I saw these Haribo Hot Sticks first on the Candy Gurus site and knew I had to have them.

They’re a strange combination of flavors, at least to the American palate. The package describes them as Fruity-Spicy & Liquorice. They’re sugar crusted gummis in three flavor combinations: Hot Orange + Liquorice, Ginger-Lemon + Liquorice and Raspberry-Jalapeno + Liquorice.

Haribo is a global confectionery brand, but this package is for the German market, with the majority of the package information in German and a smattering in English.

There are three flavors, but I have trouble telling them apart. The raspberry was easy, since it was pink, but the orange and lemon versions were more difficult.

The texture is soft and bouncy, the sugar crust is fine and adheres well to the candy, so well that there was barely any in the bottom of the bag. Each has a licorice end, and that flavor was consistent across all the pieces. It was very sweet with a mild anise flavor. I’m not usually the keen on Haribo’s licorice, but this gummi version was mild and traditional.

Hot Orange + Liquorice - the orange end had a little tangy citrus note and at first, I had trouble detecting anything else, but soon the warming spice of what I can only guess is hot pepper started. It was really just the heat, there wasn’t much of the vegetable note to it. The licorice combined well with it, mostly evening it all out and providing a more lingering sweetness.

Ginger-Lemon + Liquorice - this was the flavor that drove me to find the Hot Sticks. I love Haribo’s Ginger Lemon gummis, so the addition of licorice sounded great. The earthy flavor of the ginger balanced very well with the herbal notes of the anise-licorice. The tartness of the lemon cut the sugary sweetness of the grainy coating.

Raspberry-Jalapeno + Liquorice - I have to admit that jalapeno is not one of my favorite flavors. The raspberry and jalapeno flavors were well balanced here. The tangy and floral berry notes came right out, but so did the green vegetable flavors of jalapeno along with the very warm notes of the pepper. When I just ate a bite from that flavored end, I found it slightly too hot for me. However, when eating as a whole candy, with the soothing woodsy note of the licorice, it’s interesting ... still, it was a bit chaotic. Of all the flavors here, this one was the least successful. But it could just be that I’d never tried that combination before and it was too jarring for me to appreciate.

Overall, it’s a really fascinating mix. Each bite is different, and because the flavors are separated on different ends, you can kind of control how much of a mix you get. I’ll probably stick with the much more mundane Lemon Ginger, but the addition of licorice, especially this particular version of a gummi licorice, is quite good.

Related Candies

1. Haribo Gold Bears from Turkey and Germany
2. Haribo Ingwer-Zitrone Gummis
3. Haribo Pearlico Lakritz
4. 12 European Licorices
5. Ginger Chews: Hot Coffee
6. Darrell Lea Licorice & Ginger
7. Cowgirl Chocolates Buckin’ Hot Habanero Caramels

It was surprising to me that the Life Savers line of gummis is one of the most popular lines of gummis in the country, but I suppose part of it has to do with their ubiquity.

The new Life Savers Gummies Coolers are billed as Your favorite refreshing drink flavors have joined the Life Savers family.

The package has some nice cool pastel tones on it and an odd assortment of flavors. The Cooler name made me think of the Sour Patch Chillerz, which were infused with a little bit of menthol to give a cooling quality in the mouth. But the reality is, they’re just chilled drink flavors ... though not flavors I would readily order (there are no lemonades).

The package doesn’t match up the flavors to the colors, so I’m going to have to guess.

Cherry Limeade is the deep red. It’s an interesting mix of that classic Life Savers cherry and a little hint of citrus zest. I would have preferred more of the lime, but I appreciate that it wasn’t overly sweet and it certainly packed a lot of flavor in there.

Raspberry Iced Tea was the pale pink one. It’s funny to see two raspberry flavors in one bag. This one tasted like raspberry. I didn’t detect any tannins from the tea but there was a well rounded raspberry flavor that got both the floral note, a blush of tartness and a hint of the seeds.

Fruit Punch is probably orange. It tastes like fruit punch. Not much else to say except that I like it when my fruit punch doesn’t have quite so much artificial coloring in it, so at least this version had a little less of that bitter red in it. It didn’t make me like it any more than if it was bitter.

Blue Raspberry Slushy was blue. The raspberry flavor was sweet. That was pretty much it. It was sweet and a little soapy from the floral notes of the berry. There was very little sour to go along with it.

Watermelon Breeze was light green. I think this was just watermelon flavored, as I could detect no other note of breeze in it. The watermelon was definitely on the green side of the flavors, more about the tart note that you get when you eat close to the rind than the sweet and floral flavor of the center of the melon.

