UPDATE: I have received FRESH Red Vines and reviewed them here
Last week I made a post I called Mr. Pibb + Red Vines = Crazy Delicious T-Shirt wherein one of the things I said was “I don’t think I have ever had Red Vines”. A reader who goes by striggy said:
You run a site called Candy Addict and you’ve never had red vines? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?
Honestly, I’m not sure I have ever even seen Red Vines before here in NC. I wonder if it’s a NorthEast/NY thing? Anyone? So, I started poking around on the Red Vines website and I used the store locator to find out that Walgreen’s carries them. We have a Walgreen’s here in town that has only been open for a year or two, so last night I made a trip to Walgreen’s to try and find Red Vines and I did indeed find some – $1.29 (or 2 for $2) for a 5.5 oz pack.
So, I got some and took them home to try. Another reader named Dave had said:
They’re nice and soft and have a distinct cherry flavor. Not at all like those hard, plasticy strawberry Twizzlers.
I like (not love) Twizzlers, so I was looking forward to trying the Red Vines. I was surprised to find though that they were just as “plasticy” as Twizzlers, contrary to what Dave said. As I was chewing the Red Vines and looking at the package I noticed it said this:
BEST BEFORE 081405
DAMN YOU WALGREEN’S!!!! You sold me expired candy!!!!!
So, understand that this review is of expired Red Vines. (I told you Red Vines aren’t well-known or popular here in NC.) So, despite them being chewier (evidently) than they are supposed to be, they were still pretty good. They had a nice flavor to them – I guess it’s a cherry flavor, but it’s not overwhelmingly cherry. it’s a good red licorice flavor. Good stuff, though I guess I needed to try them with Mr. Pibb for them to be crazy delicious. Now I’ll have to be on the lookout for unexpired Red Vines. [sigh]
Red Vines website
Mr. Pibb website
Mr. Pibb + Red Vines = Crazy Delicious T-Shirt
Crazy Delicious background
Mr. Pibb information
Image from Wikipedia’s Lazy Sunday Entry
You know, it’s funny– I actually typed and deleted a comment that was quite like Striggy’s. Red Vines and Twizzlers are simply… not the same animal. I love Red Vines, but they have to be FRESH!!! This is why I have such a problem with how they sell those huge tubs of 144 vines or some gigantic amount like that. Just yesterday I pulled one out of a tub (it was almost empty, which should’ve been my first clue to stay away) and it was so nasty– just like a vaguely cherry-flavored rock. I ended up feeding it to my horse. In conclusion, I hope you get the chance to try fresh ones! They really are tender and delicious.
On another note, which Twizzlers do you & your wife prefer? I like the pull-n-peel and the nibs when I’m feeling slightly masochistic, but I really dislike the classic twists.
RESPONSE: My wife loves the classic Twizzlers. She HATES anything cherry flavored and the classic Twizzlers are strawberry flavored.
January 3rd, 2006 at 2:05 am–Brian
Got stale red vines? Here’s what you do…
1. Separate them if they are all stuck together
2. Place them in a sealable container (tupperware is good)
3. Place a dish/glass with water (enough that it won’t all evaporate right away) inside the container. Be careful not to get the vines wet (it makes a sticky mess)
4. Wait. This takes a while (days). Longer if the container doesn’t seal correctly.
The moisture in the sealed container will gradually make the vine soft again.
WARNING – They can get too moist
January 23rd, 2006 at 1:56 pm[...] It seems someone from The American Licorice Co. found out about my review of the expired Red Vines and they emailed me promising to send me some fresh Red Vines and samples of some of their other products. Well, the package arrived today and it was full of candy! I now have a 1-lb bag of red Red Vines, a 1-lb bag of black Red Vines, a bag of Apple Sour Punch Bites, a bag of Strawberry Sour Punch Bites, a bag of Snaps, a large bag of Super Ropes, and a 5.5 oz box of Red Vines. Look for reviews SOON! [...]
January 31st, 2006 at 10:38 pmOh, Red Vines taste that way in date. I always compare them to chewing on wax. That’s one reason why “Mr. Pibb+Red Vines=Crazy Delicious” cracks me up. It’s a nasty combo, and a cheap one at that. I can get a HUGE thing of Red Vines for around $5 at Wal Mart. Should last quite a while…
RESPONSE: Check out my review of fresh Red Vines.
August 2nd, 2006 at 10:25 amI’m firmly convinced that the Red Vines makers only make a few bags of fresh Red Vines per shipment, hoping that a newcomer will pick up a bag, fall in love, then spend the rest of their natural days trying to find other non-stale bags. It’s like winning the lottery when you do. They can be dated to expire a year hence, and still when you open them it’s nearly impossible to chew them. I have such a love-hate relationship with them, it isn’t even funny.
