Ok, yeah, I know: Halloween was so yesterday and we’re looking forward to Thanksgiving already. But I just grabbed my last bag of Halloween-themed sale candy. I couldn’t resist: it’s a big bag of Willy Wonka goodness AND it was on sale. Plus, there’s extra Halloween-themed silliness involved. What’s a Candy Addict to do but dive right in?
First up, Willy Wonka Laffy Taffy Ear Wax. Maybe all the Harry Potter ear-wax-flavored jelly bean references are to blame, but for some reason I had to try these first. Fortunately, these do not look or taste like ear wax. This cheery yellow Laffy Taffy tastes like banana. Granted, it’s that fake, candy banana taste, but it’s mellow enough that I enjoyed it. These were surprisingly sweet, but in a good way. And, as I chewed, I got that nice, underlying taffy flavor. The texture was good, too – nice and chewy, but it didn’t stick to my teeth. Between the fun, gross out factor and the taffy goodness, I’d have these again.
I didn’t have as much fun with the Willy Wonka Runts Fungus Toenails. Sure, the idea of eating toenails gets a big “Ewwww” but these didn’t follow up the grossness with flavor. Unlike regular Runts, which have a mix of fruity flavors, these Runts only have the banana flavor – the banana shape is supposed to look like yellowing toenails (yummy!). Unfortunately, this is my least favorite Runts flavor. The banana flavor is really light and, in my book, overly sweet. Plus, these are very hard and that makes chewing them a lot of work. When you do manage to crunch them, they disintegrate into a faintly banana-flavored sugary dust. I tried sucking on them, but they didn’t have enough flavor to make it worth it. These were my least favorite thing in the bag.
The wart-infested Nerds witch on the front of the Nerds Giant Chewy Bumpy Warts had me cracking up as I opened the package. By “giant” they mean in comparison to regular, tiny Nerds. These bumpy purple eggs are roughly the same size as chocolate-covered espresso beans. Since regular Nerds are wee tiny, I think this qualifies as giant in the Nerds universe.
I gotta say, these are a bit weird. I love regular Nerds, and these aren’t really anything like them. The outside is a thin, candy shell – sort of like what you get on an M&M, except this shell is bumpy and vaguely grape flavored. I don’t recommend sucking the candy coating off like you can with M&Ms, because the bumps make it uncomfortable. When you bite into it, the shell cracks and dissolves and you’re left with the chewy inside. The flavor starts out as a strongly sweet-tart grape, then fades to a sweeter grape. I liked the sweet-tart grape flavor, but I found the consistency of the chewy part weird and a bit off-putting.
The final treat in this bag was my favorite. The Willy Wonka Skulls n’ Bones SweeTarts consist of berry flavored skulls and lemon or grape flavored bones. True to the name, the candy is both sweet and tart. It’s been a while since I’ve had a SweeTart and I forgot how good they were. Unlike the Runts, the SweeTarts were easy to chew and they dissolved into a sweet-tart powder that reminds me of Pixy Stix. You can also suck on them if you want to make them last.
Overall, I’d say I’m two for four with this bag. I’m happy with the Ear Wax and Skulls n’ Bones, on the fence with the Bumpy Warts, and not thrilled with the Fungus Toenails.
Buy Wonka Candy Online:
- at Candy Crate
- at Old Time Candy
- at Amazon.com
Hmm… I wonder why they devoted a bag just to grape and banana flavors? Those don’t sound Halloween to me as much as they do Bar Mitzvah in Hawaii.
November 19th, 2008 at 8:32 pmHmm…. I think you guys called the Giant Chewy Nerds Awesomely Addictive before… ;) hahaha
November 20th, 2008 at 12:42 pmoh man, I love the banana runts the best, so those toenails would be awesome to get. Also giant chewy nerds are good, but I like the grape flavor the least.
November 21st, 2008 at 3:53 am