One day a young Candy Addict is sitting in the playground, eating a pack of Fun Dip. The new girl sits down next to him, takes out her own pack of Fun Dip, and eats hers. Their eyes meet, and then [warp speed] they grow up, get married, and it’s Valentine’s Day. Stuck with either flowers again or chocolate (which would wreak havoc on her hips), our young Candy Addict remembers their Fun Dip days fondly… and buys his young love one of these. Valentine themed Fun Dip… albeit Fun Dip, British style.
Made by the Swizzles-Matlow company, Swizzles Love Hearts Dip is just as teeth achingly sweet, silly and utterly hokey as you would hope it to be. My flavor selection had “Orange Sparkle”, “Tangy Raspberry” and “Zingy Lemon” in it. Unlike the American version, all of these powders are fizzy, not unlike the Love Hearts made by the same company.
So, is the gift a success? Let’s consider each flavor:
Candy Floss Stick: About 3 inches long, pale pink and printed with the same messages as the love hearts, the stick claims to be “candy floss” flavor (translation: cotton candy). It’s not. It’s just sweet, but I don’t mind it at all. I think if it were flavored more strongly, it might detract from the flavors of the powders themselves. I love that it has the messages printed on it… call me a romantic, but it’s cute enough to make me say (out loud) “Awwww…”
Zingy Lemon: It’s quite nice to be able to say that this flavor is both zingy *and* lemony. Definitely fizzy and distinctly lemon-flavored, it was nice to eat. Sometimes lemon-flavored stuff is a bit dish washing liquid-ish, but this wasn’t. A pleasant, not-too-horrible lemon flavor.
Tangy Raspberry: This flavor was a big disappointment. Not tangy, not raspberry, not fizzy. Just… KoolAid repackaged but not nearly as tasty. Sweet pink powder, that’s about it.
Orange Sparkle: Ahh, the dish washing liquid makes an appearance! This was horrible. Really, really horrid. Left an awful aftertaste and eating it was like eating Tang gone seriously, seriously wrong. Blech.
I hope our young Candy Addict got his wife a packet of these… AND a seriously huge bouquet of flowers. He might even have to grovel and ask for forgiveness because this candy was so disappointing. (Love tip: Next year, maybe try a romantic weekend away, and a Snickers bar. Apparently they really satisfy!)
Hmmm, as much as the lemon sounds great, I think this is one I’ll actually take a pass on. Those other two sound just nasty, so thanks for the heads up! As a former childhood Tang-outta-the-jar imbiber, I laughed at that comment about the Orange Sparkle being like Tang gone seriously, seriously wrong.” Now I’m trying to imagine what that tastes like!
February 12th, 2008 at 2:31 am