Swizzels Squashies Tropical Sweets (Tesco) By @Cinabar

I am just loving the look of these new summer sweets. Swizzels Squashies Tropical Sweets are absolutely oozing sunshine. There are three cute designs in the bag. A slice of watermelon that tastes of watermelon, a pineapple shaped sweet with a pineapple flavour and, naturally, the parrot shaped sweet is flavoured with parrot. Just kidding, it's actually mango and passionfruit!

All of the sweets have a firm, foamy texture with a satisfying chew, without being too soft. The flavour is fairly mild at first, but the more you chew, the fuller and fruitier it becomes.

The watermelon is the zingiest of the three, with an almost sour edge that is sharp, sweet and really refreshing. The pineapple is lovely and juicy, reminding me of canned pineapple chunks, just with a much chewier texture. The parrot is packed with fruity flavour, with the mango really taking centre stage. It has a lovely sweet, smooth tropical taste that I really enjoyed.

These sweets are perfect for the warmer weather. And did I mention just how cute they look? Swizzels Squashies Tropical Sweets deserve to be displayed in a bowl rather than simply being munched straight from the bag, otherwise you might miss all those fun little shapes.

Lemon Meringue Fudge (Fudge Town) By @Cinabar

We are lucky to attend a lot of events and comic cons thanks to my other half’s business, and there are certain traders we always look out for. Fudge Town is one we regularly see at northern events, and I always enjoy browsing their range of fun and inventive flavours, from Irn Bru to Oreo.

They are long days at these events, so I like to pick up a bar of fudge as a little treat for afterwards. On this occasion, I went for Lemon Meringue.

The bar has a rich yellow colour, with visible pieces of meringue running through it. From the first bite, there is a lovely citrus burst that really stands out. The lemon flavour is zingy but still sweet, giving it a fresh and moreish quality. The meringue pieces add an extra layer of sweetness, and together it makes for a really well balanced and enjoyable treat.

Fudge Town never disappoints, and I am already looking forward to trying whatever flavour catches my eye next. Hopefully I will see them again soon.

If you are heading to a comic con in the north, they are well worth seeking out. If not, they also sell online.

Love Heart Squashies (Service Station) By @Cinabar

We all know and love Love Hearts sweets, so spotting these fab large Squashies versions definitely caught my eye. Each piece still comes stamped with a little word or picture, which keeps that classic charm. Inside the bag you get six different flavours to try.

Is it just me, or does the picture on the bag make the white sweet in the top right look pale blue?

Also, a small gripe. The ingredients are printed in white on a pale background, which is not exactly the easiest to read when you are standing in a service station with dodgy lighting.

Moving on to the sweets themselves. Each one is nicely chewy with a soft texture that slowly dissolves as you keep nibbling. There is a proper little flavour burst from each colour too. Here is how they stack up.

• Green - 
Lime. Quite citrusy and fairly strong. A fresh, zingy taste that wakes your taste buds up.
• White
 - Pineapple. Soft and fruity. Definitely pineapple, but on the delicate side.
• Dark red - 
Blackcurrant. So yummy. Very fruity and nicely strong. We absolutely need more blackcurrant sweets in the world.
• Yellow - Lemon. 
Sweet and fruity lemon. Thankfully more pleasant and mellow rather than sharp.
• Orange
 - Orange. Mellow and sweet with a nice orange flavour that is easy to enjoy.
• Pink - Cherry. 
Not overly cherry, but there is a nice acidic burst of fruity flavour that keeps things interesting.

I definitely preferred the stronger flavours. Honestly, I would happily demolish a whole bag of just the blackcurrant ones.

Rowntree’s Randoms Egg-Venture (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

These new Randoms Egg-Venture sweets are the Easter edition of Rowntree’s Randoms. The bag promises new shapes and a few new flavours, with the usual mix of jelly and foam sweets.

I have always liked Randoms. The variety is the whole point, and the shapes are part of the fun. Pouring these out, I was pleased to see the Easter theme come through straight away. There are the expected seasonal shapes like chicks, eggs, and bunnies, alongside more spring inspired ones such as umbrellas and pigs, including an actual “oink” sign. True to Randoms form, there are also some properly odd choices, including a mermaid and a house.

Flavour wise, most of these are familiar fruity notes and they work well. The orange stands out in particular. It is sharp, citrusy, and very moreish, easily my favourite of the mix. One of the new flavours appears in the foam sweets and is biscuit. It sounds interesting, but in reality it is just sweet and creamy and gets a bit lost compared to the fruit flavours. It is not unpleasant, just forgettable. Overall, this is a cute and easy pack of Easter themed sweets. Nothing revolutionary, but a solid seasonal twist on a range that already works well.

