Starburst on Steroids

Sweet & Sour Hi-Chew  - H-Mart

If you've never experienced a Hi-Chew, you're missing out. These are Starburst on steroids. I introduced my fiancee to these candies when we started dating, and since he loves all things chewy, they quickly became one of his favorite candies. 

Thankfully they are getting more traction here in America. A few years ago I could only find them in Asian markets, but now big chains like Target, Walmart, and 7-Eleven regularly keep them in stock. It's beautiful. Still, for the more unique flavors and mixes, the Asian markets can't be beat. I grabbed these at H-Mart and I'm excited to give them a try since I have NEVER had a bad flavor of Hi-Chew, but you know what they say? Never say never.

Puccho Fruit Chews - Grapefruit & Yubari Melon

Puccho, Grapefruit & Melon - Asian Food Markets

Even though I have reviewed a BUNCH of different Puccho flavors, there is only one other Puccho review here on the site, and it's the Banpeiyu Da Mon Puccho. 

All the other posts are still in my Tumblr archives, and we both know I'll probably never get around to transferring all those posts over....so let's start fresh with a little information about this candy. 

Puccho is a fruit chew candy produced by UHA. At a glance, the fruit chews look similar to Hi-Chew and many other dense fruit chews from Asia, but this particular variety has some different mix-ins that make it unique. Usually those mix ins are small, stiff, oval-shaped gummy candies with their own unique flavors, but I have had some in the past that used fizzy candy as well.  

Unlike Starbursts, which are more like a stiff taffy that dissolves as you chew it, Puccho has a denser, bouncier, almost gum-like chew that dissolves more slowly. It's a texture I have only experienced in Asian candies, like Hi-Chew, and it's something you really need to experience for yourself to truly appreciate. 

There are tons of flavors available, pretty much every fruit you can imagine, as well as localized specialty items, cola, ramune, and even a mystery fruits flavor. I've tried every flavor I've come across and even though I do have a few favorites, I have never been disappointed.

Will today mark the end of that winning streak? We shall see. 

The Best Redbull flavor ever?

Grapefruit Twist Redbull (Summer Edition) - Wawa, $2.50 (2 for $5 deal)

Grapefruit Diet (Diet!)
Throw out the pizza and beer
Grapefruit Diet (Diet!)
Oh, get those jelly donuts out of here

Thank the skincare gods, I am nearly free of poison sumac!

In case you missed the memo, about 60% of my body was effected by poison sumac after cleaning my yard last weekend. On the bright-side, I now know what sumac looks like and it's been ripped out (root & stem while wearing gloves) and thoroughly poisoned. (Fighting fire with fire! Suck it sumac!)

Now that I'm healing, I have a lot of catching up to do. It's time to call in the caffeine-cavalry. I rarely drink energy drinks, heck, I only drink coffee a handful of times a year, but desperate times call for desperate measures...actually my boyfriend has been on a Redbull kick and when he brought this home for himself I was so intrigued that I went out and got another one just to write this review. 

Grapefruit Melon Project 7 Gum - Target

Grapefruit Melon Project 7 Gum - Target

Annnnd we're back! Sorry for the short hiatus; I've been really busy preparing for the Summer Fancy Food Show. It's this weekend in NY! This is my second year attending as a member of the press (so fancy!) and now that I know what to expect, I've been spending a lot of time preparing and packing.

Thanks to all that prep work I have some time to catch up on some foodie reviews!

Monday was the first day of summer and that night there was a Strawberry Moon? How freaking cool is that?! I may not have anything strawberry themed to review, but what's more summery than watermelon?

Charms Sweet & Sour Pops - Five Below

Charms Sweet & Sour Pops - Five Below

Way back when Cybele and I were doing our Treat or Treat follow up episode on Candyology 101, I bought these loose lollipops. I was pretty sure they were the pineapple and grapefruit, and strawberry lemonade Sweet N' Sour pops from Charms, but I wasn't 100% sure. I mean, I know they're the same brand and type, but I wasn't sure I got the right flavors.

Today, I'm going to find out, and review them!

Citrus Jelly Fruit Slices - The Fudge Factory: Wildwood, NJ (Photo Heavy)

Jelly Fruit Slices Part 2 - The Fudge Factory: Wildwood, NJ

I may have gone a little overboard when I was buying these jelly fruit slices. (I just had to have them all!) Although these citrus flavors aren't as interesting or exotic as the Chili Mango and Pineapple flavors I've already reviewed, they were still lovely to photograph.

Today I'm going to give a quickie review on the Lemon, Pink Grapefruit and Key Lime flavored slices. Let's kick things off with a slice of pink grapefruit!

Sparkling Ice - ???

Sparkling Ice - ???

Third time’s the charm?

Sadly I was out of grapefruit and I didn’t have any pink props for the photo session. (I am not a fan of pink, so I don’t own much pink.)

I already shared my thoughts on the aesthetics of this line, so If you want to check that out, you can click HERE.

The lemonade was better than the blueberry pomegranate, so I thought that the citrus flavoring might cover up the artificial sweetener a bit better than the other fruity options. I decided to test this hypothesis by trying the grapefruit Sparkling Ice.