Licorice

My husband picked these up somewhere (Wal-Mart?) and mentioned that I might like them.  I'll admit I was skeptical.  I don't like gummy candy as much as he does, and we don't usually gravitate strongly to the same candy.  Still, I decided to try a piece and was pleasantly surprised. 

The key is that these candies are chews-- not gummis.  The texture is much less gelatinous than, say, a gummi bear, and they have a light dusting of "sour sugar" that supplies a nice tang.  They remind me slightly-- but favorably-- of Haribo's Fruity Pasta candy, though Awesome Twosome Chews are significantly softer and less tart than Fruity Pasta. 

The gimmick with this candy is that each (approximately half-inch square) piece is comprised of two flavors.  Each center is of one flavor and is wrapped in a layer of a second flavor.  In this bag, we had two flavor combinations-- watermelon wrapped around green apple and cherry wrapped around orange.  As far as I know, these are the only flavor combinations currently available, which seems a little limited.  Most bags of candy chews these days seem to come in assortments of at least three different flavors.  At least both of these flavor combos are good.  I didn't find myself avoiding a particular color, as sometimes happens in bags of assorted flavors. 

Once you get past the slight tanginess of the powdered coating, the candy itself is sweet and quite tasty, with a pleasant chewiness that doesn't devolve into a gooey, tooth-sticking mess, as some soft, chewy candies do.  I can definitely taste both flavors in each candy, though sometimes one seems to dominate the other.  The citrus flavor in the cherry/orange is quite strong and mouth-watering, while the watermelon/green apple has a slightly sour, puckering effect.  The two flavor combinations pair well. 

I ate my last few Awesome Twosome Chews while writing this review, and I'm left wishing I had more.  That's the sign of a pretty decent little candy. 

Reviewing a candy like Twizzlers might seem a bit pointless, but I just wanted the opportunity to say: I don’t understand twizzlers.

Sure, they look good, and they have a fun name. You can also use them as a straw, or tie them in to a knot. But what good does all this do when they lack the most fundamental of trait for any candy? They have no taste!

Now, if I was very hungry, and I had to fill up on some sort of candy, then Twizzlers might be my choice. It just seems more filling and ‘foody’ than most other candies.
I feel like I am chewing on a piece rubber, or some dried up bread dough. It keeps you occupied chewing, but not much more.

Maybe therein lays the secret of Twizzlers. You are left with a weird unsatisfying aftertaste, and the only way to fix this is to eat another piece. All the while thinking “Surely, this one will taste better. The first five I ate must just have been duds. They can’t possibly be meant to taste like that”. Then before you know it, the bag is empty. You vow to never buy another bag, but then a few years later you see it in the store in its bright red bag “Ah Twizzlers. Everyone likes twizzlers. Look at that nice bright red bag. It’s been ages since I had one. I wonder why…”

Twizzlers also have the advantage of being the office-candy of choice in many companies. Every respectable office supply company who sell bulk candy seems to stock twizzlers. I suspect it’s because they don’t deteriorate with age (since they are virtually tasteless even when they are fresh).

There, I said it! Now I am just waiting for all the hate-mail from twizzlers-lovers out there (nah, who am I kidding, no one reads this blog anyway…)