I had “fun sized” samples of a new-to-me candy that someone left in the WisDems office i worked out of. (Wisconsin Democrats. Catchy name, i thought.) It was a little lump of gummy candy coated in multi-colored “nerds”. Now, nerds are tasty enough, but they are a little awkward to eat. This version got around that problem by clustering then into bean-sized chunks of nerdy sweet&sour goodness. I really liked them.
Imagine my surprise, though, to see an article about them in today’s WSJ. Apparently, they have suddenly become massively popular. I’m sure it’s partly for the reasons i listed, that they taste good and are easy to pop in your mouth. But the candy companies are desperately trying to get away from chocolate, as chocolate prices are skyrocketing, probably due to climate change. So they are also marketing their non-chocolate options.
I bought a bunch a while ago. Last Halloween, if I had to guess, when nobody came so I ended up eating all of them or giving them to the students where I work. Pretty good. I always liked both Nerds and gummies, so putting them together, brilliant.
Yeah, they’re really close to the top of the list around here, especially for a non-chocolate option. I’ll take Sour Patch Kids first and foremost, but those gummy clusters are surprisingly great.
I had some, my wife got me some as I like nerds- the only candy I like (I do like chocolate, but I consider that a separate category). I prefer the original, but they were interesting. I’d eat them again.
Since we’re talking Nerds, I strongly disapprove of the orange flavored ones. They were not a Nerd flavor in my youth and I don’t care for them now. They make the whole thing taste like a Tictac.
I first had these a year or three ago when I picked up a bag at a local “deep discount” grocery store. You know, the kind that sells stuff that most other grocery stores can’t move due to little demand. I shared most of them with some other people but I did try a few. They weren’t too bad but I preferred the OG Nerds. I didn’t think they would catch on.
I realized how wrong I was when I picked up Halloween candy this year. The gummy clusters were almost ubiquitous: they seemed to be in most mixed candy bags and there were bins and bins full of bags of just them.
I also didn’t notice a scarcity of chocolate. There seemed to be just as much avalable as there usually is.
They are very awkward to eat, as they kind of make my teeth hurt with the crunchy nerds on top of the somewhat hard gummy.
The best relatively new candy (to me) are the Cherry Punch SweetTart Ropes. The Sweet Tart company is doing great things in the non-chocolate candy market.
Huh, i liked them because they were so much easier to eat than nerds, and taste about the same. I liked that i could pick one up and pop it in my mouth. I didn’t find the gummy part hard, but even if it had been, it would have been easier to eat than nerds, which are kinda like eating coarse sand.
Heck, I wish that I could find orange Nerds more often! I am genuinely surprised at the scarcity of orange Nerds. Not only is orange one of the candy’s foundational flavors, but it’s kind of a popular choice for any candy that comes in fruit flavors. It’s not as though they discontinued them entirely. I see them on the shelves as part of rainbow boxes. I can only conclude that the makers of Nerds hate me and want me to be unhappy.
My objection is when they’re mixed with the Rainbow but straight orange is ok. Those little compartmented boxes they used to come in are a core childhood memory. Also the very loud sound of Nerds in the little single portion boxes around Halloween. No sneaking those into Social Studies class.
I had to get some foil pans for meatloaf on the smoker so went to the dollar store. These cherry punch ropes followed me home, very good. I was curious what they’re filled with: flour! The top three ingredients are sugar, corn syrup, wheat flour.