randomized. (Though limited, I found one flavor in three colors at most.)

Watermelon was unmistakeable. The first time it was a dark red, another time it was aqua. It was like a Jolly Rancher in chew form. The flavor dissipates fast, but comes on strong.
Punch was strong, like a big chewy glop of Hawaiian Punch. I don’t care much for the flavor, and not having that ruby red color to warn me was a little discomforting.
Strawberry was, well, the classic Skittles strawberry. Sweet, floral, tangy and very consistent. It tasted a little like a strawberry kiwi.
Apple was a strongly artificial flavor, very little of an apple juice or apple peel note. In my case, it was actually green.
Raspberry was hard to find, I had to eat a lot of these before I stumbled on this one. It was subtle, a little tangy but missing the jam and floral notes I like in a raspberry candy.

On the whole, I like the idea of mixing up expectations. But one thing that I like about Skittles is how I eat them. I like to line them up, grouped by color and then eat them in matched pairs. When I get to the end with the singles, I like to keep my citrus flavors together and mix my grape with strawberry. With this version, I simply can’t do that. I can’t ever be sure I’m putting two of the same flavor together, and not all of the flavors actually go together well. I didn’t like watermelon combined with anything else and strawberry probably would have gone well with raspberry.

It’ll be fun for folks who don’t actually look at the colors and it is nice to see new flavors. But I’m still waiting for my Citrus Mix or Soda Pop. The novelty flavors like Crazy Cores and Fizzl’d Fruits are wearing thin and I don’t even want to talk about the poor execution of the Chocolate Skittles.

Skittles are gelatin free now and labeled as gluten free. There’s no statement about other allergens like nuts, eggs or gluten.

UPDATE 11/28/2012: Wrigley’s in the UK will be introducing a version of these called Skittles Confused (I believe they were a Sainsbury exclusive limited edition back in 2008.)

Related Candies

  1. Mystery Smarties
  2. Skittles Blenders
  3. Skittles Fizzl’d Fruits
  4. Skittles Crazy Cores
  5. Skittles Carnival Flavors
  6. Skittles (Fruits, Wild Berry, Tropical, Smoothies & Sour)
  7. Skittles Fresh Mint
  8. Skittles Ice Cream


Name: Skittles Riddles
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Wrigley’s
Place Purchased: Target (West Hollywood)
Price: $3.39
Size: 14 ounces
Calories per ounce: 110
Categories: Candy, Mars, Wrigley's, Chews, 7-Worth It, United States, Target

POSTED BY Cybele AT 10:17 am     CandyReviewSkittlesMarsWrigley'sChews7-Worth ItUnited StatesTarget

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Skittles Blenders

Wrigley’s (part of Mars) has quietly released a new variety of Skittles called Skittles Blenders. They feature blended fruit flavors.

Skittles Blenders

The package is bright yellow with sky blue accents. I’m not sure if Blenders requires an exclamation point at the end or a tornado like the package shows. Unlike the Crazy Cores introduced about two years ago that have contrasting flavors for the shell and center, these flavor combinations are completely combined.

Skittles Blenders

The package smells a lot like the Tropical Skittles at first.

Blue - Melon Berry Burst (tm) - the aqua blue Skittles have a distinct flavor that’s just like Tropical Punch but tastes nothing like the melon or berry mentioned in the name. It’s tangy and certainly vibrant.
Green - Watermelon Green Apple Freeze (tm) - this piece has a strong watermelon note at first and then a lingering plasticky green apple finish. It’s not as tart as the Melon Berry Burst, but still has a good balance of sweet and sour that I expect from my Skittles.
Pink - Strawberry Lime Burst (tm) - this was my favorite, simply because I actually like lime and strawberry individually. The strawberry keeps this one sweet and floral, but the lime gives it a peppery citrus burst with a slight hint of bitter lime. It was a bit like a strawberry daiquiri.
Red - Cherry Tropicolada (tm) - these were quite strong with a good cherry flavor on top and then a tropical punch flavor underneath with just a hint of sweet coconut. There was a burning taste somewhere at the end that seared my throat, I couldn’t decide if it was part of the experience or the food colorings.
Peach - Mango Lemonade Freeze (tm) - the lemonade on this is good, a sweet and floral version of lemon with a bit of a peach vibe to it towards the end. I had two bags of these Skittles and one of them had much more mango-ness to them.

I’m underwhelmed by this new version. There were two flavors that I picked out to eat, which left 3/5 of the package uneaten by me. I have nothing against the invention of new flavors or new flavor combinations but the fact that all of these are trademarked leads me to believe that there were more intellectual property lawyers involved in the creation of this candy than actual candy makers. I wish Wrigley’s/Mars would just stick to really great flavors instead of these strange mixes. They make a Citrus Mix for Australia, why won’t they give those a try in the United States?

The package states that they are gluten free and gelatin free. It also reminds you to do your part and dispose of the wrappers in the trash. Skittles are fortified with vitamin C and a package 40% of your daily recommended amount.

