Friday, January 2, 2015

Mike & Ike Sweet Paradise (Limited Edition) - Shop Rite: Berlin, NJ

Mike & Ike Sweet Paradise (Limited Edition)  - Shop Rite: Berlin, NJ
This Shop Rite seems to be trapped in a magical time warp of some kind. I found limited edition products well after their release dates, like this Jelly Bean chewing gum, and I've also seen products that I've never heard any other food blogger mention. Like these "Special Limited Edition" Sweet Paradise Mike and Ikes. I haven't seen this special edition flavor listed or reviewed on any other food sites. Is this new? Is it super old? I guess I'll open the box and find out.


The packaging is very purple heavy, but none of these flavors are really related to that color. (Blueberry is I guess, but still that doesn't make sense for it to be the color scheme for the entire box.) Maybe they just didn't have a purple box in their current line.

Upon closer look, this must be one of their newer products, because the packaging has the "New look" burst at the top left that other truly new flavors have. I guess this is a newer flavor, at least within the last year, but I'm surprised I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere before. Mike and Ike are trying to rebrand and appeal to a more modern audience, hence the sleek new look, but what's with this out of place digital font? All of their flavors are now written in this yellow robotic/digital font and I just don't understand the reasoning behind it. Are they trying to make the packaging more modern? Other than the weird font choice, the packaging is busy, but in a good way, and it does stand out from other items on the shelves. (Otherwise I wouldn't have bought it.)


Inside, we have an array of fruity flavors.

Cherry Vanilla: (Red)  I found this one to be pretty flavorless in the beginning, but the more you chew a slightly maraschino cherry flavor starts to emerge. It seems to be the weakest flavor of the bunch. It has that faint cheery flavoring, but it's just generically sweet chewy candy up until that point.

Strawberry Banana: (Yellow)  I love banana, and this...this is awful. It's tangy, chemical-y, and was my least favorite of the bunch. This isn't even as authentic as the Wonka Runtz version of banana! (Which is saying something.)

Paradise Punch: (Pink)  Not much to say about this one, it's as artificial as they come. It has a slight-Hawaiian Punch flavoring to it, but it doesn't last very long.

Blueberry: (Lavender)  Back in the 90's, there were these fruit and cream flavored Lifesavers lollipops, and I used to love them! This flavor tastes JUST LIKE the blueberry and cream Lifesaver lollipop I remember eating as a kid. It's a fun nostalgic berries and cream flavor that teeters on the edge of being too artificial, but it reminds me of my childhood, so I love it.

Orange Cream: (Orange) A beautiful creamy orange color, this flavor tastes just like an orange Creamsicle, at first, but it has a fairly artificial finish.When I first started chewing I loved the ice cream-like flavoring, but the aftertaste was really similar to baby Aspirin.


As far as all the flavors go, the blueberry was my favorite, but that's really biased due to it's nostalgic taste for me. Other than that, this is a box of "Special Limited Edition" flavors that you can definitely skip. I think a lot of these flavors are even offered in their other boxes. Blueberry is currently in the Minion Mix (although I'm not sure if that tastes the same) and the strawberry banana is in the Tropical Typhoon mix.I might pick up the Minion Mix to see if that banana is any better (and to possibly get more blueberry candies) but I won't be missing this mix once it's gone.
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3 comments:

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  2. I don't think they make these anymore, so I never got to try them.
    What I'd like to do at some point is to mix every possible flavor mix together so I can get a mix of 30+ flavors to put in a candy dispenser and serve it anywhere I want.

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