The best and worst non-chocolate candies
I was talking to my friend Elisabeth the other day, and the subject of Nerds gummy clusters came up (she hates them, I love them.)
Then we got to talking about other non-chocolate candies we either love or hate, and I said to her, "I should write a blog post about this!"
And she told me she already had one in her drafts. Ha. Great minds think alike. So, we agreed we should both publish one on this Very Important Topic.
Her post is set up as a Top Five, Bottom Five format, with her five most favorite and her five least favorite, and I will follow her lead. 😉
Top Five
1. Nerds Gummy Clusters
These come in a pink bag and a blue bag, and I prefer the blue bag because they are slightly more sour.
I don't know what it is about these candies, but they are oddly enjoyable to me. Normally it is not hard for me to limit my candy consumption, but woo, I can eat a lot of these in one sitting if I am not careful. 😉
2. Skittles (but only the orange, lemon, and lime)
I almost always prefer citrus flavors in candy, and this holds true for Skittles. If I could just have the orange, lemon, and lime ones, I'd be a happy camper.
For a while, they changed the green ones to an apple flavor, and I felt that was a serious downgrade; I will always be Team Citrus.
3. Sour Patch Kids (but only the orange and lemon)
I have a coworker who swears that all Sour Patch Kids taste the same, but I beg to differ. The ones I enjoy are the orange and lemon flavors (again with the citrus!); all the rest of them are either "meh" (green and blue) or "yuck" (the red ones).
I know the green Sour Patch Kids are supposed to be lime-flavored, but for some reason, these ones don't appeal to my citrus-appreciating heart.
4. Hot Tamales
I can eat so many of these; the spicy burn is very addictive.
They used to make a Hot Tamales variety that had three different levels of spice, and I loved those!
5. Atomic Fireballs
Continuing with the spiciness...we used to sometimes get these as kids, and I still like them! When I was a kid, I think my young tongue was a little more sensitive, and I thought these were crazy hot and I could barely keep them in my mouth; I'd have to take breaks by holding the fireball between my front teeth.
But to my middle-aged tongue, they seem only mildly spicy, and I never need a break.
Bottom Five
1. Twizzlers
I actively dislike these. The flavor is terrible, and the texture is dry but also kind of oily and kind of hard.
Blech.
It is absolutely no problem for me to resist eating these.
Side note: in my candy-photographing quest, I came across these, which I imagine to be horrifying:
A Twizzlers texture plus a chocolate flavor? Yuck.
2. Smarties
Elisabeth says their Canadian Smarties are more like our M&Ms, so I would probably like those. But to me, American Smarties are like eating a piece of chewable medicine, and I disliked them even as a kid.
In fact, they remind me a little of my childhood chewable Tylenol, which I also hated.
(Dishonorable mention: I give SweetTarts a thumbs down for all the same reasons I give Smarties a thumbs down.)
3. Tootsie Rolls
These almost taste like chocolate, but not quite, and their texture is questionable.
Not at all tempting to me!
4. Banana candy of any type
I'm cheating a little bit here, because this is not a specific brand, but: I hate banana-flavored candy.
I love bananas, but banana flavoring is a whole different animal, and it tastes awful to me.
Now-and-Laters, Laffy Taffy, Runts, jelly beans...if there's a possibility it's banana and not lemon, I'm out.
5. Candy Corn/Pumpkins
I know candy corn is a classically polarizing candy, and I do fall on the "dislike" side of the spectrum. I find the pumpkins (which I think are made of the same ingredients) to be even worse, largely because they are so overwhelmingly sweet.
I also don't think they have enough of a flavor; the whole experience is too much like eating straight sugar.
I have occasionally enjoyed candy corn in a sweet/salty snack mix, but that's really the extent of my appreciation.
What are your top five/bottom five? And for the purposes of this exercise, no chocolate is allowed!
P.S. Click here to see how Elisabeth's top five and bottom five compare to mine. 🙂
All time favorite: jelly bellies! They have to be jelly belly and not any other jelly beans. The sour variety is excellent as are the fruity flavors. Miss me with the buttered popcorn, licorice, or chocolate flavors!
Twizzlers/nibs.
Swedish Fish
Sour Patch Kids
Gum drops
Bottom 5:
Black licorice in any form
Gummy bears (too rubbery)
Agree on the Smarties and Candy Corn!
Taffy
Also banana jelly bellies are a NOPE for me! I love their citrus flavors though.
We must have the same kind of Smarties in Britain and Denmark as they do in Canada! And agreed on apple Skittles, although I love the other flavours.
Top 5
Skittles
Werther's Original toffees
Any kind of salted caramel toffee
Fudge squares
Dr Sloosen Fruit sweets ( I think that's the name and can only find them in Denmark)
Bottom Five
Marshmallows
Anything banana flavoured
Anything spearmint
flavoured
Liquorice Allsorts
Anything coconut flavoured
My number 1 fave is Haribo gummie bears, or any Haribo gummie. I am addicted. Love, love Australian licorice and licorice all-sorts. Growing up, I loved Twizzlers, but now they just taste like plastic. I also like Hot Tamales, and also the Mike and Ikes.
I am pretty much a sugar addict, so find it hard to say "no" to non-chocolate candy. Except I am not fond of anything sour, and prefer fruit flavors to citrus. I agree with most of your dislikes, except I will eat Tootsie-rolls if they are put in front of me. One that I have always hated since a kid is Circus Peanuts. They have a strange after-taste to me.
Sorry, Nerds are the devil's candy. Did you ever have the nerds rope? My kids love them. I wish to send them back to their infernal home.
