Mike & Ike Strawberry Reunion - Dollar Tree: Berlin, NJ

Mike & Ike Strawberry Reunion  - Dollar Tree: Berlin, NJ

I'm finally putting a dent in my foodie-stash! There's still a ton left for me to review, but I can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. (Or in this case, I can see the bottom of the box.) I bought these Mike & Ike's a really long time ago, embarrassingly long, and I'm finally ready to give these a try!

The box art for this line of candies has undergone quite a few changes. I remember the classic green box with the bold logo, but this seems so grungy and extreme. All of these spray-paint-like splatters and black splotches make this feel like it's trying way too hard to be cool. If you ask me, this belongs in the same design category as Doritos and Mountain Dew. They have that obnoxious in-your-face look that kind of screams in your face. The little fruit images to the right soften things up a bit, but really, I'm not too fond of this design for this product. It seems so out of place for a simple fruity mix. (Also I think it's odd that all the fruity combos to the right have strawberry posted first, expect for strawberry tangerine.) Am I alone here? Or does this design seem like a really random choice for this product?

Inside the package are five different fruity flavors that are all strawberry-based. Since strawberry is my favorite flavor of Skittle, Starburst, and other sweets, I thought this mix would be right up my alley! I mean, how can you go wrong with a fruity mix like this? Everything sounds delicious!

Strawberry: (Red with pale flecks) There were tons of these in the box, more than any other flavor. Now before eating these I ate a real strawberry, since I had plenty of them in the kitchen, and with that as my comparison, this tastes really artificial. (Which is to be expected.) It's sweet, there's a mild fruity flavor of artificial strawberry and the after taste of imitation honey. I was hoping it's be a little more tart and jammy, but it's not bad. If I eat a few of this flavor at once the imitation honey flavoring gets even stronger, but a slight jam-like flavor peeks through it. Even though I love strawberry flavored sweets, these were not my favorite. 

Strawberry Banana Smoothie: (Yellow with white flecks)  This was very similar to the plain banana-flavored Mix and Ike from the last mix I tried, it's sweet, mellow, and very very artificial. At first I couldn't taste any hint of strawberry, but it started becoming more apparent towards the end. There's a sweet and slightly floral strawberry flavoring with this one, and for imitation banana, it's not that bad.

Strawberry Watermelon: (Pink with red flecks) There were only five of these in the entire box, what a pity, because these were my favorite! They taste like artificial watermelon and strawberry water ice. If you scooped those two flavors of Rita's into one cup, you'd have this candy. I love it!

Strawberry Tangerine: (Orange with red flecks)  I wouldn't think to put these two flavors together in real-life, but it's not that bad. The Tangerine flavoring kind of reminds me of orange Pez, but it mixes nicely with the artificial strawberry. This tastes nothing like real fruit, but the hint of zest makes this a nice addition to the mix.

Strawberry Pineapple: (Peachy-orange with red flecks) Another combo I wouldn't really think of making, but this one works really nicely. The pineapple adds tartness, and makes my mouth water a bit, while the artificial strawberry mellows it out for a sweet finish. This ended up being my second favorite, and I wish the mix had a lot more of them.

Berry flavored sweets are my absolute favorites, so I really thought I'd be over the moon for this mix, but really, it was just okay. The flavor combinations are interesting, there's a decent blend of sweet and slightly tangy flavors, and all of them taste good when combined. The problem lies in the weakness of the strawberry flavoring. All of these were meant to taste like strawberry mixed with something, but the berry flavoring was so weak and artificial, the other flavors out-shined the berry-ness. Since this product focuses on strawberry flavoring, the lack of it was it's downfall. If any of these packed the same punch as a strawberry jam flavored Jelly Belly, then these would be amazing, but as-is, I wouldn't buy these again and unless you really really like Mike & Ike's, I wouldn't say you should check these out.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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