The diversity of the flavors was lacking, but then again, all of them were good enough that I’d eat any placed in front of me. The intensity is good and I enjoy the shape quite a bit. But on the whole, the flavor set just didn’t thrill me. Of the Life Savers line of gummis, I prefer the Sours best, mostly because of the transcendent tangerine.

Related Candies

1. Haribo Ingwer-Zitrone Gummis
2. Life Savers Gummies Collisions
3. Wonka Springy Double Yummy Gummies
4. Trader Joe’s Gummy Tummies
5. LifeSavers Tangy Fruits Gummies
6. Albanese Gummi Butterflies
7. Lifesavers Gummies Sour

While most Haribo mixes are just different shapes and flavors of the standard gummi, the Haribo Tropifruitti is a bit different.

The gummis are a tropical flavor mix, as you’d expect. The shapes are that of pineapples, toucans, bananas and palm trees. In addition, the texture is a little softer and less chewy than the more rubbery gummis.

I picked up my bag at Cost Plus World Market. It was $1.89, but sometimes they have sales for $1.25 a bag or so if you’re a bit Haribo fan it’s worth waiting for. This particular gummi candy is made in Spain, unlike most other Haribo gummis available in the US, which are made in Turkey.

What’s most interesting about these gummis is not the flavor variety but the style of the gummi itself. It’s very different from the tough and clear version of the Gold Bears. These are muted in color and have a sort of chalky exterior. They not shiny or terribly translucent. The coating is a little like a jelly bean, it has a small crunch to it, but not the same graininess. The interior is also not as chewy as a regular gummi, it’s a cross between a jelly and a gummi. It’s soft, pliable, sticky and juicy.

Banana (Yellow) - this is an exceptionally uncommon flavor for a gummi, so I relished trying it. It’s a good flavor, it’s a little like a slight unripe banana, in that there’s a light tartness to it. But what’s missing is that overly fake banana note that comes with the too sweet artificial banana candies.

Currant (Darker Red) - has an interesting balsam note to it, it’s less about the florals and more about the woodsy seed flavors. It’s definitely not what I would consider a tropical fruit. 

Watermelon (Green) - It’s lightly tart with a well rounded juice flavor and a little dash of artificial Jolly Rancher to it.

Pineapple (Clear) - this is one of my favorite flavors, especially in Haribo gummis. This did not disappoint. It’s sweet, had a strong floral note and a distinct tartness.

Orange Mango (Peach) - tastes a bit bland, like a punch drink. It’s more citrusy than mango, but barely either.

Strawberry (Pink) - smells like cotton candy, it’s light and barely flavored, but so are many strawberries.

I like the change in texture and thought the Pineapple and Banana were really good, but the vibrant flavor profile I’m accustomed to with many other gummis was missing. So maybe this is for people who don’t like a lot of flavor ... like the Haribo equivalent of jelly beans.

Related Candies

1. Haribo Gold Bears from Turkey and Germany
2. Haribo Ingwer-Zitrone Gummis
3. Haribo Raspberries Gummi Candy
4. Short & Sweet: Tropical Flavors
5. Haribo Saure Dinosaurier
6. Katjes Tropical Gummis & Yogurt Gums
7. Starburst Baja California & Tropical

A few years ago Jelly Belly introduced a mix of jelly beans flavored like popular sodas under their Soda Pop Shoppe line. They’re sold as the pre-mixed flavors or in individual packages and even in little soda bottles.

Their newest addition to that brand is their Soda Pop Shoppe Gummi Bottles which are gelatin gummis.

Each little bottle shape is about 1.75 inches long. They’re flat and lightly dusted, perhaps with starch, to keep them from sticking together instead of being shiny.

The ingredients are quite interesting. They start with corn syrup but use potato starch instead of corn starch. They do contain gelatin, but it’s Kosher gelatin (so it’s not pork, but not otherwise identified). They also contain small amounts of coconut oil and caffeine and phosphoric acid. They’re gluten free and peanut free.

To emulate soda bottles, the shapes are “full” of color, though the flavor goes all they way to the top of the bottle. They’re soft but not quite a bouncy as many other gummis. They’re like a cross between a Swedish Fish texture and a gummi bear.

Grape is fun. There aren’t really that many grape gummis around, so it’s refreshing to see it included in a mix. It’s tangy and artificial but not quite as intense as a grape SweeTart which is pretty much my favorite.

Orange is ordinary. I only got one in my mix, so it’s hard to say more than it was just like Tang.

Root Beer is a star. It’s quite spicy and intense, much more than I expected from it’s rather muted appearance. They’re sweet, a little like wintergreen and bubble gum. It’s missing that little pop of nutmeg that sassafras often has, so it came off more like Birch Beer ... not that I object.

