Tropical Skittles

New flavoured Skittles are few and far between, most recently have been Confused in 2013, Orchards and Wild Berry in 2014 and Darkside in 2015. 

There seems to be a bit of confusion on the flavours included in the bag as a Tropical mix are sold in the US too but with very different flavours than are named in the UK press release. 

The bag had a generally fruity and quite tropical scent and there were five different coloured and so flavoured sweets. 

Orange was, surprise surprise, Orange flavoured. O.K orange can be quite tropical but its a bit of a safe choice and ended up being probably the most boring. It was very nice actually but I'm not sure how much more I can say about it, the least imaginative of the bunch. 

The dark purple sweet turned out to be Passionfruit, which isn't a flavour I'd usually choose but it was absolutely delicious - very juicy and fruity tasting. 

The blue sweets were Tropical flavoured and were again another very tasty flavour.  I didn't notice any outright single flavour but they tasted just like a sweet, juicy, fruity cocktail, minus the alcohol, sadly! 

I wasn't sure which flavour pink would be as its normally reserved for berry type flavours and there were none but it ended up being Watermelon. I've been disappointed by too many watery tastless real watermelons to bother with them but I do like a watermelon flavoured sweet and these were no exception. They weren't ridiculously strong or artificial tasting like American sweets or the Pick'n'Mix style Fizzy Watermelons but it had a clear and distinct watermelon flavour. Lovely!

Last but by no means least was yellow,  I knew that it was supposed to be Pineapple thanks to the internet but I'd have guessed anyway. They too were good and tasted just like pineapple juice! 

Rating:

All were very good alone but eaten together is where they really shine as a Tropical mix. I could well have been sitting on a hot beach somewhere with a very large cocktail sunning myself. 

These are by far the best flavour Skittles have released in a while!

8/10 

Taffy Mail - American Goodies!

Taffy Mail are a company I've been in contact with on Twitter recently ( @TaffyMail ), they are basically a subscription service; sign up and once a month you'll receive a box filled with American goodies! There are three plans available, the cheapest being the Lite which will get you a taster sized box, the Classic box includes 10-12 American sweets and a can of soda, or the Extra box which has up to 20 American sweets, at least one can of American soda and at least one premium item. 

On the Taffy Mail website, www.taffymail.co.uk   you can actually look back at previous boxes and the premium items have been full sized tubes of American flavoured Pringles, full packages (the American sized ones, not our puny packs) of Oreos, boxes of Twinkies and last months was a whole box of French Toast crunch cereal - I'm gutted I just missed that one! 

Considering the prices supermarkets charge for imported American sweets and snacks (especially the Oreos and Twinkies) and the fact we're pretty limited in the same flavours over and over again (peanut butter Oreos, s'mores Poptarts etc etc) these boxes seem like a great idea to me. It also helps I love a suprise, Mr.1T wasn't impressed at my squealing every time I pulled something else out of the box! 

Taffy Mail very kindly sent me one of their Classic boxes to review, I didn't know what I'd get in the box but I am very happy now I've opened it - the Annabelle Rocky Road S'mores is in my Amazon wishlist but I didn't feel like paying double the price of the chocolate just for delivery! 

I have a feeling these won't last too long! My Classic Box includes; 

Fanta Pineapple - Mr.1T has claimed this one! 

A load of small hard sweet type things called Dads Root Beer Float, I've not tried root beer so this should be interesting! 

A Blue Raspberry Blow Pop, a lolly pop and one I'd heard of before thanks to TV but I don't think I've even seen the actual brand sold in this country. 

Two packets of Warheads Sour Chewy Cubes, I think I've seen Warheads sold before but not the sour chewy cubes. They sound like something I'm going to enjoy! 

Another I've been debating about buying on Amazon but the prices and postage are ridiculous - Sour Apple Laffy Taffy, I've definitely heard of it before but I wasn't sure what it was.

A packet of Chewy Lemonheads Redriffic - these seem like they'll fit in nicely with my current jelly bean phase! 

A full sized box (and note in America they're called theatre sized, to enjoy with a film I'm guessing not the ridiculous Sharing like over here!) of Sour Patch Kids - I've got an inkling these will taste different to our Sour Patch Kids - E numbers galore!! 

A (huge) bar of Big Hunk chocolate, that name really makes me laugh and is very appropriate, it's got some weight to it! 