Squashies Drumstick Cherry Cola (Morrisons) By @SpectreUK

I am not a big fan of cherries. I am not even a fan of cherry flavoured drinks, or most cherry sweets, but I do like fizzy cherry cola bottles. These Squashies Drumstick Cherry Cola are a new addition to the Drumstick range. I do like most flavours of Squashies, so I can't see this going too wrong. Or can I?

On opening the packet there was a strong cherry cola aroma from the pink and brown Squashies inside. These Squashies Drumstick Cherry Cola taste a little like cherry flavoured peppery aniseed. I liked aniseed when I was a child, and I like pepper on my dinner, but not flavoured with cherry. I decided I'd give these a miss, I'm afraid.

Information on the bag; The 140g bag contained 356 calories per 100g, with 0.2g of fat, 63g of sugar and 0.07g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Candy Kittens Lemon Sherbet (M&S) By @SpectreUK

Some service stations we stop at on the way back from comic cons have some pretty posh nosh. These new gourmet Candy Kittens Lemon Sherbet gummies are a fizzy gummy reimagining of the original retro sweet.

Made with real fruit juice, these Candy Kittens Lemon Sherbet gummies were produced with a plant based vegan friendly recipe. On opening the packet the Lemon Sherbet gummies had a sugary sweet aroma and more than a hint of lemon rind.

In taste these Candy Kittens Lemon Sherbet gummies had a fizzy natural Lemon flavour, just not sour at all, but sweet and zesty on chewing. I couldn't quite gel with them myself though, I was hoping for something a bit more face twistingly sour.

Information on the bag: The 140g contains 349 calories, with 0.1g of fat, 60g of sugar, and 0.04g of salt. Please see photograph for te ingredients.

Chupa Chups Stranger Things Lollipops (Co-Op) By @Cinabar

I’m loving this Stranger Things and Chupa Chups crossover. Even the logo on the bag looks like it’s from the Upside Down. The packaging features a Demogorgon front and centre, and I picked these up specially to hand out to Trick or Treaters.

The flavours are presented as a mystery, with themed names to match. There’s a blue one called Mind Flayer, a red one called Code Red, a black one called Vecna’s Layer, and a purple one called Demogorgon. I went for the black lolly first and was pleased to find it was cola flavoured, a nice surprise. A look at the back of the pack reveals the flavours are actually the usual mix of things like cherry and raspberry, so it’s the names and packaging doing the heavy lifting on the theme.

They’re not particularly spooky once you start eating them, but the branding is great fun and perfect for Halloween. I’ll be keeping most of them for the Trick or Treaters, but if there are any left over, I’ll happily finish them off myself.

Hope you’ve got your seasonal sweets ready - have a fantastic Halloween! 🎃

Booom Vampire (Pound Stretcher) By @SpectreUK

Halloween is just a couple of days away and I found some weird looking Vampire themed sweets. Apparently they are extra sour gum by Fini. What's more is that once they have twisted your face from their sourness, they make your mouth go blue.

There is a Fini sour Booom Challenge on the back of the packet, which encourages you to try six sweets at a time. I decided to try just one to begin with, in case I didn't like them.

On first taste there was a super sour blueberry flavour that made my face twist and turn. I sucked the sweet like a wanton vampire before chewing the rest. There was a little gum flavour, but it certainly didn't feel like chewing gum when I swallowed the brittle fragments down. The sourness was pretty scary for the first few seconds though, and my tongue is still blue three hours later.

Information on the packet; The 65g packet had 344 calories per 100g, with 0g of fat, 73g of sugar, and 0.2g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Spooky Pick'n'Mix - Sugar Mountain Berwick-Upon-Tweed [@NLi10]

 I got some Pick N Mix Halloween themed Candy while we were on holiday from Sugar Mountain in Berwick-Upon-Tweed, a lovely little Borders town in the North of England.

I deliberatedly chose spooky things, as well as those I needed to get through the cold day on the coast.

These are the two main reasons - Jazzy's in the shape of orange slices (which turned out to only be slightly orangey) and weird blue mice - of which I got a few.  Just about in shot is the brain, a 4 layered jelly sweet which was absolutely amazing and easily the best thing in the bag.  It had just the right mix of textures and flavours to be exciting -sad I only put one in the bag!

I got a chocolate frog for old times sake, and a yellow chocolate Simba that tasted a little odd.

The other spooky jellies couldn't compare to the brain, but each had their own appeals.  The candy letters tasted more like the swizzles necklaces than the traditional chalky letters which was odd but not in a bad way.

For £3 this isn't an activity I'd do regularly, but with the idea that this would keep me buzzing enough to make it around all the walks it worked well - and some even made it home.

Fruit Skittles Giants Gooey (Tesco) By @SpectreUK

I like Skittles. I probably don't have them enough. I usually go for sour Haribo or Maynards, but Skittles definitely have their place in my 'sweet diet', if you can call it that.

