I’m not a stranger to “healthy” candy, nor are my views on it anything but direct: there really isn’t such a thing. So if you’re looking for a candy that’s going to be something I recommend you add to your diet, you can stop reading now.

That said, I do believe there is a difference between candy and candy that is better for you. And with childhood obesity on the rise, more and more parents are looking for these sorts of confectionery avenues. Kids are always going to want to eat sweets, so you might as well buy them the ones that are not as hard on their bodies.

Recently, I have reviewed products from companies that share this vision for candy, namely from Surf Sweets and BrightSpot, so it’s not all that surprising to hear of more and more companies adopting this mantra. The latest comes from Yummy Earth, who proudly boast a tagline that their candy is “The best stuff on earth.” Hmm… Snapple anyone?

The idea for this company is steeped in genuine love of both candy and children; the founders are two fathers who teamed up develop a candy for their children that didn’t rely on all the additives, preservatives, etc. that are common in most American candy.

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Perhaps unusually for a sour-head like myself, I’ve never actually tried Nuclear Warheads. If the name is anything to go by, they should be about the sourest candy you can get in North America, but somehow I’ve just never tried them.

I guess that makes me pretty unsuited to review Warheads’ spin-off candy, Sour QBZ, described unenlighteningly on the package as “chewy fruity cubes.” Still, sour is sour, and I know what I like, so let’s get tasting!

My sample-sized bag of QBZ contained six soft, opaque cubes, each about the size of a dice and with a coating of sour sugar. They didn’t look like gummies, more like the soft pectin jelly of lunchbox fruit snacks. (They have both pectin and gelatin in the ingredients.) I received three red QBZ, and one each of pink, blue and green.

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The compressed dextrose candy has long been a staple item of childhood candy diets. Never heard of it? You probably know it better as SweeTarts, Runts, and dozens more – that hard, yet powdery, melt-in-your mouth candy with the tangy flavor and slight cooling effect.

With Pucker Pieces Gourmet Candy Tarts, Creative Concepts Inc. (best known for its Pucker Powder powdered candy dispensers) seems to be trying to do for the compressed dextrose candy what Jelly Belly did for the jelly bean: use unique flavors and creative marketing to “gourmet-ify” it, transforming it into something that will appeal to adults as well as kids. Like Jelly Bellies, Pucker Pieces are displayed in bulk dispensers, allowing for the creation of custom flavor mixes.

If you know how compressed dextrose candies are made, it seems like a total no-brainer for a company that specializes in a powdered dextrose candy like Pucker Powder to move to hard tabs: just like the name implies, a powder made from dextrose (a type of sugar) and other ingredients is pressed into molds at super-high pressure, forming it into hard, yet still powdery, candy treats. (Pills are made the same way.) It seems like it would be a very simple matter to press straight-up Pucker Powder (or something very similar) into a more portable, less messy version of Creative Concepts’ flagship product.

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I think if you were to look at the latest generational candy trends, you’d see that the combining of flavors is in. Think of the recent additions to product lines like Skittles Crazy Cores and others.

As such, there was certainly no shortage of candy mixing at the All Candy Expo. Gum, mints, gummies… it’s all the rage. One completely sneaked by under my radar. The new Tropical Chewy Lemonhead & Friends by Ferrara Pan.

When I glanced at the box, I assumed that there were just going to be tropical counterparts to the Chewy Lemonhead and Friends variety I adore. It wasn’t until I popped one in my mouth and then examined the packaging closer that discovered these are in fact another candy with two flavors per piece.

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Tic Tacs have never been my favorite mint – they’re just too wimpy for my tastes. I’ve always preferred mints that are strong enough to make my tongue sting. I like the mellow vanilla outside of the white mint ones, but to me it doesn’t really go with the minty center, and the orange-flavored ones were just another fruit and mint combo for me to dislike.

I haven’t had a Tic Tac in years, but it seems like they’ve really expanded their flavor lineup – including this brand-new flavor combination, Melon Mango (two flavors in one!). Armed with a hefty Big Pack courtesy of the All Candy Expo, I endeavored to see if my opinion of them would be improved by these new flavors.

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