I need to know, why the yellow starburst fruit chews, are harder than the other colors.
As in almost brittle. Many of you had to have noticed this. I need to know why… I’ve got a date riding on this. Tell me why they’re harder!
I have NEVER noticed anything like that.
I would’ve gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids!
Its true. Go get some starbursts. The Yellow colored ‘lemon’ ones are harder to chew than the other colors.
I just want them to bring the lime Starburst back, dammit.
I just need an answer badly 
Ok, lend me 60 cents and I’ll go check.
I would’ve gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids!
I’m serious!! I need an answer! this is very important to me. if i had a way to get it to you kiddo I’d give ya the 60 cents.
What experiment have you done to verify that the yellow ones are harder? Have you done a blind test to prevent your preconceived notion of starburst hardness from interfering with your judgement?
When I thought I could tell the difference between sweettarts and no one believed me, I had to conduct a blind test. I could reliably identify all colors except yellow - I would always not know what it was and guess something else. But, every other color has a distinct flavor.
Aren’t you glad you asked?
Ok, which one of you wise guys sent me 60 cents??
Thanks!
I would’ve gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids!
This is all in the interests of science, I’ll have you know.
6 packs of Starburst. Three different stores, WalMart, Albertson’s, and Tom Thumb.
The Albertsons packs are stale to begin with. No noticable hardness differences in any flavor, they’re all hard (though after the “Pocket Test” – 15 or longer in a warm pocket – the cherry and strawberry got softer than orange or lemon). I did find ONE lemon in the pack softer than anything else. Go figure.
My husband tested the second pack, knowing experiment parameters. He threw the strawberries at me (he hates them), and mumbled “Huh? Oh. They’re all stale,” as his input.
WalMart – Mmm, fresh and squishy Starburst. I still lodge my protest about no lime.
Results: About half responded well to a finger pinch and compressed with decent softness. No appreciable colour differences, an almost equal distribution, though with less cherry showing ‘dents’ from squishing.
2 cherry - harder than other flavors.
1 orange - equally hard
Lemon - just fine.
Strawberry - all very soft.
Husband’s results: “Huh? These things are making me sick, can I stop now?”
No, no, this is an experiment dammit.
Tom Thumb: A stale and a fresh pack. I suppose they’re the control group.
Results: You know, after three packs, they just don’t taste that good anymore. Finger smooshing gave indeterminable results.
Orange was hard as a brick, followed by strawberry, lemon, then cherry. Eating them was down to biting off corners by this stage.
The orange flaked and broke. Yuck. This was the only noticeable difference in the flavors.
Hubby is barfing in the bathroom. I’m not to even mention the subject again.
Ah, the sacrifice in the name of science.
Is it too late to get in on this? Is the hot date over?
In the interests of scientific research I did two things. First, I went to Starburst’s website, hoping to find a Q & A forum which would answer the question, but no such luck. Lots of advertising masquerading as entertainment, but no Q & A. Just for the heck of it, I did post the question on their e-mail box, which probably means I’ll go on a mailing list somewhere, but who cares.
Second, I took a quick poll of three people who happened to be in the next room, ages 9 through 15. One person said, “Yes, the yellow ones are harder” and the other two said, “Huh?” Not very scientific but it’s better than nothing.
I hope this helps. I will let you know what Mars, Inc. says, if anything. (It’s starburst.com. Of course.)
The 60 centavos? That was yours truly, tee hee!
-D
It’s possible that they use some other ingredients in making the yellow starburst, but that’s just a guess. I have also noticed the pink ones are softer than the others.
“I say GOD DAMN!”
Thank you, LordDenning. I would like to state here and now that I DO intend to use that 60 cents to buy starbursts – as soon as the check comes in the mail.
I would’ve gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids!
Thanks alot for your enthusiasm! Keep it up! The hot date hasn’t occured. Mars/m&m are slow!!! darn them
No faq’s… no q/a
darn darn darn… the yellow ones are the hard ones… i swear…
Just keep trying ot help… you all rule a little more when you try to help me
Well, I got my reply from the Starburst people. Total message–
"Hello:
We are not aware of this. We will pass this information to our Quality Manager.
Have a great day."
And that was it. Wow. I wonder what kind of exciting response I would have gotten if I had remembered to also demand the return of Lime on behalf of Suzeanne.
I got the same mail buddy… sad isn’t it? Makes me almost angry. Tomorrow I call once again.
We’re also discussing this in MPSIMS:
http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/006374.html
I have a hypothesis that this is regional–because some people claim their yellows are the softest in the bag.
Why? Who knows?
Discuss.