Related Candies

  1. Skittles Fizzl’d Fruits
  2. Mentos: Juicy Orange, Lemon Lime & Watermelon
  3. Skittles Crazy Cores
  4. Starburst Retro
  5. Skittles Carnival Flavors
  6. Skittles (Fruits, Wild Berry, Tropical, Smoothies & Sour)
  7. Starburst Icy Bursts


Name: Skittles Riddles
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Wrigley’s
Place Purchased: Target (West Hollywood)
Price: $3.39
Size: 14 ounces
Calories per ounce: 110
Categories: Candy, Mars, Wrigley's, Chews, 7-Worth It, United States, Target

POSTED BY Cybele AT 12:34 pm     CandyReviewSkittlesMarsWrigley'sChews5-PleasantUnited StatesSav-On/CVS

Monday, March 22, 2010

Skittles Fizzl’d Fruits

Skittles Fizzl'd FruitsBack in October I heard that Wrigley’s was introducing some new Skittles. These weren’t just new flavors, they were going to be a completely new way to experience the chewy fruit-flavored candy lentils.

Skittles Fizzl’d Fruits are billed as Fizzling fun for your mouth. As you can imagine from the name, they’re Skittles with a foaming, fizzy component.

The package is cobalt blue and holds the same amount as the Sour Skittles, 1.8 ounces (the regular flavors are 2.17 ounces). I couldn’t wait to find them in stores locally, so when I saw a box of them posted on eBay, I bought them right away.

From the outside of the package they looked like Sour Skittles, which of course gets my mouth watering immediately. The images show a softly sanded set of Skittles, my guess was this was the fizzing part.

This sort of fizzing reaction is the same as AlkaSeltzer or other effervescent tablets. Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) is mixed with an acidic agent, in this case citric acid. When it’s dry, nothing happens but when water (or saliva) wets it, they begin a reaction that results in carbon dioxide (the air) and sodium citrate (an alkaline salt with a tangy flavor that works as a mild antacid).

I took one Skittle and carefully put a drop of water on it and sure enough as the water wicked around the whole candy the surface started to bubble slightly. It looked like it was being deep fried, or like putting a strawberry in a glass of champagne. It’s not like the whole thing got covered in scrubbing bubbles nor would a whole bowl of them create a “snap, crackle, pop” but it’s still a remarkable little chemistry demonstration.

Skittles Fizzl'd Fruits

The flavors are Berry Punch, Melon Berry, Raspberry, Strawberry and Wild Cherry. If this set of flavors sounds familiar, yes, it’s the same as Wild Berry Skittles.

They smell softly sweet with a light floral note, but nothing that really hints at the experience to come.

Skittles Fizzl'd Fruits

They are strange! I can say right now they are not for me, but they are definitely intriguing.

I was expecting the caustic and biting sour coating when I popped two of the Melon Berry flavor in my mouth, and yes, there was a sour tingle, but then there was a fizz. It’s not a carbonation fizz, it’s more like putting an Alka Seltzer tablet on your tongue. The foaming is soft and has small bubbles which dissipate quickly, especially when I chewed up the candy. I didn’t care much for the melon berry flavor as it was, so the additional component was weird and slightly metallic.

Skittles Fizzl'd FruitsThe Raspberry went nicely, the sour bite was less noticeable and the foam seemed to support the floral flavors. The coating, I was noticing, has a medicinal mineral salt flavor to it, like eating antacids.

Berry Punch had a kind of bubble gum note to it, so the bubbly coating fit right in. It reminded me of a cheap soda from my childhood, in the best way possible.

Strawberry was much more tangy than the one found in the regular mix and combined well with the fizzling.

Wild Cherry was a strange combination of foreign flavors, it simply put, an effervescent cough drop. It had all the worst aftertastes for me, a mid-tone metallic note and then the lingering cherry and bitter red dye afterglow.

As I mentioned earlier, they’re just not for me. I’m not much for effervescence; the caustic burps after just aren’t worth the tongue tingling. The mineral aftertaste is also a bit disconcerting for me, but I know it’s completely benign. Finally, I’m not that keen on the name. They’re using the Wild Berry mix so seems like they could have gone for Bubbly Berry instead of Fizzl’d Fruits since Fruits is the name of the classic flavor mix. I also ate three bags of these over the past five days and found that the fizzy coating was inconsistent. Sometimes it was fizzy but flavorless, other times it was a perfect blend of tangy and foamy.

I know that kids like to snort the sour powder from Sour Skittles, but this would be a very bad idea ... I give it about 11 days before videos start showing up on youtube of kids doing it. Skittles are now gelatin-free and gluten-free. They’re also no nuts and vegan if you’re the kind who will eat artificial stuff. Not Kosher.

Ebidebby also has a review of them today.

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Name: Skittles Fizzl'd Fruits
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Wrigley's (Mars)
Place Purchased: eBay
Price: $.77 each (8.50 plus shipping for 24 count box)
Size: 1.8 ounces
Calories per ounce: 111
Categories: Chew, Carbonated, Sour, United States, Wrigley's, Mars

POSTED BY Cybele AT 10:39 am    

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