A Hershey's Cookies'n'Creme bar and funnily enough I mentioned in my Hershey's candy Cane review last week that this is the only Hershey's bar I find edible! 

A Skor Toffee Bar - I think this is similar to Reisen as whenever I've shopped for it online that's been a suggested replacement. 

The aforementioned Annabelle's Rocky Road S'mores - I cannot wait to try this one, I've been after it for ages! 

And finally a 100 Grand Bar - does grand have the same meaning in the US? I can't see how it relates to the crispy pieces inside but it sounds good to me! 

Considering this is a Classic Box I think there's more than a fair amount in there! 

Keep your eyes peeled for the reviews of all of the above (except The Hershey's, I think I've reviews it before) in the near future.

Taffy Mail have also very kindly offered any readers of the blog 15% Discount off of your first box, just go to 

www.Taffymail.co.uk 

and use the code 

TREAT15 

Thank you very much to Taffy Mail for all the goodies, one very happy bunny here!  

Fruit Shoot Sweets

I'm having another one of my phases, this time it's sweets! I really wanted some Monty Bojangles Bon Bons and their website is the only place I can seem to find them, a delivery charge seemed silly for 1 small box of Bon Bons so I treated myself to these three bags of Fruit Shoot sweets as well as the J20 Bon Bons and Robinsons Squash gums. 

Funky Fruits 

These are an assorted mix of fruit jellies and as with the Robinsons packet are vegetarian and made with natural colours and flavours. The little blurb says "We are so fixated with Fruitiness that for our new Fruit Shoot Funky Fruit jellies we are using the most lusciously mouth-watering soft and fruity recipe to create these fantastically fruity flavours".

Well they smelt lusciously fruity but I disagree with the description of soft jellies, they had more of a wine gum consistency; a pretty hard chew and were some of the stickiest sweets I've had in a long time - I was picking bits out of my teeth for ages! 

Summer fruits flavour is "all the sweet and sharp flavour of succulent strawberries & raspberries" and had a nice actual summery taste to it. The strawberry is slightly stronger but overall had a good mix of the two. Apple has "the sharp flavour of yummy apples" but really I found it to be quite mild to begin with. It had more of a sweet apple taste while chewing but to be fair there was a sharper aftertaste. Tropical is "bursting with the sun-soakingly delicious flavour of a pineapple and orange punch" and for some reason there were 2 different shapes with this flavour in my bag. It ended up being the plainest tasting of all but it did have a mild cocktail like flavour to it. I couldn't clearly taste the pineapple and after trying the orange in the bag realised I couldn't taste that either. Moving on to the actual Orange - "the zingy, zesty flavour of the fullest, juiciest oranges". I'm not a great lover of oranges and so the strong, natural flavour of these didn't do much for me. They were very sharp, very citrusy and almost bitter or tart at some points. A very clear orange flavour and while I wasn't too keen it was a good, long lasting one. Blackcurrant and apple "capture all the flavour of bucketloads of beautifully jammy blackcurrant a & apples" but really tasted just of blackcurrant. I couldn't taste the apple at all but I wasn't moaning - the blackcurrant is good! It's not too strong but has a natural, juicy flavour. 

Despite being made by Robinsons with, I'm guessing, the same natural flavours and colours these were a lot better. The flavours were stronger and tasted real, I was just annoyed at how sticky these were - it's a good job I have all my own teeth! 

7/10 

Fruit Shoot Mega Sour Mix 

The flavours in this bag are exactly the same as the Funky Fruits - just sour, apparently. 

They smelt better than Funky Fruits though, the same blend of fruity scents but a lot more vibrant and despite again only using natural colours or flavours. Nothing artificial again but these aren't suitable for vegetarians. The sweets have much more of a jelly texture than before and are very soft and fizzy feeling, nice and chewy and are so juicy I felt like they would burst if I gave them a squeeze. 

Summer fruits had a much better mix of the two flavours this time round, neither were stronger and it was very tasty. For a 'Mega Sour' mix, it was distinctly lacking in the sour front though. Tropical was as dissapointing as before. The plainest of all, neither flavour used is strong at all and it's generally quite mild. This flavour tasted like the worlds most watered down cocktail. Dull. 

