Too Much of a Good Thing?

A quickie, since I've been burnt out at work but I wanted to keep my posting streak up. 

Pink is the best Starburst flavor. I thought this was universally agreed upon, so I was shocked when several friends, and even my own mother, confessed that they didn't like pink at all! (Blasphemy! They don't like red Skittles either!) Since there are no all-lemon or orange packs hitting the shelves, I am pretty sure they're on the wrong side of the flavor-wars. 

My Starburst ranking (of just the original line-up) would be 

1. Pink
2. Yellow
3. Red
4. Orange

And I think that's a fairly common take. (Let me know your order in the comments) 

So, given that pink is my favorite, I thought this, "Oops, All Pink,"-version would be the best pack of Starburst ever, sadly, it wasn't.

Starburst By The Foot

Fruit by the Foot Starburst - Target

I found them! I was really excited when I saw photos of these online and I finally found a box when I ran to Target the other day. I'm a big fan of Starburst, and after having the Jolly Rancher Fruit Roll-Ups a while back, I had high hopes that these would be equally delicious. Let's jump right in!

"Straw-bursts," A Missed Opportunity

Starburst Swirlers - CVS 

I love Starbursts. I love them so much that made this purse! It was made using clear vinyl, thread, tons of Starburst wrappers, and nylon strapping for handles. I had just taught myself to sew, so it wasn't great, but I still have it and it still works!    

I remember hoarding wrappers for ages and being pissed when the logo changed from a round "S" to a tear-drop. (I have since comes to terms with it.) I remember when Sours were first introduced, and their spiky sunburst-logo blowing up my spot (seen in the blue area of the bag), and I remember a Retro themed mix that had an awesome "Optimus Lime" flavor, and trippy white wrappers, that I thought were really ugly at the time, but looking back they were really cool. (Wish I saved more of those!) 

So yeah, I'm a pretty big Starburst fan. That said, when these were announced, I was pretty "meh," about the whole concept.   

Duo-licious? or a Dud?

Starburst Duo - Walmart

Apparently Starburst released this "new" Duo-themed candy. Juts in case the quotes didn't tip you off, get ready for some old man yells at cloud-level grumpiness in this review.

Instead of four individual flavors in this mix, you only get two. Kind of. One could argue that you still get four, since these are just two different flavors of fruity taffy fused in the center to create one piece of candy. So if you nibble each side individually, you still have four flavors here, but that sounds a little too sticky and inconvenient.  

As a concept, this is something we've seen before. More recently I feel like Airheads has leaned into this two-flavors-as-one trend, and while it can be a fun idea conceptually, I feel like this particular take is falling flat. 

None of these flavors are new, and a consumer could always eat any two Starburst candies together to make your own DIY Duo mixes. Mixing and matching flavors of preexisting candy is something foodies like Cybele have been advocating for for ages, but I guess the appeal of this item is that these particular flavors have never been in the same mix before? There is some minor convenience there, but is that enough to warrant a whole new candy with fanfare and blog posts? We shall see...

Starburst Halloween Mix - Target

Starburst Halloween Mix - Target

Nearly all of the fun sized Trick-or-Treat candy on shelves this year are repeats from previous years. A few brands came out with some new shapes, or switched up their colors, but overall the actual candies stayed the same. How boring! Come on companies, give me something new!

Thankfully Starburst released this Halloween mix that has some previously retired flavors returning from the candy graveyard, and they have some adorably spooky wrappers to boot!

Starburst Crazy Beans- Target: Cherry Hill, NJ

Starburst Crazy Beans- Target: Cherry Hill, NJ

I bought way too many jelly beans this year. In the grand food blogger sense I only bought 6 different kinds to review, which doesn't sound like an awful lot, but I eat everything I buy. So, in that sense, 6 packages of jelly beans is a LOT for a small household that contains more pets than it does people.

Individually packaged candies are a lot easier for me to toss into a bag and share with others while I'm out and about, but jelly beans are more of a candy-dish kind of sweet, and having candy-dishes when you live with three cats...is not the best idea in the world.

Starburst Sweet & Sour Jelly Bean Mix- Target: Cherry Hill, NJ

Starburst Sweet & Sour Jelly Bean Mix- Target: Cherry Hill, NJ

After the Sour Patch beans ended up being a flop I moved on to another supposedly sour take on this seasonal sweet, and this time it's Target exclusive.