SweeTARTS are the classic, crunchy American candy. Super sweet and charged with super fruit flavors, SweeTARTS have earned their place in the candy hall of fame. Ripping open a pouch never disappoints. Sure, it may always be the last candy left in your Trick-or-Treat bag (does anyone go out and actually buy SweeTARTS?) but it’s always good in a sugar pinch.
So, let’s talk about the Wonka company’s other version of SweeTARTS, its Giant Chewy SweeTARTS. Ok, so they’re SweeTARTS that are big (that’s the “giant” part) and soft (yes, the “chewy” part). From the description, I imagined a candy that had the texture of a soft-baked cookie. Would I like a sugar cookie with bits of SweeTARTS embedded in its chewy soft middle? You bet I would.
With this buildup, I opened the package and came face to face with four tablets vaguely resembling urinal cakes. No cookies here! Each tart is about 2 inches across and hard as a rock. It’s actually recommended on the package that you slam the disc down to crack it into edible pieces, though the Wonka folks don’t use the word “edible.”
Taking a (tentative) bite, I started grinding away on the first tart. Caution! Use your back teeth when consuming this product. After eating one of these monsters, I’ve finally discovered that molars can be useful for something other than padding a dentist’s annual income. The texture of a Giant Chewy SweeTART is hard, dry and dusty. Next comes the trick: In your mouth the dust starts to turn into a gummy glob. The more you chew it, the chewier it gets. Finally, once it reaches the consistency of old gum, the candy quickly dissolves and is gone. It’s like chewing day-old gum and Pixy Stix at the same time. Just plain weird.
With four flavors to a package, green (lime), yellow (lemon), pink (cherry) and purple (grape), SweeTARTS are following the trend of “if it’s popular in this shape, they’ll love it in any other.” Unfortunately, funky-textured, Giant Chewy SweeTARTS don’t live up to their name. Stick with the classic instead.
Buy Giant Chewy SweeTARTS Online:
- at Amazon.com
Didn’t these things used to be chewy?
December 10th, 2008 at 9:25 amOk, they are supposed to be chewy…as I recall when I was younger they were good, and at some point the texture was changed (although not the name). I think this may be a “Coke/New Coke” issue.
December 10th, 2008 at 9:26 amMan- I loved these as a kid. I still crave them occasionally, but I’m never OUT when the craving strikes. I remember them being actually chewy too, and with the exception of the green apple flavor (not my personal fave, despite loving actual green apples), really good.
December 10th, 2008 at 12:57 pmMaybe those were old? I mean I didn’t even know they still made them.
I miss the Wacky Wafers..
December 10th, 2008 at 2:21 pmYeah the giant chewy ones get a little dry, but they get worse as they are older and that sounds like what you got. They also have the bite size chewy orbs that give a more consistent chewiness.
And yes I buy SweetTarts in the roll, I have been eating those and Spree rolls since I was a kid. Before Halloween this year I bought the gigantic 100+ piece bag of assorted sweettarts and I about OD’ed and it was awesome. This year the bag had regular sweettarts in the smarties-roll format as well as halloween skeleton format, the tiny chewy ones, and sweettart taffy (which is delicious but only has one flavor).
December 10th, 2008 at 3:53 pmI think you got an old package…
They are generally chewier… and don’t take that much effort to eat.
But I’m also concerned about your flavors… I am pretty sure that the green is Green Apple and the yellow is Banana…
**yikes**
I’m sure that was the reason I stopped really getting them… because I liked the lime and the lemon… as they are in the smaller SweeTARTS… but in the chewy ones, they’re not.
So if yours actually tasted citrus instead of apple and banana… then you may have eaten a fairly old package… but it’s candy… right? It’s not going to hurt you… ;o)
December 10th, 2008 at 4:09 pmI don’t recall Sweetarts ever being chewy. This new variety
December 10th, 2008 at 5:01 pmsounds totally wrong. Yuck.
I LOVE SOUR THINGZ I THINK THE SHOULD CUM OUT WIF A SOUR NEW KIND OF CANDY…..and i love chewy sweettarts there my fav…….so al the peeps out there who dnt like chewy sweettarts ur missing out on alll the fun! jkjk but they r really gooood1
December 10th, 2008 at 9:13 pmChewy Sweettarts have been around for quite a while. Dan’s description completely matches how I would have described them. To me it sounds like he did not get old ones. I like them a lot – I just rarely actually buy them.
December 11th, 2008 at 1:13 pmHi, All:
Wow! A lot of responses. I had no idea so many people were so passionate about oversized sweetarts. I don’t think my package of giant sweetarts was old, either. I just think sweetarts were born to be crunchy, not chewy.
Dan
December 11th, 2008 at 8:37 pmLemme give ya a little secret. You have to put them in your pocket for a little while (while they’re still in the bag, of course). Warming them up can turn them decidedly softer than what you experienced. No, they won’t turn into those godawful soft cookies that scare the bejeezus out of me. (What do they do to those cookies to keep them that soft? I don’t think I want to know.)
I’ve been a fan of these for years, and yes, I pay good cash money for them.
December 14th, 2008 at 11:57 pmi love those “godawful” soft cookies!
December 17th, 2008 at 2:51 am[...] lemony, but without the pucker power of the cherry or the orange. I prefer the lemon flavor of the Giant Chewy SweeTart candies to these jelly [...]
May 22nd, 2009 at 4:00 amI am sitting here now with a pack of chewy SweeTarts in front of me. LOVE THEM. My kids love them too. We buy them daily. The hard discs are delicious as well. Know how to eat the chewy ones??? Put the whole disc in your mouth at once… YES!!! Jump right in…. so very good!!!
January 20th, 2011 at 9:32 amRobb is dead on. Put the pack in your pocket before you eat them. It softens them up, and they are amazing.
October 17th, 2011 at 10:34 pm