Fox’s Sugar Free Glacier Moments - Lemon, Mint and Elderflower (Co-Op) By @SpectreUK

It's not often I try boiled sweets these days. I'm usually into the biscuits or chocolates before I go anywhere near anything resembling sweets, boiled or otherwise. I do like gummies, and especially sour gummies, but I only seem to eat mints at work in case I have a meeting after lunch.

I've always loved Fox's Glacier Mints, so these Fox's Sugar Free Glacier Moments - Lemon, Mint and Elderflower should be good. They come in a perfect pocket sized pick me up breath freshener. At 8 calories per boiled sweet, they don't hit the bank balance particularly hard for my calories intake per day.

The only trouble is that the cardboard box doesn't seem to fasten shut when open, say like a box of tea, so I wouldn't want to jump around too much if they were open in my jacket. Not that I jump around that much at work anyway. I leave that to the younger ones.

On opening the box there was a fruity minty aroma to the yellow rounded boiled sweets inside. On first taste I thought instantly that these Fox's Sugar Free Glacier Moments - Lemon, Mint and Elderflower tasted a lot like a solid block of mouthwash. I know I said that I wanted my breath fresh, but not that fresh. Wow, they really aren't for me. Sorry.

Fox’s Glacier Sweets - Pop Bottle Favourites (Pound World) [By @Cinabar]

Fox’s Glacier Sweets are a British classic boiled sweet, and the most famous variety being their Glacier Mints. They do have fruit varieties too, but it seems a while since I last saw a Limited Edition from them. This year they have released Pop Bottle Favourites with all the sweets flavoured like a classic soft drink. The new sweet flavours from Fox’s did sound like a good mix.
Now one of the problems with all the mixed bags of Ssweets from Fox’s is trying to work out which flavour your have picked. There isn’t a clue on the wrapper, so you end up holding them to the light to try and decipher the variety through the white wrapper. I did manage to work my way through all five of the new flavours:

Lemonade
The Lemonade sweet was a pale yellow in colour. It was a nice flavour, but mild rather than zingy. Still refreshing though.

Cream Soda
The pink sweet was the Cream Soda version. Its not necessarily the obvious choice of colour, but that aside the flavour was lovely. A hard boiled vanilla sweet works a treat.

Limeade
A more obvious choice in colour was the light green for Limeade. This one had a nice bit of tang to it, and it reminded me of the lime cordials you can buy.

Ginger Ale
This one is a brownish orange in colour. I thought it had an odd taste, as it was quite a spicy ginger flavour, but there was a hint of something bitter with it too. I wasn’t a fan of this sweet, but then I’m not much of ginger beer drinker.

Dandelion and Burdock
The photo makes it look black, but it is actually a dark purple. It is difficult to describe Dandelion and Burdock if you haven’t tried it, but this did hit the flavour perfectly. It was sweet, herby, almost liquorice like, and fab. Definitley my favourite in the range.

Most of the new flavours were hits for me, I just wasn’t keen on the ginger one. They do make a nice selection for a variety bag, and the Dandelion and Burdock sweet is a fab new edition.

By Cinabar

Fox’s Glacier Citrus (WH Smiths) [By @SpectreUK]

Fox’s have been producing sweets in the UK since 1897. Peppy the Polar Beer joined as their chief Quality Checker when Glacier Mints were brought out in 1918. I’ve always been partial to the odd packet of Fox’s Glacier Mints ever since I was a young lad. A year or so ago Cinabar reviewed Fox’s Glacier Limited Edition Mango Peach Passion Fruit Smoothies. These Fox’s Glacier Citrus recently appeared in my blogger’s in-tray between the iron bars of my cell in the Foodstufffind’s dungeon. There were four flavours to choose from, which were; lemon, lime, grapefruit and clementine. Clearly with such big sour fruit juice titles such as lemon, lime and grapefruit, I thought these glacier mints were meant as a bitter treat to dull the taste of whatever strange flavoured beer Cinabar had plans to torture me with. The Glacier Citrus were made in some part with actual fruit juice and with no artificial flavours or colours. It was good to see Fox’s were trying new flavours of sweets after so many years on the market. So I put down my beer bottle opener (fashioned from the skull of a previous Foodstuff blogger) and hungrily tore open the 200g Glacier Citrus bag. There was some confusion to start with as all the wrappers of individually wrapped sweets inside the bag were the same colour! I first thought that they were all four flavours rolled into each sweet, but I was just so wrong…

Clementine flavour

Unwrapping a sweet and taking note of the orange colour, I dumped it in my mouth and immediately noticed that it tasted just like orange jelly. This is great if you like orange jelly and don’t have one to hand. Fortunately I love orange jelly. I’ve always said that if jelly wrestling became an Olympic sport (London 2012?), then the bikini girls should wrestle in orange jelly. There was no sourness, just a juicy mouth watering clementine taste that was totally scrumptious.

