Photo by Anthemic Tangle
One of the best things about Halloween for me is the post-Halloween candy sale. I get to try out all sorts of fun stuff while extending the Halloween spirit for as long as the candy lasts.

Being a Jolly Rancher fan, I immediately gravitated to the Jolly Rancher Creepy Pops. Plus, I love lollipops so I couldn’t wait to try these.

Photo by Anthemic Tangle

The bag has four flavors: wacky watermelon, spooky blue raspberry, ghastly grape, and eerie apple. Each pop is individually wrapped but you can tell what flavor you’ll be getting because you can see the color through the wrapper.

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The following guest review was written by a reader named Meredith. Thanks, Meredith!

These Jolly Ranchers are something new altogether. First of all, awesome name - I just know it’s gonna be a party. And then, they’re opaque instead of clear like regular Jolly Ranchers, and they’re way less sticky, and the inside is hollow, filled with a powder of a different flavor from the exterior. They come in four flavors - mangolemin (mango candy and lemon powder), chorange (cherry candy and orange powder), raspilime (blue razzberry candy and lime powder) and strawapple (strawberry candy and sour apple powder). Consider these the Jolly Rancher version of Zotz.

The candy looks solid but as soon as you put it in your mouth, the ends collapse and the second flavor emerges. The powder has an ingredient I’ve learned is called erythritol - it’s a sugar alcohol and so it has a cooling effect inside your mouth. It’s weird but a nice contrast to the hard candy.

Mangolemin - The mango flavor is overpowering, but as soon as the lemon powder comes out, it mixes with the mango and becomes way less strong and more ambiguous - kind of a citrus fruit punch. This is definitely my least favorite upon first putting it into my mouth, but as soon as the second flavor comes out, it gets a lot better. Just wait a few seconds past the icky mango… it will be worth it.

Chorange - The initial cherry flavor is very strong, almost like a candied cherry. As soon as the orange powder comes out, the flavors mix and the cherry takes on a slightly tangy, almost sour taste. You can barely taste the orange flavor, but once it’s mixed with the cherry it is a lot less intense. It again takes on a kind of a cherry punch flavor, and finishes out being much milder than it started.

Raspilime - The blue razzberry has almost no taste at all - the lime powder comes out and immediately overwhelms the blue razzberry… but that’s not a bad thing. The combination of the two ends up tasting like a Lime Rickey. It has a very slight tartness - much like eating a lime with sugar sprinkled on it - and by the end of the candy you can pretty much only taste the blue razzberry. And it’s very subtle - though you do end up with a blue tongue, so not so subtle there.

Strawapple - This is definitely the best one by far. The initial strawberry taste is really delicious - kind of like a Blow Pop (which is the Blow Pop flavor people always steal from me). As the sour apple powder comes out, it gives a slightly sour apple taste in the back of your tongue, but more than anything it now tastes like a tart strawberry. It’s really good - the strawberry is not overly sweet, just nice and subtle, and the sour apple isn’t too sour. And once the sour apple is gone the strawberry taste is the one that emerges victorious.

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These are all really interesting - it’s almost like getting to eat eight different candies - the four initial flavors, and the four flavors that are formed after the powder emerges. The only one that leaves a slightly unpleasant aftertaste is the mango. The strawberry is the best at the end. The textures of the candies change several times, due to the emergence of the powder and the cooling of the tongue and the candy being hollow. It’s not often that eating a piece of candy is interesting all the way through the experience. The flavors of these candies are constantly changing, which created a whole new (awesome) candy eating experience for me.

P.S. It’s funny to give these to somebody without telling them there’s a second flavor inside. I gave one to my co-worker, who was lying on the couch in my office, and all of a sudden she sat up and gasped like something had bitten her. She HAD been bitten… by a Double Blast.

• Hershey’s Jolly Rancher Double Blasts page

Buy Jolly Racher Double Blasts online:

• at Amazon.com

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The Jolly Rancher Passion Mix bag is going to make some of you very, very happy - because while it does not contain the Holy Grail of Jolly Rancherness (that would be the lemon flavor), it does contain the second best flavor: peach! In my earlier post about the Classic Mix of Jolly Rancher flavors, several comments lamented the demise of the peach flavor. Good news, Candy Addicts, it’s here in all its artificial peachy delicious goodness!

The Passion Mix bag is comprised of five flavors:

Fruit Punch: A strong, delicious flavor of the fruit punch drinks we had as a kid and wish we could justify as an adult. The color is exactly right, too - not as red as a cherry flavor nor as pink as a strawberry, it’s got that beautiful dark pink color we’ve all grown to associate with fruit punch.

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Since I adore them so much, the flavors of Jolly Rancher candies often act as a benchmark for when I taste other fruit flavored candy. As a group they make no excuses for not tasting at all like the actual fruits they represent. Jolly Ranchers are fabulous in that they are so fantastically, gorgeously artificial and yummy. The advertising tag line is “bursting with BOLD fruit flavor” and when it comes to hard candies, no truer words were spoken. Here’s a quick review of the five classic flavors:

Apple: This is far and away my favorite Jolly Rancher flavor. Sweet and tart, green apple is a classic for which there is no substitute. It sits on the knife edge of being too sweet, but balances nicely with the amount of tartness in it. Added bonuses are the bright green it turns your tongue and the fact that you can use it to make Jolly Rancher beer.

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Easter has come and gone, but in the sale aisle of your favorite store it is still alive and well. All Candy Addicts know this magical time of year: the Easter candy sales! I of course was armed and ready for the big day. I mean really, how can you resist an activity that allows you the thrill of the easter egg hunt, the control of the Easter Bunny, and the sweet reward of the Easter basket all in one go? Get thee to the sale aisle!

I went with a plan of action this year. Normally, I just scout for my favorites and get the stockpile ready in my secret candy bunker, but I decided to go with a different plan this year. I still felt the need for something new. I immediately zeroed in on the idea of jelly beans. Why? Well, when you think about it, how can you go wrong with jelly beans? So I decided to pick up a bag of any of the different types I could find.

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year… especially if you’re a fan of candy canes!

Each passing year seems to bring more and more variety to the candy cane aisle, and 2007 is no exception. This year’s crop of canes covers every flavor from watermelon to popcorn, and with so many choices, it’s hard to pick just one box.

Fortunately, I write about candy, so this wasn’t a problem for me. I walked in to my local drugstore, picked up seven boxes, and merrily went along my way. So now, after a week of eating more candy canes than I care to admit, I’m finally ready to bring you my Candy Cane Roundup of 2007!

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