Today's Review: Wonka Crème Brûlée

After getting to try out the Millionaire's Shortcake and Chocolate Nice Cream bars quite early on, it seemed I would have to wait until the official October release date to get my hands on the last of the new Wonka flavours. But I managed to pick one up in Tesco today (after a couple of weeks of an empty shelf taunting me). You can tell I was eager to try this, as it's earned the coveted photo background that I like to call "The Tarmac Of Impatience".

Unlike the other two flavours, this one only comes in the big bar variety. This larger size actually has a pretty neat opening and resealing mechanism. There's a small tab around the back that peels off a layer near the top of the bar, as shown above. The underside is sticky, so it can easily be stuck back onto the foil once you've had a few squares. If there's any left, that is.

As for the taste? It's probably the best of the lot. As you can see from above, there's plenty of creamy filling, and it has a lovely vanilla flavour that blends in very nicely with the chocolate. The caramel crunchy bits are the best though. There's plenty of them, and they remain after the rest of the chocolate and filling have melted in the mouth. But this wouldn't be called Crème brûlée if they were just simple caramel pieces, right? Thankfully, the crunchy pieces have a very nice burnt twist, that takes a backseat to the sweetness, but is still very noticeable. I've had some Crème brûlée chocolate before that had an overwhelming burnt taste, but this bar does it perfectly. So if you've tried the other two bars and not found them quite to your liking, you should still give this one a chance. It's truly scrum-diddly-umptious! Damn, thought I'd get through this one without a Wonka pun.

My rating: 5/5

Today's Review: Brain Blasterz Sour Sweets

Many thanks to the very generous creators of Nanobytes, as they sent me another load of goodies to try out, in the form of Brain Blasterz, a range of "super sour" sweeties. There's quite a lot of stuff to get through there, in all kinds of shapes and sizes, so let's tackle them one by one.

These Brain Bitz seemed quite interesting. Very reminiscent of the iconic Nerds, these boxes each contain two different flavours that you can pour out in good measure. The packaging is a little fiddly, with perforated circles to push out and whatnot, and in the end I just ended up ripping the thing open to get at the juicy goodness inside. Which is exactly how one should describe eating bits of brain.

Inside are lots of tiny sweets. They are pretty much like Nerds, but softer, which is a lot easier on the teeth. The flavours are nice and very bold, and while they're certainly sour, it's not that intense. All the flavours are good though, and they certainly didn't last long.

My rating: 4/5

Ever had sour gum? I can't say I had, but now I've sampled some of this Oozing Brain Gum. The neat little skull shaped box has several individually wrapped gum pieces inside, and while they're probably the least sour sweets of the bunch, there was still a slight twinge when I first popped it in. Once I chewed, the fruity flavour came out, as well as the oozing middle, and that was very enjoyable. The gum is a very nice size as well, and it's perfectly possible to blow a bubble with just one piece, which is all I ever ask for with gum.

My rating: 4/5

Here are some big chewy sweets. I received Apple Sour Straps and Strawberry Sour Straws, but you can also get the flavours vice versa, which I'd love to try.

These are pretty much your standard pencil and fizzy belt type sweets. The apple straps weren't particularly sour or flavoursome in my opinion, but I loved the strawberry straws. They have a nice sour kick, a lovely sweet flavour, and the innards were wonderfully soft and chewy. A bit of a mixed bag for me, but perhaps trying the other combinations of flavours would win me over some more.

My rating: 3/5

Now we're moving onto the big leagues. While the rest of the sweets aren't overly sour, these ones packa real kick. Inside this awesome toxic waste barrel is a selection of flavoured candies. Each one has an extremely sour coating that will implode your face as soon as you pop it on your tongue. Once you've survived the first wave, you'll be greeted by some bold, fruity flavours. The blueberry and watermelon are particularly tasty. Once that's over though, there's a further sour surprise waiting in the centre. These are certainly a good choice if you're into your sour sweets.

My rating: 5/5

Finally, we have the candy sprays. These little spray bottles hold liquid candy that is insanely sour. I find myself wincing in anticipation every time I aim one at my tongue. The flavours are still as nice and bold as the other sweets, but the sourness pretty much overpowers them, especially as you're spraying straight onto your tongue. The tingly feeling will last long after the flavour has gone, which is great if you love your sour candy, but not so much if you want a nice, sweet experience. These are good for a spray or two at a time, I wouldn't suggest coating your tongue in an entire bottle though.

My rating: 4/5

So there we have it. A whole host of sour sweeties (some more than others). It's nice to see such a variety of sweets from one brand, there's something that everyone can enjoy, from a more subdued and chewy experience to full on tongue spraying madness. I'll definitely try and get hold of some of the other products that I haven't tried (I'm looking at you, brain gunk)

My overall rating: 21/25

Today's Review: Love Hearts Squashies

I've enjoyed the Squashies range in the past, and these Love Hearts Squashies have been in my sights for a while, and I finally picked up a pack at a reasonable £1 today.

