Mike and Ike Review Roundup – Five Varieties

Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - by Mariko

As a hardcore Candy Addict, I consumed a good deal of candy during my childhood. My mother even packed full-size candy bars in my sack lunches! Mysteriously, Mike and Ike candies were absent from my candy-eating repertoire. I wasn’t exactly sure why, since I did like candies in the jellybean category. Well, I recently had the honor of reviewing five selections of Mike and Ike candies, and I think I know why.

The five kinds of Mike and Ike candies included Original Fruits, Berry Blast, Tropical Typhoon, Tangy Twister, and Lemonade Blends (which is due to be released nationwide in the summer of 2008). We’ll start with the bad then work up to the good, okay?

Mike and Ike Original Fruits:

If these are the original flavors, I can see why I bypassed these during my childhood. Talk about bland city! The flavors aren’t listed on the package, and I certainly couldn’t tell what the flavors were from eating the candies, but there were pictures of some fruits, so these are my best guesses:

• Orange: The initial flavor is quite strong and somewhat reminiscent of orange, but it quickly morphs into just a sickly sweet candy.
• Lime: This one boasts a strong artificial lime flavor. The key word here is “artificial.”
• Cherry: Boy, is this one nasty. The first hit tastes like cherry-flavored Sucrets (for those of you born after 1970 or so, Sucrets are cough suppressant tablets), and then it tastes kind of like burned rubber (not that I have ever eaten burned rubber, but you know).
• Strawberry: There are supposedly two red flavors in the package, but all the reds look the same. I suspect one of the reds was supposed to be strawberry, but it was impossible to tell.
• Lemon: Really? Are you kidding me?

Mike and Ike Berry Blast

• Blueberry: Tastes like blueberry that has been laced with pesticides! These have a slight chemical taste to them, and there is no sour to offset the sweet. Where is my sour candy!
• Strawberry: This lacks a strong strawberry flavor and tastes artificial and sickly sweet. Not good.
• Mixed Berry: What is mixed berry supposed to taste like, exactly? Well, this just tastes like corn syrup.
• Raspberry: Doesn’t taste like raspberry, but this does have the strongest flavor, so if you like full flavors the raspberry would have to be the best. It is still too sweet, though.
• Wild Berry: And how is wild berry different from mixed berry? Is mixed berry calm and sedate? Anyway, this tastes like artificial watermelon flavor, and last time I checked, watermelon wasn’t a berry.

Mike and Ike Tropical Typhoon

This selection was hit and miss. Some of the flavors were passable, but I still don’t think I’d buy these unless I was insanely desperate or had suffered from amnesia and couldn’t remember these weren’t that tasty.

• Orange Pineapple: I love the whole orange-pineapple combo in general, and the Mike and Ike orange pineapple isn’t too bad. It’s slightly tangy and tastes relatively true, though the sweetness of the pineapple offsets the citrus tang of the orange.
• Caribbean Punch: I couldn’t identify any distinct flavors in this at all. And no, that’s not a good thing.
• Kiwi Lime: Again, a mix of unidentifiable flavors. There is really no hint of lime or kiwi.
• Strawberry Banana: Gross. There’s an artificial banana flavor with a hint of sickly sweet artificial strawberry flavor.
• Pineapple Banana: There’s not much banana flavor, and the pineapple flavor is very subtle as well.

Mike and Ike Tangy Twister

Okay, if you’ve stuck with me so far, you are about to be rewarded, because now we’re getting to the good stuff! Tangy Twister ROCKS. These are so good that I don’t even care about the welts that develop in my mouth from eating too much sour candy (okay, so maybe that’s not so appetizing).

• Apple: Yum, this is a tangy green apple flavor! Oddly, there was only ONE in the entire package.
• Raspberry: Now we’re talking! This packs a sweet and tart raspberry flavor.
• Pineapple: Biting into one of these juicy little gems took me back to the beaches of Maui…
• Cherry: No wimpy cherry flavor here.
• Citrus Punch: To me, this tasted like a tangy little combination of mango, lemon, and orange.

Mike and Ike Lemonade Blends

I’ve saved the best for last. These Lemonade Blends are seriously so incredibly delicious that I don’t know if I can wait for the summer of 2008 for them to be released! My mouth is watering just thinking about them. If you like tangy lemonade flavors, then these are definitely for you. In addition, you can feel good about eating these, because part of the proceeds will benefit Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, a group dedicated to fighting childhood cancer.

Now, I have a sad confession to make. These were so good that I just chomped them down without carefully noting the distinctions between the flavors. I hope you will forgive me. All the flavors were good, though, I can guarantee that. The flavors are Lemonade, Raspberry Lemonade, Strawberry Lemonade, Limeade, and Tangerine Lemonade.

• Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation
• Mike and Ike

Buy Mike and Ike candies online:

• at Amazon.com
• at CandyDirect
• at Old Time Candy