Candy Review: Starburst Rattlesnakes and Starburst Soda Slammers

Wednesday, January 2, 2008 - by MichelleG

On a recent trip to work I realized I had to stop for gas, or push my car there – not a nice idea on a day when the mercury is already at 95 degrees at 7am! The stop at the gas station was a Candy Addict goldmine, though! They had loads of different things on special and I picked up two treats while I was there.

Starburst Rattlesnakes are a fairly new Starburst product. It’s basically all the delicious fruity Starburst flavors in a gummy snake. The back of the package rates these as “Chewier” on the Chew-O-Meter, and I’d say that’s pretty accurate. They hold their shape well while chewing, retain intense fruity flavor right to the end, and are pretty delish all around. In other words, pretty much the whole bag = breakfast.

Starburst Soda Slammers are another Starburst gummi product. These are a mixture of fruit and soda flavors, in this case the soda being cola and lemon-lime. Each shape (fruit, soda bottle, the Starburst lips logo) is a mixture of a fruit flavor and a soda flavor. It rates a “Heaps Chewier” on the Chew-O-Meter, which means it takes a fair bit of mouth power to break these babies down. I ate a handful of these before I made it to work, and decided to put them aside for further review. At this point I wasn’t entirely sure I liked them. The fruit-and-soda thing wasn’t bad, but I thought it needed further consideration.

I left the car, and my remaining Soda Slammers, and headed to work. Several hours later I returned, excited at the idea of eating some candy on the way home. Sadly, Candy Addict readers, it was not to be. My Soda Slammers had turned into… well… Soda Slammer Soup pooled at the bottom of the bag. Not really all that nice. I did try to grab some out to try, as it was all squishy and warm – but that was a disaster. Let’s just say it was proof that ectoplasm is alive and well, and living in my car. Interestingly, the snakes (2) I left behind were soft and squishy as well, but still retained their shape *and* I was able to pull them apart with only a bit of effort.

I brought the whole mess home, planning on chucking out the entire thing. I forgot it was in my bag and found it several days later, now basically re-formed. Always one for experimentation, I tried it again. (Note bite marks on above photo!) The weird thing is that my ectoplasmic plastic flap tasted really good! I could clearly discern the soda versus the fruit flavors, and I quite liked how the colors all swirled together. The texture was as it had been pre-melting – soft and stretchy and with quite a bit of “chew” left to it.

The Starburst gummi range is produced in Australia by Masterfoods. The ones I’ve tasted thus far are all quite delicious, with intense bursts of (artificial) fruit flavors, bright colors, and fun shapes and designs. I’ve been eating quite a few variations in the Starburst gummi range and I have yet to be disappointed.

I wouldn’t recommend this precise method as a way of eating gummis… but as it’s already quite hot Down Under (and summer has only just begun), who knows what future evil candy disasters/inventions lurk in my car.

• Australian Starburst Website

gummi, gummy, Starburst, snakes, cola, fruit, soda