Lime flavour

Green in colour and frustratingly in the same coloured wrapping as the clementine flavour, the lime flavour had a good sour taste to it, not face twisting, but enough to wake me up a bit whilst I sat bored at my desk at work. It had the same mouth watering tastiness as the Clementine flavour, with a delightful lime zing. Although I was beginning to wonder if I would have to unwrap most of the sweets to find the other two flavours!

Grapefruit flavour

Luckily the sixth sweet I unwrapped was an off yellow colour, and I popped it in my mouth figuring this would definitely be the lemon flavour. I was immediately taken aback by the face twisting sour heavy kick of pure grapefruit. Sucking down hard sent pleasurable shivers up and down my spine that I’d never felt from a sour sweet before. Usually sour sweets make me squirm or hurt the roof of my mouth with their acid sour strength. This was a strange ecstatic tingle that I’m certain no other food could ever reproduce. It was raining big freezing dollops of icy water outside at the time I began to suck on this mouth watering sweet, however inside the office at my desk I felt an oddly warming sensation as my senses delved into grapefruit and all its tangy goodness. Honestly, you have to try this sweet, as it was quite an experience!

Lemon flavour

After unwrapping another three sweets I found a very yellow coloured sweet that just had to be lemon. I popped it in my mouth and was first pleased to be kicked by another face twisting sour sweet and second that I’d located the last of the four flavours amongst the individually and identically wrapped sweets. I almost gave out a cheer, but remembered that I was at work and that my office was far too serious for such a thing! The tangy sourness of the lemon flavour, made me think of pancakes in the spring time covered in brown sugar and lemon juice. The sweet was far more sour and face twisty than the grapefruit, and although it didn’t give me the same ecstatic back tingling feeling, I reveled in the squirming zingy sensation that ran around my senses like a hamster on steroids.

These Fox’s Glacier Citrus sweets were mouth wateringly genuinely fruit juicy tasting and fantastically moreish. Whilst sampling them my mind went on an adventure from the (Olympic) joy of orange jelly wrestling, to being shaken awake by fresh lime ready for a Tequila Sunrise, replaced by the previously unknown ecstasies of grapefruit and brought thudding back down to earth by the squirming awkwardness of lemons! These individually wrapped sweets also presented a certain anonymity that was kind of fun to discover what flavour I’d be eating when I unwrapped it at the time. I’m definitely keeping these sweets in my draw at work to suck on whilst I trawl through endless paperwork and dream of the next weekend.

By Spectre

Paynes Poppets [New] Strawberry Milkshake Flavour (Local Sweet Shop) [By @Cinabar]

These caught my eye tucked away on a busy shelf of an independent sweet shop in Cardiff. When I got them home, I had a bit of a google, and these chocs aren’t even mentioned on the Poppets website (yet).
I always get nostalgic when it comes to Poppets, as they are one of the sweets I associate with childhood, but I will try and put aside any bias a little.
The pink box is very bright, and the flavour is that of strawberry milkshake, not just strawberry, which is a little bit of fun. I just can’t believe we didn’t already have a fruit cream Poppet available!


I bit one in half, and discovered that the filling was very pale in colour, which fits with their ‘no artificial colourings’ spiel on the back of the box. I noticed that the sweets had a strange but pleasant texture, they were quite firm but seemed to melt a little as they were chewed. It was a little like a ball of icing or now I think about it Edinburgh Rock. It was a nice texture, but certainly not the soft cream I expected. The flavour was very sweet and shouted strawberries with a nice milky aftertaste. As with all Poppets the coating is a bit basic, it is glazed too so looks shiny. The coating does add a pleasant chocolate tone to the flavour and its combination with the strawberry makes them an enjoyable treat. You just have to remember the target market isn’t the connoisseur it is a pocket money audience, and these chocs do a good job of filling that spec.
If you like your strawberry creams or your retro sweets then this pack will make you smile as you munch. I don’t know how we’ve gone so long without a strawberry Poppet before, it seems such a natural addition to the range and fits in really well with their other products. I do hope it’s a permanent addition!