These Fruit Skittles Giants Gooey are really big Skittles, with a soft gooey centre. They come in five regular colours. Yellow was a lemon flavour, with a sour gooey inside, the usual crispy shell, and a nice sour lemon tartness. Orange was more gooey inside, with a nice tangy orange flavour. Red colour was Strawberry flavour, with a lovely sweet strawberry taste, not as gooey as the other two flavours I tried, but really very nice. Green was a Lime flavour, more gooey inside than the Strawberry, with quite a face twisty lime tang, yet very fruity, and very nice. Purple colour was Blackcurrant. Mmm, they had a mouthwatering very fruity blackcurrant flavour, which was nice and sweet, nice and gooey.

All in all, I was very impressed with these Fruit Skittles Giants Gooey sweets, they were very moreish and were really very nice and flavoursome. I'll have to get some more in.

Information on the packet; The 125g bag contains 395 calories per 100g, with 3.6g of fat, 77g of sugar, and 0.06g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Chewits Xtreme Sour Jewels (Morrisons) By @SpectreUK

I haven't had Chewits for years. I remember the adverts with Godzilla in them back in the 80s. Everyone from then knows the only way to appease Godzilla is a packet of Chewits.

These new Chewits Xtreme Sour Jewels promise to be so sour they'd wrinkle even Godzilla's nose. These sour sugared chewy gummies were made with real fruit, and no artificial colours and flavours.

There were five different flavours in the packet, all very chewy, all had lots of sour sugar coating. Apple flavour was definitely very sour apple, face twistingly sour in fact, and tasted of very fruity natural apple. Orange tasted like sour orange juice, not as sour as the apple, but still really good. Pineapple flavour was more sweet than sour, and had a nice flavour. Watermelon was the light pink coloured Jewel, and was a bit more sour than the orange, and was fresh and juicy. I certainly enjoyed eating these with my big bowl of Raspberry Ripple ice cream.

I've never liked cherry sweets. Cherry was the dark pink coloured Jewel. It was very sour indeed and tasted of natural cherries, which I don't like either. It was certainly not my favourite sweet in the packet. I am just not a fan of cherry sweets. There was only one in the packet though. The things I do for blogging.

Information on the packet; The 125g bag contained 304 calories per 100g, with 0g of fat, 33g of sugar, 5.5g of protein, and 0.22g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Swizzels Marvellous Mallows Drumstick (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

I buy marshmallows for hot chocolate sometimes, but they’re almost always unflavoured. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen many flavoured marshmallows over the years. I’m not sure why, as it’s a lovely idea. Here we have a crossover product: Swizzels Marshmallows inspired by Drumstick sweets. For those who’ve never indulged, Drumsticks are raspberry and milk-flavoured chewy lollipops.

The bag is bright and eye-catching, and I could see the marshmallows inside were a decent size, perfect for nibbling or topping a hot chocolate. As soon as I opened the pack, I was hit with the fab smell of raspberry. Not just any raspberry either, it was unmistakably Drumstick-scented.

The marshmallows are a little more square than a Drumstick lolly, but they do share the same pink and white two-tone colour scheme. I gave one a try and was impressed straight away by the texture. Light, fluffy, and just gently chewy, exactly how a good marshmallow should be.

The flavour was a little milder than the strong aroma had suggested, but it was still distinctly Drumstick. The raspberry and cream came through nicely, and they were seriously moreish. They melt in the mouth and are quick to eat, so I found myself reaching for another… and then another.

I’ve had to put the bag in the cupboard to make sure there are some left for hot chocolate later!

PEZ Fizzy (WHSmiths) By @SpectreUK

I have always liked PEZ, ever since I was a kid. Difficult to load, but worth it for the fun and taste. Whenever we would go abroad on holiday, I'd get a PEZ dispenser of some kind and eat PEZ during long car journeys throughout France and Spain.

 

PEZ was pretty hard to come by in this country at the time. Now, PEZ dispensers and refills are much more popular. So why have they brought out a tube of PEZ Fizzy?

True to PEZ form, the machine that created the packaging around the sweets was almost impossible to open. I think I prefer my dispenser. After getting Cinabar to open it for me, I found the rounded sweets inside.

I had a green one first. Wow, crumbly mouthwatering fizzy apple flavour. I take it back. These are really nice. I had a super tasty fizzy strawberry one next. Just like any PEZ dispenser, I can see it's going to take me a while to get through the whole packet, but after the first two sweets, I know it's going to be worth it.

Creme Egg Fudge (Fudge Town) By @Cinabar

We go to a lot of Comic Cons with work, and I try not to spend too much, but I am easily distracted by the sweet stands. One thing I can’t resist is unusual flavours, and the lovely people at the Fudge Town stand never disappoint. I wandered over to their stall and really couldn’t choose between Creme Egg and Oreo, but I ended up settling on this one and a bar of Battenberg for the stall holder who was behind us.

