The package arrived today, so I’m reporting back as promised.
First, I tore open the bag of Zout. Popped one diamond-shaped candy in my mouth. Chewed. Nice mouth-feel - not too mushy, not too hard. Taste: Licorice, but not sweet. There was an awareness of slight sweetness but that was overwhelmed by the odd, metallo-salty flavor. None of the swamp-water overtones of the stuff I tried last week. Edible but nothing I’d go out of my way for.
The second piece wasn’t quite as “good”. The metallic taste hit faster and harder. I couldn’t quite place what it reminded me of. Not Lysol, but definitely reminded me of some sort of cleaning product (not that I’ve tasted those, mind you, but I can smell!).
I had a third. It did not improve. A couple hours later, I tried again. Again, the first piece was meh, the second piece was bad, the third was really bad.
As I remarked to Typo Knig: “It tasted like licorice. Overlaid with a hint of, I don’t know… oh: POISON”.
Next, I tried the Dropmix. As far as I can tell, the bag has four different flavors. One shaped like a beehive. One shaped like a coin. One shaped like an animal or car or something. One shaped like a dome. Each tasted similar (except the dome): licorice, with a bit of odd salt (not as much so as the Zout though). Unfortunately, they also had a hint of the swampwater taste I noticed last week. So, I won’t be finishing those. The dome-shaped candies were similar, though they were missing the swampwater taste, just licorice with a bit of metallic salt taste.
So - Having now tried 3 different brands of salty licorice, I think I can safely say I do not like the stuff. Some foods are an acquired taste, but these honesly left such a bad taste in my mouth that I really, really don’t see myself even finishing the stash I’ve got (and, when it comes to candy, I generally will eat things I’m not that fond of - they have to be pretty foul to get me to ignore them completely). But at least I can truthfully say I gave it a fair try.