Lemon Lime is actually more lime. Lime soda is good, and this has a lot of zest to it and a nice tangy bite. But ultimately it’s just a piece of lime candy, which always ends up as one of the last flavors I pick when included in a mix. (Which is strange considering how affectionate I normally am towards citrus.)

Cherry Cola is, well, disappointing. It tastes to me more like Dr. Pepper, but my experience with actual cherry cola is absolutely empty. The cola flavors are mostly in the background, there’s no spicy cola bite and there’s no cherry tartness, it’s more of the maraschino flavor than a black cherry.

They’re not the first candy I’d pick up, but I love the concept and the execution is pretty good, better than the Trolli version. For folks looking for American-made candy that’s gluten & peanut free and fun for kids, this is a good mix. It’s too bad they didn’t go all the way and use natural colorings and flavorings.

Related Candies

1. Tootsie Frooties - Root Beer
2. Trolli Soda Poppers
3. Kissables (Reformulated)
4. Kenny’s Licorice Pastels & Root Beer Twists
5. Soda Can Fizzy Candy
6. Jelly Belly Soda Pop Shoppe

Brand extensions are nothing new in the world of candy. Little things get giant versions, milk chocolate coatings become dark chocolate. In the case of Wonka’s iconic SweeTarts, they’ve gone gummi.

The new SweeTarts Gummies are not exactly new. There have been a few versions around, but they didn’t invoke the classic candies in shape and flavor variety.

The new gummies come in six flavors and though they’re in a bag, they are a similar tablet shape.

The assortment in the bag is soft and fresh and smells like SweeTarts. The pieces are a similar little disk shape as the classic roll version of SweeTarts, complete with a little divot in the center of one side. They’re about .75 inches around and .3 inches thick. They’re coated in a sweet sanding of sugar (not the sour sanding I expected).

What I found interesting about this new product is the list of ingredients indicates that most of these are made from natural colorings ... except for the use of Blue #1. Of course the blue gummi uses blue coloring, but I have to wonder if it’s also in the purple one, too. The other ingredients include cochineal, but also gelatin, so it’s off limits to vegetarians. It’s made in a facility with wheat, soy, peanuts, milk and eggs as well.

Orange = Orange - starts out sweet and then gets more tangy. And when I say tangy, I mean like the one-note drink, Tang. Not that it’s a bad thing, it’s actually very satisfying for a gummi.

Yellow = Lemon - is quite fun. The lemon flavor is well rounded, very sour towards the end but smooth overall. Its flavor is quite close to the classic dry SweeTart.

Green = Green Apple - the spongy texture is fun and the flavor more tangy than apple-y. It’s a generic green apple flavor, but less pronounced than the compressed dextrose candies.

Blue = Fruit Punch - I’m old enough to remember when the Blue SweeTarts came out, and still carry a grudge (this is also when the green switched from Lime to Apple). They’re the one flavor that I usually don’t eat, as I never cared much for the punch flavor itself. That said, these are actually really punch. Smooth, vibrant and the flavor gets less fruit and more sour as your chew or let it dissolve.

Purple = Grape - is one of my favorite SweeTarts as it is. The purple color is vibrant and appealing, but it also indicates a hefty bit of food coloring is in there. The moist and bouncy gummi, like the others, gets more tart as you chew. The flavor is artificial and not quite as subtle as the chalky SweeTart. Instead it has more floral notes that are not at all in keeping with actual grape or even fake grape, it’s more like an ink flavor. I was disappointed with it, but only because I had high expectations.

Hot Pink = Cherry - is medicinal and woodsy, it almost has a raspberry flavor to it at first, but then as it gets more sour, it tastes more like cherry.

My true love has always been the classic chalky candies, but I’m sure there are some people who are looking for the texture experience of a gummi with the bold artificial flavors of SweeTarts. As far as tart gummis go, I’m a little more grown up now when it comes to sour and probably won’t even want to stray from the Haribo Ingwer-Zitrone.

Related Candies

1. Wonka Springy Mini Chewy SweeTarts
2. Wonka SweeTarts Chicks, Ducks & Bunnies (2012)
3. Storck Mamba Sour Gummies
4. Wonka Springy Double Yummy Gummies
5. Wonka SweeTarts Jelly Beans 2010
6. Big Bite Gummy Bear
7. Sour Gummi Bears
8. Lifesaver Gummies

I have learned a lot about world flavors through candy. One that I’ve become obsessed with are Yuzu.

