Gummies

Just as the Sluggles (read our review of sluggles) the Sour Puckerooms are part of the ‘Wonka’s Edible Garden” series of candy. What a fun idea – candy shaped like little mushrooms. I used to eat Malaco’s Skumkantareller (foam chanterelles) growing up, so it’s not completely new to me, but it’s still a little different. The puckerooms comes in three different flavors – cherry, grape and lemon/orange, and they have three variations of mushroom shapes. The shapes are a bit two-dimensional, but it’s just candy, after all.
The puckerooms feels a little bit harder than the sluggles, which might just be a result of the coating. They are not overly sour, and someone looking for a distinct sour candy might be disappointed.

Unfortunately, the taste does not quite live up to I’d say they are a step below their companions the Sluggles. They are definitely not bad, but I had hoped for a bit more.
 

Straight from “Wonkas Edible Garden” it’s Sluggles! How can you go wrong with a name like that?

Apparently, these have been around for about a year, but it is not until fairly recently that they’ve begun to turn up on the shelves here in the deep south. The sluggles are quickly becoming a favorite of mine. They come in four different flavors – orange, grape lemon and strawberry. They are shaped as snails, slugs, worms and a something that looks like a slug sitting atop a cushion of slime.

The sluggles are made with natural ingredients with 25% real fruit juice (mostly apple juice, it sounds like). The flavor selection sounds pretty solid – hard to go wrong with strawberry, orange and lemon. I was a little wary of the grape flavor, fearing that it might have the medicine/perfume taste of grape soda.

The gummies are fairly soft, I’d say a little softer than your run-of-the-mill gummy worms. None of the flavors really stand out in a good or bad sense, and I usually just eat these without caring much about what particular color I happen to pop in my mouth.

Strawberry – The flavor is not particularly pronounced, and they don’t taste all that strawberry-ish. They also look a bit faded and dull.

Lemon – These have a distinct lemon flavor that is not too overpowering. I like these, and the bright yellow color is nice too.

Orange – Nice orange taste. Not much of the bitter aftertaste that orange candies sometimes have. I like these.

Grape - I was a little wary of the grape flavor, fearing that it might have the medicine/perfume taste of grape soda, but these are much better than that. Though not my favorite, I feel no need to pick them out to eat separate from the rest of the bag.

Other products from the Wonka Edible Garden are Sour Puckeroom’s and Squishy Sploshberries. You can read those reviews separately.
 

It takes a certain kind of daring to even pick up a bag of candy that sports a blatant error in the very name-- if they can’t even spell check the name of their product, how much care did they put into the product itself?
But that’s just the certain kind of daring person that I am—nothing shall ever come between me and my candies. Maybe I was also swayed by the assurance that these are in fact the world’s best “12 flavor gummi’s”.

Despite the lack of command of the English language, these gummies are actually made in the US. The are made by the Albanese Confectionary Group in Indiana, to be more precise.

The packaging is ok, but somewhat uninspired. The golden color is an obvious rip off of Haribo Gold-Bears. The ring of bears pictured at the top looks dull and waxy, and the purple one in the middle look like he might be possessed by something evil. The bottom half of the bag is transparent, which we always like as it lets us see the bears inside. It is interesting to note that nowhere on the bag does it say that these are actually gummy bears we are dealing with here. I suppose that’s just understood.

The aroma that hits you as the bag is opened is rather chemical, but not too unpleasant. Kind of what you would expect from any bag of gummy candy. These bears are made with “NATURAL and artificial FLAVORS”

These bears’ biggest claim to fame is that there are, in fact, 12 flavors. Never before has so many flavors of gummies been stuffed in one bag. And these are not just any old flavors—that just won’t do. That will not make you the “World’s Best”. Here we have tempting creations such as Bodacious Banana, Rockin’ Raspberry and Groovy Grapefruit.

The bears themselves are slightly larger than your average gummy bear. They are unusually detailed with easily distinguishable eyes, mouth, paws and claws. They also sport a large A on their chest. There are some odd coloring, with a pale teal bear that looks unusually unappetizing, but I imagine it is not so easy to produce 12 different colors of gummies. The bag boasts “Softer, bursting with flavor!” and these bears do feel softer than many other gummy bears. They are much softer than your Haribo and Black Forest bears, for sure.

Ok, time for the tasting. I pop a random sample of a few bears in my mouth not expecting too much, only to be pleasantly surprised. These are actually quite tasty! They have the right softness to give you some chewing resistance, but yet yield when you bite down a bit harder. They are in fact ‘bursting with flavors!’ just like the bag promised.

With so many different flavors, there are bound to be some that you have probably never encountered in a gummy candy before. Or at least I never had much grapefruit, banana or pineapple gummies. Let’s go through the flavors:

 

Ornery Orange Ornery? I understand that they wanted an alliterative word, but ornery? Why not just call it Obstinate Orange or Offensive Orange while you’re at it? Name aside, the orange bears is a definite hit. It has plenty of flavors and the bright orange color is inviting. 5/5
Poppin’ Pineapple These do tastes like pineapple, and like real pineapple it has a bit of a sour and tart element to it. I think I would tire of these if I ate several in a row, but mixed in with the other flavors, they are good. 4/5
Granny Smith Apple Lots of flavor in these, and an inviting green color as well. I can see why the manufacturer is selling these separately 5/5
RRRipe Watermelon These poor bears are stuck with a very unappetizing color. The pale teal color makes them look like something that is (shudder) good for you masquerading as a candy. Of course that’s not the case, as these are just as bad for you as all the others. But not only are they an assault on your physique, but also your taste buds. In all fairness, I have never been a big fan of watermelons or watermelon candies, but these are bad even as far as watermelon flavors go. 2/5
Lickin’ Lemon Surprisingly, the lemon bears are not all that flavorful. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as lemon candies can often be a bit overpowering. The bright yellow color is appetizing as well. 4/5
Wild Cherry Very good. Cherry candies can sometime have a bit of bitterness to them. These are just tasty and sweet, and the bright red color is inviting too. 4/5
Bodacious Banana Bodacious? Ok, if you say so. I had my doubts about this one, I must admit, and rightly so. They are rather harmless, I suppose, and the taste is mostly sweet with just a hint of banana flavor. 3/5
Luscious Lime Just as the lemon, these are not all that flavorful. Nothing bad, but nothing that makes them stand out either. The light green color is unusual for gummies, but pretty inviting. 3/5
Freshhh Strawberry I usually like strawberry flavors, and these are no exception. But they did not quite meet my high expectations. 4/5
Rockin’ Raspberry Raspberry is another of those flavors that can have a tendency to be overpowering. But these are pretty good. The bright blue color makes them look a bit poisonous, but that seems to be par for the course for most blue raspberry candy. 3/5
Groovy Grapefruit Grapefruit? In a gummy? Actually, they are not bad. It’s a generic citrusy flavor that I would not have been able to identify as grapefruit if it hadn’t been printed on the bag. 3/5
Concord Grape Not a whole lot of flavor in these and what flavor is there taste rather chemical. The purple bears are fun, but I really could have done without these. 2/5

So, the verdict? I give these a solid 4 of 5. Their weakest point is really the 12 flavors—with so many different flavors, there are bound to be some that are not quite up to par. Sure, a banana flavored gummy might sound like fun, but after a few of them you are really ready to go back to your classic strawberry, orange and apple flavors.

I picked up this bag in a local Freds for only one buck! Sure, it’s only a 5 oz bag, but that’s still a great deal in my book.