This bar is based on the Creme Egg and has a cute pattern with chocolate fudge sandwiching a creme fondant fudge filling. It did look pretty. The bars are quite hefty, so I cut myself a chunk and gave it a try. The fudge has a lovely texture, firm but soft. The flavour is firstly chocolate, followed by that distinctive sweet, sugary Creme Egg fondant taste. It was absolutely spot on and worked really well. Sure, the flavours are novel, but they are made really well and match exactly what they are supposed to taste like.

The stall holder who had the Battenberg let me try some, and that was yummy too, even down to having the squares in the pattern. I’ve made a mental note to treat myself next time I see the Fudge Town stall and to make sure I get that Oreo one.

New Tic Tac Two Raspberry Lemon (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

I spotted these new Tic Tac Two Raspberry Lemon by the tills at Morrisons. They were a bit of an impulse buy, so I popped them on the conveyor belt. I noticed that the pack size was slightly bigger than regular Tic Tacs, and the sweets themselves are also larger. These have two colours, with one half pink and the other half white.

Once home, I saw that these new Tic Tacs are made with artificial sweeteners, which lowers the calorie count. I do worry, though, all sweets made with artificial sweeteners seem to carry that warning: “Excessive consumption may produce laxative effects.” It really puts me off. I know sugar isn’t ideal either, but I always end up wondering how many sweets count as excessive.

Anyway, I gave one a try. The flavour was a little more sour than I expected, with the lemon shining through first. This then developed into a sweeter raspberry taste, and it made for a pleasant, fruity sweet. I liked them and ate five, then decided to stop. But these are a nice sweet treat, and the pack isn’t too big to fit in my handbag either, which makes them perfect for travel, much like regular Tic Tacs.

Rowntree’s Jelly-Tastic Mini Egg Bar (Ocado) By @Cinabar

I don’t really understand this bar of chocolate. I broke a piece off a moment ago and I’m still chewing. You shouldn’t have to chew the contents of a milk chocolate bar, right?

Let’s rewind. Here we have the Rowntree’s Jelly-Tastic Mini Egg Bar. The “mini egg” part is presumably an Easter nod, but these aren’t chocolate mini eggs, they’re jelly sweets. As we’re in the Easter holidays, with the big day fast approaching, it seemed appropriate to try some seasonal chocolate.

On opening the wrapper, the bar looked appealing, each segment neatly embossed with a design. I couldn’t see the jelly bits at first, so I broke off a piece to investigate. The chocolate is crammed with jelly sweets, which meant it didn’t snap cleanly along the segments. It’s messy to share, but credit where it’s due: there’s plenty of content.

Taste-wise, the chocolate is sweet and enjoyable. The jelly pieces (presumably egg-shaped) are fruity and pack a nice flavour hit, but they’re very chewy. Too chewy. The combination of smooth milk chocolate and rubbery jelly just didn’t work for me.

I like fruity jelly sweets. I like chocolate. But not necessarily together in the same mouthful. It’s great to see Rowntree’s pushing boundaries, but the texture clash lets this bar down. Softer sweets inside might have made all the difference.

Swizzels Squashies Drumchick Orange & Pineapple Flavour (WHSmiths) By @SpectreUK

Easter is fast approaching, and asides all the usual chocolate eggs, I fancy something squashy. These Swizzels Squashies Drumchick Orange & Pineapple Flavour seem to hit the squishy spot. I love orange and pineapple as a flavour combination. Unfortunately, I don't see it so much in sweets.

 

These Swizzels Squashies Drumchick Orange & Pineapple Flavour come in a very cute two-tone coloured gummy chick shape. On taste they were very fruity, with a decent sweet mix of orange and pineapple. I like the squishy texture too. I can certainly say they were very moreish indeed.

Have a happy Easter.

Information on the packet; The 120g bag contains 357 calories per 100g, with 0.2g of fat, 85g of sugar, and 0.07g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Peelers Gummy Peach Peelable Sweets (B&M) By @SpectreUK

I have no idea why you would have peelable sweets. These Peelers Gummy Peach Peelable sweets were recommended to us by a friend who also sells at the comic cons.

 

They are made with real fruit juice, which is something I like in sweets, with added sugar and sweeteners. Being made with real fruit juice makes me feel like I'm at least trying to be good, whilst eating something naughty.

On opening the resealable packet these Peelers Gummy Peach sweets had a half peach shape. I don't really get the peelable quality of these sweets, as on trying it was really messy. Taste wise though these Peelers Peach gummies were spot on. They had a squidgy texture and a lovely fruity peach flavour, not too sweet, in fact just right.

Information on the packet; The 65g bag has 317 calories, with 0.2g of fat, 55g of sugar, and 0.03g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.