A Big Bag of Randomness

There is no denying the allure of sour candy for me. I love the stuff. Hell I've reviewed the junky food on three previous occasions. More than chocolate, or vanilla, or any other solidly tasty flavor, sour is my love. As such, when I see a collection of sour candies too hard to resist I don't even bother trying.

Although I don't buy much from Amazon, I have bought just enough candy for them to learn my tastes. As such, when a 2 lb bag was suggested by the evil empire well, hell, I had to get it. And here's what we had in the selection, presented in the order I ate them:

Big Sour Patch Kids

Sour Patch Kids, in case you haven't had these omnipresent candy, are soft gummies vaguely in the shape of a cartoon character, coated in sour powder and shoved into bags. I hadn't seen that they could be served, in slightly larger form, as a single-serve candy. But that's what we have here. And they're good; but solid flavor and sour bite. I found these to be the right amount in a single kid for a quick candy bite. If I could get those regularly, like from a candy machine or the line, I think I would.

Efrutti Sour Mini Burger

Although I will eat Sour Patch Kids, I'm not generally a fan of gummies Most of them are too firm, too weird, too much of a texture I'm not in the least bit wanting. And yet the bag had not one but two of these gummy burgers, so I had to eat them for this article. The Efrutti Sour Mini Burger is just a strange little fruit gummy, presented as a burger but with removable layers (three layers total). I took a bite out of the whole thing and that was a mistake. Hard to bite through only to get a general "citrus" flavor from the whole "burger". Separately the top "bun" had a strong orange flavor. The middle "burger" was vaguely lemon lime... or apple. It was fruity and was... fine. The bottom "bun with ketchup" was a pronounced berry flavor. Cherry maybe, although masked some by the orange citrus bite. Tasty, and the whole thing was tangy. But still too hard a chew for my tastes. This was not something I would want on its own outside of a giant bag like this.

Mike and Ike Sour Watermelon

Watermelon flavor can be divisive in candy form. It's a very fake flavor so some people hate it. But there's a familiarity to the fakeness, a specific flavor that, whatever the candy, from any maker, tastes the same. Like Blue Razzberry in that familiar artificiality. Mike and Ikes nail that flavor with their watermelon, and there is a pretty nice little sour bite to the candy. The candy itself is too chewy for my tastes, going on the complete opposite side of the spectrum from the gummy burger which is why I normally don't get this brand. Still, for the flavor they're pretty good sour candies.

Pez Sours

So, Pez are weird. When you think of Pez you don't think of the candy but the dispensers. Those toys, which is basically what they are, have become so iconic that the candies themselves are an afterthought. And yet the bag contained a lot of Pez packs and no Pez dispenser. It's just weird. With that said, these candies actually impressed me. Not truly sour, more tart and tangy like a Sweet Tart, but the fruity flavor was bold and the candy was overall delicious. I think you lose something by not having a dispenser in the shape of a cartoon character so that you can split their neck back and give them a wicked hickey, but I would eat this candy again even on its own.

Smarties X-Treme Sour

I've never been a fan of Smarties as I find them too chalky. They were a mainstay of candy bags, especially around Halloween before parents started wanting candy that was more sealed (while Smarties were packs of candy rolled in loose plastic), but then they disappeared. Honestly, until they showed up in this big bag of candy I forgot they existed. The X-Treme Sours make up for the chalky blandness I expected with a solid, bold flavor. Good bite, solid pop of sour, with sweet follow up that doesn't dull the experience. They're tasty little crunchy candies. A very tasty as an alternative to something like Sweet Tarts... if you can find them.

Warheads Sour Popping Candy

We've covered these in the in previous sour candy reviews. They're like pop rocks mixed with sour powder and, in the little sachets they come in, are actually really good. I've picked them up a couple of times since my initial review. The 2 lb bag had two packets of the powder, but they came in larger pouches than the normal, sachet servings. The bonus is you get a larger amount of the popping candy. However, the downside is it separates as you eat it so unless you dump the whole big package in your mouth, you'll end up with popping rocks at the top, sour powder at the bottom. I prefer the smaller sachets, for sure.