Blackcurrant & Apple was another that was different from the Funky Fruits bag, the blackcurrant was nowhere near as overpowering as before and it's more of an even mix of the two. Sadly this meant it tasted a lot milder as the apple, which I could actually taste this time, just seemed to tone it all down a bit. There is a strong blackcurrant aftertaste but I preferred it previously, as the stronger, dominant flavour. The Apple alone seems completely different, it's quite strong and a nice apple flavour, just like with the Summer Fruits flavour and the apple in the Funky Fruits bag, is quite sweet rather than sour. It's very nice though. I left Orange till last again, and one again it's a sharp orange flavour. I much preferred it here though, the taste suits the fizzy, sugary texture much more and it ends with a slightly sour aftertaste. A lot better in this bag. 

I preferred this bag a lot and I think the texture and type of sweet is the reason why, it suits these flavour a lot more. All of them (except tropical) have a really nice flavour but none are mega sour as I was expecting. Tasty though. 

7/10 

Juicy Jellies 

Again the third and final Fruit Shoot bag, Juicy Jellies is (meant to have) the same five flavours in the bag however, while this bag is still made with natural flavours and ingredients, it doesn't say that no artificial flavours are used so I was interested to see how these would shape up against the purely natural ones. 

I noticed a difference before I'd even tried one, they had an overwhelming, very strong tropical scent to them - nothing like the previous bags and a bit ironic considering the tropical had no flavour in those! Although the name is Juicy Jellies, these are a mixture of completely harder gummy like sweets and half gummy half foam sweets. 

I ran into a problem with these sweets that I hadn't before, the other two had a good mix of all the flavours but with these I had 12 (yes I counted) Summer Fruits flavour, 2 and 4 Apple & Blackcurrent and Apple, 1 Tropical and no Orange! I know there's no guarantee of what sweets are inside each bag but at least one of each would be nice! The half foam sweets are quite soft like all sweets of this texture are with a nice chew and the others have a firmer, more solid chew. Again more like a slightly softer Wine Gum than a jelly. 

The half foam Summer Fruit tasted like a diluted version of the same flavour in the last two bags, all I could really taste was the foam bottom of the sweet - not that I can put into words the flavour but just plain. The same flavour in gummy form wasn't much better, there was a mixed berry aftertaste but to be truthful I only knew what flavour it was supposed to be because it was red and shaped like a strawberry. The half foam Apple was the complete opposite, the apple was very strong and was the nicest apple out of the three. It was very sweet and juicy - a very nice apple sweet. I ate the gummy version immediately after a foam and gave up trying to work these bags out. I'm assuming the same ingredients are used for the half foam but these tasted so plain, there was a slight lingering apple taste but nothing while I was actually chewing. The strength of the foam apple might not have helped but these just seemed dull. Blackcurrant & Apple in the half foam sweet was very plain again, like the summer fruits all I could taste was the marshmallow like foam on the bottom. Dissapointing. The same flavour in the gummy was slightly better, it was stronger tasting than the Summer Fruits was but still mild. It had an even mix of the two flavours but nothing impressive. I can't comment on Orange as I didn't have any but I did have one lonely Tropical half foam sweet - hallelujah! At last, this is how tropical was supposed to taste in the other bags. Fresh and fruity with a slight tart aftertaste - this one sweet had enough flavour to provide the tropical smell when I opened the bag! Lovely. 

I liked a couple in the Juicy Jellies bag but the rest were rubbish. It seems Apple and Tropical benefit from artificial flavours as these were the only vibrant, juicy sweets in the bag. 

5/10 

The Fruit Shoot sweets are pretty good - especially the first two if you're looking for natural sweets rather than lots of added nasties and they're only £1 for quite a big bag too. It was interesting to see that (with the exception of the Juicy Jellies) the same ingredients were used but the strength/tartness/juiciness varied so much between bags, it seems the type of sweet used really affects the flavour. 

The all round winner for me was the (not very sour) Mega Sours! 

J20 Fruit Fusions

I have restraint shopping in real life but shopping online is another story. One minute I'm just looking thinking "ooh they look nice" the next thing I know there's a knock on the door and I've got 14 bags of sweets to find somewhere to put away. 

I don't think these are new but I haven't seen them in any supermarkets. They are J20 Fruit Fusions, 'exotic fruit soft gums made with real fruit juices and natural colours and flavours'.  Looking at the packet all I can see are the natural and real ingredients, no scientific words or names at all. Usually there are minimal natural ingredients but just enough to get away with using that label, here that's not the case at all. 

The idea of these sweets are to pair different flavours together and there are 21 combinations you can make, I'll just post about the individual flavours as that will be long enough as it is! 