Yuzu is rare in the United States but a popular and hardy variety of citrus in Japan. The flavor is a cross between grapefruit, tangerine with a little note of lemon and bergamot. For the most part the rind of the citrus is used though the juice is also included but not as notable. I was so entranced with the candies and marmalades I’ve been eating that I got a tree for my back yard. (Here’s a photo of a couple that I picked from my tree.)

So when I saw that Kasugai, a makers of one of the best gummis in the world, I bought up two packages. The gummis are more expensive than the European and American varieties, but also a bit more precious and special. The Kasugai Yuzu Gummy Candy comes in a rather light bag, with only 3.59 ounces inside. Each piece is individually wrapped and a bit larger than the mass of an ordinary gummi bear.

The gummis are nearly one inch in diameter, a cute little domed disk. They have a soft, powdery skin instead of a glaze of oil or wax. They smell like lemonade. The flavor inside is a bit more complex. The tartness is good, the texture is smooth with a jello-like chew that dissolves quickly. It’s truly a mix of grapefruit and tangerine, the bitterness of the grapefruit and harsh oily flavor is combined with the fruity, sunny flavors of the tangerine juice.

They’re really satisfying and have a fresh, zesty lingering note. Two or three were plenty as a little treat between meals for me. The individual wrapping means I can throw a few in my bag or just throw them in a dish.

They are ridiculously expensive, I think I spent $3.49 for a bag. But it’s easy to moderate my consumption, I’ve managed to make my two bags last quite while. The intensity of the flavor and the wrappers mean these are more of a solitary treat than the kind that I might mindlessly nibble on during a movie. There are no artificial colors but they do use artificial flavors. They’re made on shared equipment with milk, wheat, shellfish, peanuts and tree nuts.

Related Candies

1. Bissinger’s Lemon Ginger Yuzu Gummi Pandas
2. Tea Forte Minteas Lemongrass Yuzu
3. Japanese KitKats: Yuzu & Red Bean Soup
4. Kasugai Pineapple Gummy
5. HiCHEW Yuzu & Valencia
6. Dalandan & Juicy Ponkan Mentos

Haribo Gold Bears stand as the epitome of the gummi bear for good reason. They were the first and they are known around the world. Haribo is so big that they have 18 factories, but only five of them in Germany.

I’ve been told over the years that the German Haribo products are the best. The Haribo products we most often see here in the United States, especially the Gold Bears, are made in either Turkey or Spain. So while I was in Germany I made sure to pick up a bag of the original version made in Bonn, Germany. Flipping over the bag, it was immediately clear that they’re different. There’s an extra flavor.

The German Gold Bears have six flavors:
Strawberry (light red)
Apple (green)
Lemon (yellow)
Orange (orange)
Pineapple (clear)
Raspberry (darker red)

The Turkish or Spanish Gold Bears have only five flavors:
Strawberry (green)
Lemon (yellow)
Orange (orange)
Pineapple (clear)
Raspberry (red)

Further, the German Bears are made with all natural colorings. Here’s an array of Bears and Bunnies for color comparison:

On top are the German Gold Bunnies, packaged for the American market, in the middle are the German Gold Bears purchased in Germany and on the bottom are the Turkish Gold Bears purchased in the United States.

So let’s start where things are weird. First, the Green Gummi Bear. As you may have noticed in the listing above, in the United States, the green gummi bear is Strawberry.

I compared the colors of the Green Gummi Gold Bears because they show the most difference between the countries. The German bear is a light olive color, not a true green. Other than that though, the bears are the same shape and mass.

I thought maybe one was taller than the other, or thicker, but the variations are just that, variations across all the bears. Some are slightly thicker or taller, some have different facial expressions. But there’s no real difference in the moulding.

Turkish Strawberry (Green) compared to German Strawberry (Pink): The Turkish bear is just slightly firmer. The flavor (once you close your eyes and forget that it’s not lime or green apple) is light and only slightly floral. It’s tangy, but not puckeringly tart. Mostly it’s a bland gummi bear. The German bear is softer and just slightly more pliable. It’s jammy and has a good blend of florals and tartness, and though it’s slightly more flavorful, I wouldn’t say that there’s a huge difference in the intensity, just the nuances. Germany Wins.

Turkish Raspberry (Red) compared to German Raspberry (Red): The artificial nature of the Turkish bear is much more apparent when placed next to the deeper, wine red German bear. The Turkish bear is sweet and tangy, the berry flavors are fresh and have only the lightest note of seeds to them. The German bear is softer and has richer, more dense flavor with more boiled fruit flavors to it. Germany Wins.

