Now & Later Quickie Review
A while ago, Cybele and I recorded a Now & Later themed episode of Candyology 101. To prepare for the recording, I went out and grabbed a few flavors to photograph and munch on, and they've been sitting on my desk ever since. The photos are all finished and edited, so I figured I might as well finish off the bag and type up a formal review!
The bags I bought were from the Walmart impulse buy section and they were labeled "Original mixed fruit chews." As a kid I only bought the individual flavors in paper-wrapped little rectangles, and back then I stuck to flavors I knew I liked. I was a red-berry and watermelon kind of kid, so the grape and green apple will be entirely new flavors for me!
The packaging is colorful and it's layout is a nice mixture between 90's candy nostalgia and modern peg-bag designs. We have bold logos, bright yellow outlines around the black and white text, and big fruit illustrations. It's almost like a visual slap to the face when it comes to grabbing attention, which is good for marketing, but it's a little too obnoxious for my tastes. This isn't a design I would gush over or keep in my candy collection, but it functions well.
Inside we have 5 flavors of tangy individually wrapped taffy.
Grape (purple) - Normally grape candies remind me of cough
medicine, but this flavor is pretty palatable. It's not as tart and
tangy as the strawberry taffy in this mix, but it still has a slightly tangy edge to
it and a mild concord grape flavoring. It's a bit artificial, but the
fake grape flavoring is actually good and it's one of the few American grape candies I actually enjoy.
Strawberry (pink) - Very tart and tangy, possibly the most tangy in this entire mix. Unlike other strawberry flavored taffy products, like Starbursts, that aim for a very sweet and floral strawberry candy, this is more like an unripe or sour fruit. It's enjoyable, and it makes my mouth water as I chew it, but as an adult it isn't satisfying me like it used to. This was a former favorite but it might be dethroned now that I've grown up.
Green Apple (lime green) - This flavor was nothing like I had expected. It's very sweet and barely tangy at all. In fact, this one is the least tangy of the bunch. Normally candies make green apple sour, but this? It was like I was eating a candy apple salt water taffy. I would prefer a tangy lime instead of this flavor in this mix, but apple lovers would most likely disagree.
Cherry (red) - Not as tangy as the strawberry, but far tangier than either the grape or apple flavors. This one has the classic artificial red cherry flavor to it, but with the tangy kick that gets you right on the sides of your tongue. As a kid I preferred strawberry, but cherry trumps strawberry for my overall favorite now!
Watermelon (grass green) - The same artificial watermelon flavoring of Bubblicious bubble gum, water ice, and Blow Pops, in a slightly sour taffy form. This flavor brings me right back to my childhood when I ate watermelon flavored everything and even though I recognize this as being super artificial as an adult, I still love it.
I may not buy them very often, but I find the Now and Later brand to be very nostalgic and comforting. It's a little taste of my childhood, and even though it's not as popular as other fruit-based candies, they'll always have a special place in my heart. (Plus I'm pretty sure these
What?! No banana?! I love that artificial banana flavor in runts and now & later. Runts needs to make all banana pack
ReplyDeleteI think Now and Later might offer banana in a topical peg bag mix, as for Runts, I've seen the banana ones sold solo in bulk candy shops and you can buy big containers of them on Amazon! (I just bought a carton of candy cigarettes from there!)
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