RESPONSE: LOL! I have only had them twice – once stale from the store and once fresh from the company. I was craving them last week though.
August 3rd, 2006 at 5:04 pm–Brian
Ok, so I’m here to report on the success of the process that RedVineLv mentioned. Turns out, it’s great! However, it definitely takes a few days, and like (s)he said, they can get too soft… which certainly doesn’t pose an issue for me! I put about half of a one pound bag in a large-ish tupperware container, a small glass of water, and after six days came to find that the vines, which had been completely inedible, were so soft that they barely held their shape. They were great! Obviously, it would probably be best to limit the procedure to three or four days, but it’s certainly worth it to get those stale Red Vines back to an edible state!
August 12th, 2006 at 4:38 pmActually I grew up on Redvines… thanks to my Grand mother… she had many favorite candies from the 50 and 60 era, and as a child of the 70′s that was one of the fav’s she had. I have my children hooked on them and, but my husband is from the east coast and likes twizzlers.
I’m originally from California where they are plentiful, yet here in the Nation’s Capital, the only place that carries them is WALMART… ( WHAT IS IT WITH THE WAL STORES AND REDVINES… WAL GREENS WAL MART ….)
My husband is more partcial to twizzlers although he said to make a true comparison he must try them together… but the first time I tryed twizzlers, my mother in law, who is also from the east introduced them to my children, and I felt like I was eatting a plastic top to a pen.
Although I will eat them if I need a serious candy fix ( while squinting), my children and I 1000000% prefer, Red vines.
Oh and also, one mentioned twizzlers and mr pibb…. try redviness with popcorn…. I made that discovery at the movies… and now that is the only thing I will eat when I’m at the movies… it’s a wonderful every now and then treat.
HARK
October 15th, 2006 at 12:14 amI tried fresh soft Red Vines but I found I didn’t like them too much…just a little too medicinal tasting and the texture was too soft for my liking. so the rest of the bag just sat there for about a month. I just tried a stale Red Vine from the bag, nice and hard and chewy and I find I actually like the stale ones because of the texture and they’re lest medicinal tasting. I also like Twizzlers stale- hard and chewy- too.
May 20th, 2008 at 8:53 pmHELP. I hope there is someone out there who can help me find the SOLID black licorice that came in a larhe bag of mixed(red & black)licorice that I bought at Walgreens. Sometimes a bag would have twists and sometimes thay would have solid licorice strips instead, both red and Black. I am ADDICTED to the black one and can no longer find them PLEASE HELP!!!! I’m 58 years old, married a long time, have 5 cardiac stents, am a recovering alkie and that solid black licorice was the LAST of my vices! I NEEEEED my solid Black Licorice!!!!!!! Thanks for your time and your help. Peace, Mark jmj8593@cs.com
February 1st, 2009 at 1:28 pmI’m sorry, that was a Large bag of REDVINE licorice. Peace, M
February 1st, 2009 at 1:30 pmWhat Mark is looking for is the “Black [Super] Rope” licorice from Red Vines, which I have seen at historical museum gift shops (though that was twenty years ago).
February 4th, 2009 at 8:15 pmWhat happened to Strawberry Twizzlers and cherry Nibs! They changed the formula! They are both terrible now! I accepted the fact that they ruined Chocolate Twizzlers when they changed the formula. I just stopped buying them even though they were my favorite candy. But now the Strawberry Twizzlers and Nibs? I found some of the old packages at Walgreens and bought about 20 of them and put them in my storage room! They are my treasure and I will be so sad when they are gone!
May 14th, 2010 at 11:29 amI bought LifeSavers Gummies mix red sours from Walmart in Elk Grove CA on 9/18/11 and they expired on 5/1210, i was just wondering why Walmart would still keep such a expired product still on there shelve and sell it too customers is there anything i can do about this.
September 26th, 2011 at 7:07 pmYou people are clearly not high! Stale gummie candy is the best, in fact I’ve been known to rotate and hide certain packs of red vines in my favorite stores for later consumption.it provides longer lasting enjoyment, due to the fact it cannot be consumed a quickly, you spend your time chewing having fun getting your sugar buzz! The mass consumption of plastic garbage both red vine and twizzlers has plagued the American candy market for decades.its time Americans got some taste! Buy German black, the real deal! If you need that so called red garbage there’s always that Australian stuff.
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May 15th, 2013 at 3:04 am