The only non chocolate candy I like are Haribo twin snakes. Slightly sour, slightly sweet. But I'm not really into gummy candies.
Tootsie rolls are chocolate and delicious. But to each their t own!
Is a nerds rope kinda gummy on the inside? Or is it more like a Twizzlers texture? I've never had one.
Gunmy, but not so sticky that the nerds stay adhered really well. I find the little rocks scattered on the floor. I try to have the kids eat them outside.
I read that banana-flavored things don't taste right because the flavor is based on Gros Michel rather than Cavandish bananas. Cavandish is what we buy now; Gros Michel is the older variety that was driven out by Panama Disease in the 1960s.
I'm not sure I believe it, given how much effort food companies put into creating flavors. I mean, just look at Pringles and Fritos.
I dont like non-chocolate candy generally but the two I can think of are regular nerds and smarties. Everything else is in the nope! category.
I'll have to excuse myself from this discussion. IMHO, no non-chocolate candy is worth eating...which is why, back in the days when DH and I participated in trick or treat, I used to get those detestable Dum Dum pops so I would stay out of the candy! (For the past several years, however, the number of trick or treaters on the street has been in single digits and occasionally zero. So I just put out all the front lights on Halloween night and hole up in my office at the back of the house.)
Kristen, we would do well together after trick or treating if we were to swap candy. I'd gladly give you all of your favorites should they end up in my haul.
In no particular order since I have to get to work, my non-chocolate faves are:
Annie Organics, or whatever the brand is, gummies in little packages. I am counting those as eligible. They are soft, delicious, and expensive. Albanese (sp?) brand gummies are good too.
Werther's caramels.
Trader Joe's sour gummy candies.
That's it. Can't even think of 5. Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate please.
Have a great day, people!
Oh boy! I am a sugar addict from birth it seems. Let's see if I can narrow it down:
Top 5
Mike and Ikes
Hot Tamales
Nerds/Nerd Clusters
Sugar Babies (really anything caramel including milk chocolate covered salted caramel/100 Grand Bars/Milk Duds)
Maple Sugar Candy - yes, it's pure sugar and I LOVE it!
Incidentally, I love Smarties and have to have at least 1 bag of Candy Corn every year.
Bottom 5
Black Licorice anything
Banana flavored candy
Tootsie Rolls
Any peanut butter/nougat type candy
Any licorice except red vines and the thin strawberry licorice
Fun fact, my significant other of 18 years likes to tell people "when I met Dawn, she thought Mike and Ikes were one of the 5 food groups." I used to buy 5lb bags of those and Hot Tamales from Costco regularly. I still to this day, buy a box of each before any trip.
You and I would have a seriously terrible time sharing candy! LOL! I willingly pass on most non-chocolate candy. I don't like sour at all, and Skittles (and Starburst!) are just about the worst candy ever! However, Tootsie Rolls will always make my Top 5, and the chocolate licorice isn't bad either! I'm with you on MOST banana candy or banana flavored anything, really. But the banana Laffy Taffy are yummy. I also am in the minority who love candy corn and Peeps and even black licorice! Good and Plenty are yummy!
Honestly, though, I will always choose Peanut Butter M&Ms or Hershey's chocolate, and I'm a happy camper!
I went to a sweetshop which sold American sweets and tried a tootsie roll and a can of Tab, and disappointing doesn't begin to cover it!
Generally I don't like a lot of American candy. I liked Nerds as a kid but haven't had them in years.
I try to avoid artificial colors so my top 5 include caramels and Hi-Chew Minis. I have recently been eating Bubs which mostly have natural food color. I do like Starbursts but haven't eaten any recently. Not 5 I realize.
I really dislike candy corn and Skittles. Again, not 5.
Thanks to a sickly childhood full of ear and allergy medication, I have a STRONG aversion to plain bubblegum flavor (ear infection medicine), grape (Dimatapp), and cherry (too many to name). Any candies with those very fake/chemical flavors are immediately right out.
I'm also a big citrus candy fan, likely because of the above! 😛 Lemon Starbursts rock, and I'll join you at the Hot Tamales table. Caramel-covered candy apple suckers were a childhood favorite.
I love anything lemon flavoured! I used to love Citrus Polos as a kid and Fruit Polos (I believe they're called Lifesavers in America) but they were discontinued:(
Pfew, I do not know ANY of the sweets, neither the US nor the CAN ones - although the smarties/rockets are available by another name (but I do not like them).
I do like the creamy taste of fudge on occasion and the best way to keep away from temptation is to read the label. I will generally keep away from products with hardened palm oil, eliminating 98% of sweets, probably. That said, if I buy a coffee somewhere and it is served with a cookie and a sweet, I will eat those. The 80/20 rule applies here too; I will just not buy for eating at home or while travelling.
OK, once you eliminate chocolate as a choice, clearly I prefer chewy/gummi candy. No sour or hot candies for me please, and I really dislike the smell of Wint O Green lifesavers! That said–
#1 Wiley Wallaby Classic Red licorice: soooo much better than Twizzlers which to me are hard and waxy. omg–real ingredients vs fake!
#2 Haribo Gummi bears originals
#3 Necco wafers except the purple ones: a taste of childhood and just a 2 or 3 pieces is enough
#4 Werther's Original: love the melt factor
#5 Dots: the chewy kind in the yellow box, not the button type
Top 5:
1) Dots
2) Gobstoppers
3) Mike & Ike
4) Hot Tamales
5) Twizzlers, only red
Bottom 5:
1) Laffy Taffy
2) Pop Rocks
3) anything black licorice
4) Smarties
5) Necco Wafers