The bag has a very fruity smell to it, nothing too tropical and nothing that stands out but they do smell good. They're solid, firm little sweets with an almost rubbery texture - softer than wine gums but a lot chewier than jelly sweets. With all the flavours I found there was no real taste until I'd broke through the outer seal so to speak, the insides have the same consistency as the outs but all the flavour seems to be concentrated there. 

Passionfruit 

The flavour took a while to kick in but when it did it was lovely. It had a strong sweet, passionfruit taste and was very tropical tasting. 

Cherry 

This was a very natural tasting cherry, nothing like Haribo cherries for example. At first I wasn't too keen - it tasted exactly like a lipgloss I had when I was about eleven! But this really grew on me and ended up being one of my favourites. 

Mango 

The mango probably took the longest for the flavour to develop. It was very plain and like chewing nothing to start but oh my it soon appeared. It's a very strong, natural mango. The strongest flavour in the bag by far and is surprisingly sharp. An unusual flavour but a welcome difference to the normal fruit flavours in sweets. Very tasty 

Pineapple

The one sweet in the bag where the flavour was apparent as soon as I took a bite. Very strong (even more so for a sweet using only real juices), very natural and very tropical tasting. Absoloutly delicious and in my opinion the best of the bunch. 

Mandarin 

Probably the mildest all round of them all. It has a slightly orange like taste to it eventually that's not very strong. It does have a nice flavour, it's just doesn't stand out amongst the other bolder flavours here. 

Peach

Peach is a funny flavour, done well it's delicious but it's very easy to ruin. This is one of the better peach flavours I've had - probably the best actually. It's not too strong or overpowering like others I've tried but still stands it's own against the sharp mango or sweet pineapple for instance. A very natural peach, very tasty. 

I was impressed with these sweets, unlike certain brands I've tried lately (coughHaribocough) and with the exception of the Mandarin, I could identify all the flavours without looking what they were supposed to be. Not only do they all have a lovely, sweet, real flavour but J20 or Monty Bojangles have achieved it using only natural ingredients. Impressive. 

8/10 

Mr Kipling limited edition Cocktail Fancies

I've said before I don't really like cakes, I'd normally walk straight past these Mr Kipling Fancies but a Daiquiri is my absolute favourite cocktail so I had to try the Cocktail fancies. 

There are eight to a box, a strange number if you ask me considering that gets you three of the cream coloured Piña Colada flavour, three of the orange Peach Bellini flavour and only two pink Raspberry Daiquiri. 

All three are your normal sponge Fancie with a vanilla flavoured topping but the cocktail flavours lie in the fondant icing. There is no alcohol in any of the cakes. Sadly. 

I don't like fondant. That is what it is with these type of cakes, I'll happily eat as many Fairy Cakes as you can put in front of me but that horrible icing you can keep thank you very much! 

The cakes were fluffy and moist, tasty for a mass produced cake, the vanilla cream was fine too - not too much and not too strong tasting, in fact it got lost a little but the texture was good with the sponge cake and the thick icing. 

I started with Peach Bellini, as I don't really care for peach so though I'd get the one I was least looking forward to eaten first. I'd read on other blogs (linked in the side bar >>) that people were quite disappointed as it wasn't very peachy. That wasn't the case with the one I picked out of the box at all! When I had all three cakes infront of me all I could smell was peach! The flavour was much the same, a sweet strong Peach, I couldn't taste any champagne though but the Peach could have overpowered it. Really tasty flavour, despite my usual dislike of peach! 8/10 

I then tried the Piña Colada flavour. While it had a nice summery taste to it I couldn't have picked out Pineapple or coconut at all. I even looked on the box to double check what this was supposed to be and I definitely couldn't taste either in my cake. It was nice but coming after the Peach Bellini it has to get a 6/10 

Last but not least (hopefully) was Raspberry Daiquiri. My Daiquiri of choice is banana if fresh ones are available, closely followed by strawberry but raspberry will do just fine. The raspberry was quite a mild flavour and left more of a lingering aftertaste rather than the flavour jolt the peach gave me. The flavour is described as raspberry Daiquiri rather than raspberry but I couldn't taste any rum flavour at all. Another light, tasty cake but not as strong as the flavour in the peach. rating 7/10 

Overall I really enjoyed these little Fancies, they tasted very summery and would go perfect with a glass of something sweet and fizzy on a warm evening in the garden! Hopefully they'll still be on sale by the time an evening like that rolls round in this country! 

Rating 7/10