By Cinabar

Fox’s Sweets [Limited Edition: Clearly A British Celebration] (WH Smiths) [By @cinabar]

Fox’s are a big brand of sweets in the UK, and have been promising more Limited Editions in their range. The Royal Wedding is one of the big upcoming events here in Britain, so I guess it makes sense to use the opportunity for some new flavours. I’m not sure how many other Royal Wedding items will be coming to the food isles, but whatever the excuse for a Limited Edition – I’m in. ;-)
The Royal Wedding is a national holiday here, and I’m sure that many other companies will come up with themed foods for everyone who is at home that day watching the Wedding. We at Foodstuff Finds will do our very best to report on all the Wedding goodies we can find and scoff in a patriotic manor – just for you.
Back to these sweets. I opened up the bag, and was a little disappointed that all the sweets were in the same wrapper. All of them looked very British in their fab Union Jack wrappers, but it wasn’t easy telling them apart. I had to resort to the light trick, of holding them to a bright light in order to attempt a guess at the flavour from the colour they glow. I managed to decipher the three colours, opened some wrappers and had a look. The sweets are supposed to be in the colours red, white and blue in honour of the flag. To be fair they were more pink, purple and cream, but it is hardly the end of the world. One thing I noticed was the ‘white/cream’ sweet was almost opaque. Fox’s sweets are usually transparent, so this was a bit of a novelty. There is even a joke on the bag about the sweets being ‘Clearly British’ which I thought referenced the fact that Fox’s sweets are always clear...


Onto the sweets themselves. Fox’s Sweets are hard boiled in style, and solid all the way through.

Red (or Dark Pink)
This was the raspberry flavoured sweet. It was lovely and juicy and syrupy. The flavour was very natural, and was strong enough to make your mouth water. It was a lovely Summery taste that was distinctively raspberry and very enjoyable. A big thumbs up.

White (or Cream)
This one was Cloudy Lemonade. It is an usual flavour for a sweet, but worked really well. I have to say it did remind me of the drink, with its zesty, sharp natural taste. It was lovely and refreshing and a favourite. Sweeter than just a lemon flavoured sweet, but still packing a nice tang.

Blue (or Purple)
Last up in the red, white and blue we have blueberry, which is at least blue in name. The sweet had a good strong flavour, but wasn’t as zingy as actual blueberry, so it tasted like a sweeter version of the real thing. It was still good and fruity, and that unique floral aftertaste was present and made for a lovely sweet. Apparently I like all the sweets in the bag!

I have to say that these sweets are all really good. The bag says that they are made with natural flavours and colourings, which probably accounts for the fact they don’t quite match the flag, but it is a minor point, and I prefer them that way, without artificial colours.
If you are looking for a bag of sweets to enjoy while watching the wedding, these will do their bit and give you a British themed treat, but they are lovely enough to buy for any time. A proper summer mix of flavours that are really enjoyable.

By Cinabar

Fox’s Glacier : Mango, Peach & Passion Fruit Smoothie Sweets (WH Smith)

Fox’s have decided to have a rolling ‘Limited Edition’ in their sweets range that changes seasonally. This is the current Limited Edition, and it does indeed seem rather summery to my taste buds as it includes some of the sweeter juicer fruits.
When I opened the bag I think I was expecting there to be three varieties of sweets inside, and it took me a minute to realise that the flavour was actually just one mixed fruit flavour. This is because the ‘regular’ Glacier Fruits have a mix of six flavours in the bag, so I just assumed when I saw several fruit names on the pack that these would be a mix too. Having said that the chosen fruits do make a good combination of flavours, they are all golden sweet fruits that are wonderfully juicy and complement each other well. It is nice to see such a well put together mix of tastes. The peach is the dominant flavour, and the mango and passion fruit shine through beautifully in the background.
I loved these sweets, I love how they captured the juicy flavours, and how the taste is lovely, rich and sweet. They have a decent percentage of natural fruit juices in their ingredients and this really adds to their quality. They managed to take me away from the dreary wet August we are having in the UK, to a Tropical place for a few minutes!

Fox’s - Payne’s Poppets Choc Chip Cookie (available at Morrisons)

I love Poppets and was very excited to hear about the launch of a new product in their range. It will sit alongside the rather lovely mint, raisin and toffee varieties, and introduce a new texture to their collection. So this new Poppet is filled with a chocolate chip cookie centre. The first thing I did when I got my mitts on them was to bite one in half and have a look at the appearance of the filling. I can confirm it does indeed have mini chocolate chips set in a biscuit, as per the picture, and it is really appealing.
Tucking in I discovered that this product is all about the crunchy texture. The biscuit has a mild flavour, and the chocolate is creamy and sweet, but it really is all about the packet making a nice munch. I am reliably informed that these will be more wildly available from June (e.g. at Tesco’s and the Co-Op), and I do recommended giving them a try. Many thanks to Fox’s for sending me the sample.