Turkish Orange compared to German Orange: this is tough. Both looked virtually the same, and the textures were also so similar. The zesty and tart notes on both were dead on. The German bear tasted every so slightly more like freshly squeezed juice, but that could have been my imagination. Tie.

Turkish Pineapple (clear) compared to German Pineapple (clear): The Turkish version had an ever—so-slight yellow cast to it, which really only showed when I placed the bears next to each other on white paper. Pineapple happens to be my favorite flavor for the bears and this was no exception. The Turkish bear actually had enough tartness to make my jaw tingle. It’s sweet and floral and just wonderful. The German version was just as good, but had an extra little flavor towards the end, a more intense thing that I can’t quite peg as pineapple zest, but that sort of buzz that comes with fresh pineapple. Even though there was a slight difference, I will indiscriminately gobble both. Tie.

Turkish Lemon (yellow) compared to German Lemon (yellow): Lemon is a great flavor and Haribo really can’t fail. There’s a wonderful blend of zest and juice in the Turkish version, with so much lemon peel that it verges on air freshener. The German version is more like a candied lemon peel or marmalade, slight more bitterness but still plenty of juice. Turkish Win.

The last one is the German Apple. It tastes, well, like tart apple juice. Honestly, I’m glad it’s not in the bags that are sold in the United States, it would be one I’d pick around ... and there currently aren’t any Haribo Gold Bears that I don’t like.

So if there’s an additional flavor in Germany, I thought maybe this Easter Haribo Gold Bunnies version which features little rabbits instead bears and says it’s made in Germany would have that apple in it.

It does not.

The Green Bunny is actually strawberry.

But what’s more disappointing about these Haribo Gold Bunnies is that they’re terrible compared to both the Turkish Bears and the German Bears. Sure, the shape is cute and the colors are all natural, but the flavors are pale and watered down.

So if you’re a Green Apple fan, it’s worth it to seek out the true German Haribo Gold Bears. If you don’t care, then the Turkish version that we’ve been served all these years is great ... it’s not quite as intense, but it’s still a good quality product. The other think I noticed is that I paid one Euro (about $1.30) for my 200 gram (7 ounce) bag of German bears ... and I paid $1.50 for my Turkish bears, which only has 5 ounces in it. The German Bunnies were on sale for $1.00 at Cost Plus.

Related Candies

1. Haribo Ingwer-Zitrone Gummis
2. Bissinger’s Lemon Ginger Yuzu Gummi Pandas
3. LifeSavers Gummies: Bunnies & Eggs
4. Haribo Happy Cola
5. Haribo Saure Dinosaurier
6. Albanese Gummi Butterflies
7. Haribo Gummi Bears vs Trolli Gummi Bears

My new favorite gummis, Haribo Ingwer-Zitrone, might be pretty hard to find, but at least they’re rather inexpensive. My other new favorite might be Kanro Pure Lemon Cola from Japan.

The pieces are little, flat hearts, about the size of a quarter.

The first flavors are definitely citrus - the bitterness of the zest is front and center on the sour coating. The gummi center is stiff and chewy and quite juicy after getting through the almost-crunchy sanding. The cola flavors are subtle, spicy and earthy with a little hint of honey and that cinnamon-cola flavor. The lemon really gives it a sparkle.

The gummi uses a few gelling agents in addition to gelatin. There’s pectin and something translated as collagen peptide. (Japanese functional foods often contain collagen, as if you can get more collagen into your skin by eating it.) So they’re just a little less bouncy and rubbery than some gummis, but not quite as sticky as most jelly candies. (Think of them as a cross between the Haribo Grapefruit Slices and Swedish Fish.)

I liked the mix of textures and flavors, and appreciated that the bag had a little zip top to keep them fresh. But 1.6 ounces is hardly a lot for the price, when the Haribo I’ve been buying is less than that for over 6 ounces. I do prefer this cola combination to the Haribo Fizzy Cola though, and I don’t need to gobble up too many to be satisfied.

The Kanro website helpfully provides dietary info about their product in pictogram form. There are no shellfish, wheat, eggs, dairy or peanuts in the product. So it sounds like they’re fine for those with nut and gluten issues ... but of course the collagen/gelatin means they’re off limits for vegetarians. There was another pictogram on the list ... but I didn’t know what it meant, it was either coffee or soy.

Related Candies

1. Napoleon BonBon Cola
2. Haribo Ingwer-Zitrone Gummis
3. Trolli Soda Poppers
4. Goody Good Stuff Sour Mix & Match
5. Fresh Cola Mentos
6. Haribo Saure Dinosaurier
7. Ramune & Cola Bubble Ball
8. Haribo Fizzy Cola