As you can see, these are basically as the packet implies, squashy Love Hearts. They come in a variety of different colours, and with the trademark lovey dovey catchphrases etched on top. Each colour has a distinct flavour, and they're all pretty juicy and tasty, with the foam backing adding some really nice texture, almost to emulate the powdery taste of the original. They're not as powdery as the Refreshers and Drumstick Squashies, but I didn't mind really. I love chewy sweets, and these are big, tasty and juicy. I think they're probably my favourite variety of Squashies so far. A different spin on an already great product, that tastes really good.

My rating: 5/5 

Today's Review: Tango Blue Balls

Um... Well, yeah. These are Blue Balls, from Tango. Chewy blue raspberry bon bons, to be precise, but with a rather... interesting name. If anyone thinks that Tango aren't aware of the double meaning, they've gone and stuck two nut-shaped bon bons right on the front of the packet. In fact, there's a lot of stuff going on with the packaging. There's a yellow sticker that assures me this is a "big bag", a nice illustration in the corner, showing me that these sweets are "tongue painters", and a strange slogan at the top, "No pain - no gain!" Are these sweets going to hurt me?

Well, they certainly look like unassuming little bon bons, they don't quite have the texture of the ones in the picture on the front. There's a fair bit of dust on these that may rub off on your fingers, but once I popped them in my mouth that was long forgotten. These are very nicely chewy sweets, not too hard, not too soft, they last just the right amount of time really. The flavour of them is interesting as well. Slightly sour, definitely of the blue raspberry variety, but there's a slight hint of something else that I can't quite pinpoint. A little hint of something... green flavoured. I'm not too sure, but it takes a little something away from the sweetness of the main flavour.

These are nice sweeties, and while the taste is a little bit off, it didn't stop me eating several in one go. Let's just say I wasn't left unsatisfied, if you know what I mean. The only downside is that the "tongue painters" part of the packet is right. I ate about ten of these and had a blue tongue for a good few hours after. I don't know how long it takes to wear off, because I ate some more before it did. Oh well, I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Fanta Red Fruits

My mission to avoid sugary drinks has been somewhat successful so far, but this flavour has been taunting me from the shelves for a while now. One of my favourite fizzy drinks is Fanta Fruit Twist, so to have another flavour that promises even more red fruits (the best kind) was too much to resist.

This Fanta is "berry flavoured", which is enough to sell it to me, but upon closer inspection of the ingredients you can see that this contains apple, blackcurrant and raspberry. Not that apples were considered berries last time I checked (which was just a second ago to make sure), but there you go.

How does it taste? Very good. It's definitely got a lovely bold "red" taste, and for some reason it reminded me a little bit of wine, but, y'know actually nice and refreshing (I don't like wine). Both the blackcurrant and raspberry flavours are pretty noticeable, and they blend together really well. This is certainly a very tasty flavour, another great addition to the Fanta range. I might have to start indulging in the sugary stuff every now and then, it's too good to pass up.

My rating: 5/5

Today's Review: Danio Blueberry Yoghurt

I'm not much of a yoghurt eater, but this Danio blueberry one has caught my eye lately. I'm not sure why, it's a pretty generic looking yoghurt. Maybe it's the flower on top, maybe it's the promise of being "super thick", or maybe it's the fact that the name "Danio" has my name contained therein. Well, I managed to pick one up at a reduced price, so I ripped the lid off and stuck my spoon straight in.

They're not lying when they say it's "Super thick", just look at that excavation. This is a really thick, heavy yoghurt that still manages to remain smooth and creamy. The blueberry may not be apparent at first, but one the digging has begun you can find that the bottom half of the yoghurt has a slight bluey tint, and underneath that is a hidden cavern of proper blueberry goodness. Once you get a spoonful of each distinct layer, this is certainly a very tasty experience. The blueberries are flavoursome, and the texture of the yoghurt is fantastic, and filling too. This may not be like your normal, runny yoghurts, but it's pretty damn good.

My rating: 5/5

Today's Review: Lucozade Melonade

I saw Kev's review of this interesting limited edition this morning, just before I was about to pass my local newsagent. Lo and behold, upon popping in, this shiny green bottle greeted me from a nearby shelf (not the fridge sadly). Yes, it's another flavour of Lucozade, and after the success of pink lemonade, it seems they've decided to anagram it up while shoving a watermelon into a bottle. Yes, it's a watermelon flavoured Lucozade, which intrigued me, as I don't remember ever having a watermelon flavoured drink. Is this flavour filling a gaping hole in the market, or is there a reason we don't see watermelon drinks?

Well, it's actually pretty nice. The first think I noticed is that it has a nice mellow colour, when I was expecting a sort of radioactive green to match the bottle. It certainly has that distinctive Lucozade glucose taste, but the watermelon flavour is very intense, much like that of a similar flavoured Chupa Chups or Jolly Rancher. The intense flavour coupled with the glucose does get a little intense at times, but overall the drink is actually quite refreshing. There are certainly better flavours of Lucozade out there, but this one is original and quite well made. I hope I can pick up another one before they disappear.

My rating: 4/5