24 July 2011

Guzzle Puzzle Sweets [The Natural Confectionery Co] [By @Cinabar]




These fab new sweets from The Natural Confectionery Co are also a bit of a new idea. They are trying to be more than a bag of sweets, and have combined a bit of fun in the bag in that you can combine flavours and try and work out what the end taste result might be. There is a mini menu on the back of the bag to help you out too, as you puzzle over the flavours. The sweets come in two shapes, which are hooks and loops so that you can combine them easily by stacking them.
I poured out the contents of the bag to survey my options and was immediately disappointed. I realised that there weren’t that many sweets in the bag at all and that the variation of shapes wasn’t equal as there were more hooks than loops. More than that though, the biggest disappointment was that there were no cinnamon sweets in the bag. Cinnamon is one of my favourite flavours and when I heard that there was a sweet with this spice I was quite excited at the prospect of trying them, so having none at all in the bag was a big shame.
Still, I put together what flavours I had and stacked what I could to try the menu on the back. I also wanted to try the flavours individually to see what the basic ingredients were like.

Green – This had a zesty lime taste. It was fresh, tasty and sweet. It wasn’t too strong, but was lovely and natural.

Orange – This was a warmer orange flavour, it had lots of sweet citrus tones and was pleasant and well balanced.

Yellow – I was expecting this to be lemon, but it is actually banana as I suspect this gives more depth for fruit combinations than too many citrus sweets. The banana flavour is mild but distinct with a nice sweet edge.

Dark Pink- This had a subtle raspberry taste, again it was sweet, but lacking the wow factor.

Red – I didn’t get one of these, but it would have been cinnamon if I had :-(

This only left me with two possible combinations from the menu with what I had left:


Lime & Raspberry – This is supposed to make Pink Lemonade. It did have a nice fruity taste, and the raspberry and lime were nice together. I’m not sure I’d necessarily think it was pink lemonade but the flavours are sort of there and it was a good combination.

Orange & Banana – This curious mix is supposed to make Bubblegum. I actually could pick up a hint of bubble gum taste with this one, and it was an enjoyable sweet. The orange tang becomes more mild, and the banana develops into a even sweeter taste which makes a good fruity mix.

In conclusion then, these sweets have good natural tastes, and the jellies are soft and easy to eat. I did like mixing the flavours as it was kind of fun stacking them together. Instead of a random selection of sweets I’d prefer a measured and balanced amount in each bag. It is a nice idea, but I think it needs bigger bags too and a larger choice of menu if it intends to compete with the likes of Jelly Belly Jelly Bean combinations.
By Cinabar


21 comments:

LMC said...

You're dead right about the denominations of each flavour. I had ONE lime in my packet!!
Very frustrating as the whole point is to try and make new combinations.
Here's my review for those interested:

http://www.gobblemonkey.com/2011/07/guzzle-puzzle.html

i was a bit miffed!

cinabar said...

At least you got to try the cinnamon one - my bag had none :-(

Anonymous said...

Surely there were four possible combinations.

cinabar said...

The picture shows orange&lemon, lemon&orange, lime&raspberry and raspberry&lime which really is only two combinations - just the flavours are reversed.

I probably could have experimented more, but I meant that there was only two possible combination left with what was on the 'menu'.

Sakura said...

I had no orange ones in my bag. :-( The cinnamon ones were nice though, quite mild. I thought the whole lot were a bit TOO mild and didn't have much of a gummi spring to them.

Dreich said...

Tried these the other week, they were ok but like everyone else I was disappointed with the bag contents. I think they might just be trial sizes for now.

cinabar said...

Sakura - Agreed the flavours were mild, but the oranges ones were nice, hope you get some next time.

Dreich - a few more flavours and a big sharing bag would really help these along.

Anonymous said...

hey guys just to let you know i do think these sweets taste good i have had about 5 bags now :) the flavours are good but could do with being a bit more fruity. and i have just sat here with a bag hence why im on here and guess what!!! i got 8 green ones and 1 yellow ??? i cant make any combinations on the back i know you cant always get a set amount but would have been nice to get a few less green lol. i think next time i might buy about 5 bags and open them all put them in a sandwich bag and then i can have more choice lol

Anonymous said...

could anyone post the ingredients please?

cinabar said...

Done - please see above :-)

Anonymous said...

for me they all tasted the same when i combined then :' (

Anonymous said...

When you combine the sweets it dosen't taste of a new flavour at all, just of the two sweets put together. A rip off if you ask me!!

Anonymous said...

I have tried a packet of these sweets and can say that I would not waste any more money on them when join together they don't taste like anything I didn't like the taste of them over all on there own the word is flavorless ...

Anonymous said...

Are these sweets gluten free?

Anonymous said...

i didnt have any raspberries which are my fav and only one banana my second favourite and one cinamonn so was left with just orange and lime basicaly BAD!!!!

Anonymous said...

I tried to combine three sweets together and it tasted like pongypump ... hold your noses everyone;)

Anonymous said...

i've had four packets, and they all either completely lack cinammon or have one piece :/
love the idea and texture tho :)

Anonymous said...

what an outrage!!
just opened my pack to find a measly one orange, two cinnamon and two rasberry! the rest were either banana or lime which aren't even a registered flavour. however with all that said the "pink lemonade" tasted delicious! :-)

cinabar said...

They are going to have to sort out some kind of even distribution of flavours in bags - its getting silly now.

Anonymous said...

The "puzzle" reminds me of intercourse when together and nipples when apart- especially the pink ones or perhaps it's just me that sees this?

cinabar said...

You are not the first to mention it. Check youtube for the official advert for these sweets - that's near the mark too. :-D