Warheads Extreme Sour Hard Candies

I didn't realize Warheads hard a hard candy version as I thought all basic Warheads were the same: sour coating on hard candy outside, with a sour powder middle for fun crunching once you sucked all the sour off the outside. But no, there are hard candy versions, apparently, without any of the powdery middle; just lozenge candy all the way through. It sucks. The sour Warhead flavor wears off pretty quick and all you're left with is a mediocre, blandly sweet candy. These are not great at all. I'll stick to the "normal" Warheads.

Bala Azedinha Sour Candy

Opening these up, I expected a Warhead but it was very different. Same shape, a candy lozenge, but instead of a slap of sour this was more tart. They were nice as the flavor lasted throughout the life of the candy in my mouth. And then it ended with a chewy center that was sweet and tasty. The are an appealing alternative to Warheads or Toxic Waste candies, and if I see them again I'll get a bag for sure.

Tootsie Frooties Sour Candy

I don't like Tootsie Rolls. The weird chocolate but not chocolate flavor always bothered me, and they're far too firm for a chew (especially the larger versions). But Tootsie also has little fruit chews and those weren't bad; they're basically fruity taffy by a different name. The sour ones have some strong tartness along with their bold flavor, a surprisingly good flavor considering. They're pretty good for what they are, about as strong as a Sour Starburst. I wouldn't be opposed to getting them again, although as with Smarties, these things appear hard to come by in general.

Toxic Waste Hazardously Sour Candy

We've talked about these before in our previous sour candy roundups, and they're still really good. In fact, having these and Azedinhas, and Warheads all in the same bowl only highlights how good the Toxic Waste drops are. In my previous review of these candies I said, "well, Toxic Waste is just like Warheads," but frankly Warheads have been a disappointment as of late (with all their weird, awful varieties that lack the Warhead punch), while Toxic Waste is so tasty. These were absolutely the highlight of the bag.

Cry Baby Extra Sour Bubble Gum

Cry Baby gum wasn't my first exposure to the brand; that was the Cry Baby Tears, which were basically Sweet Tarts by a different brand. They're good too, if you can find them, but the gum meets a certain need that's had to find otherwise. Namely: sour plus gum. These gumballs are pretty good, for gumballs. Flavorful, very sour at the start, nice and sweet at the end. The biggest complaint is that the lack staying power, becoming bland wads of gum in a matter of minutes. And then you want to chew another. And suddenly you have five of these in an overstuffed mouth... I have no regrets.

Shock Pops

These are basically Blow Pops, but more sour. Although, really, that's arguable as I don't find these to be all that sour at all. Tart, maybe tangy, but not sour. I get as much sour bite from these as from a really good Nerd. With that said, these are a solid Blow Pop alternative with strong flavor. If you see them, they're worth grabbing, especially when Blow Pop doesn't make anything truly sour anymore (not that I can find).

Bonus Items

Along with all these sour candies, we had two other items included in the bag. These can't be categorized with the rest, for various reasons, so we'll list them here:

• Unlabeled Sour Ball: I have no clue who makes these or even what they were supposed to be. I didn't know if they were meant to be sour or what as the loose wrapped had no labeling on it at all. Regardless it had a fine "sour cherry" flavor. Not really sour, but like those sweet candies that say "sour cherry" on them. It was a tasty little candy ball and, if I knew who made them, I might have been willing to get them again. But, alas.
• Hot Tamales Fierce Cinnamon: Lord only know why a box of cinnamon candy was included in a collection of sour mix. My guess is that these sit next to the sour Mike and Ike candies and, somehow, a worker or machine grabbed the wrong one for this bag. Whatever the case, these are basically the same candy in structure and form as Mike and Ike candies. Just, you know, spicy cinnamon. I, frankly, do not enjoy cinnamon flavor at all. I like spice, but not cinnamon "spice". And, to be blunt, for something called "fierce", the cinnamon on these was lame. Barely a hit of heat at all. So this is a pass from me on both accounts.

And that's it. Everything you can get in two big pounds. Is it worth it? Well, outside the tamales and the lame Warheads, the selection was great. Very few misses in the batch. But now, having tried these, I think I'd rather target the specific items I liked rather than a giant grab bag like this.