I Like Sour Candy... But...

 Probably my favourite extreme candy theme is sour. I love a good sour candy, I like subtle tart and a love knock your socks off sour. The thing is, I don't believe that sour works with every single flavour. I feel like there are some flavours that work well with sour, and some that don't work so well. You might say that fruit is always a safe place to have a sour treat, but I disagree. Sour watermelon, strawberry and raspberry never sit well with me. It's often a problem when sour is added to a fruit that either never comes sour in real life, or when it's not supposed to be eaten sour. Berries are a great example of this, particularly strawberries.

Check my latest sour strawberry review.

Funny Sour Patch Kids Commercials

 I'm not sure I really ever understood the whole first they're sour then they're sweet add campaign.

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On The Subject Of Popcorn Being Candy

Of all the snacks that might or might not be candy, I feel like popcorn blurs the lines more than most snacks. If you've seen my other reviews on this site, you know that I play fast and loose when it comes to defining a candy. Some say that chocolate is not candy, some say that anything that isn't made mostly of sugar isn't candy. I on the other hand run a site called Candy Critic and I feature reviews of potato chips. Popcorn on the other hand feels like it might be the real mixed bag. If you cover a piece of fruit in sugar, you can call it candy, so if you cover a piece of popcorn, then wouldn't it be candy as well. By this definition, caramel corn should totally be candy. Today's featured review blurs that line even further as it's not only a candy popcorn, but it's flavoured/themed to a classic gummy candy.

Check out this interesting candy that really blurs some lines.

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Sour Patch Jerks?

I like these Sour Patch Kids commercials, but I wouldn't want the Sour Patch Kids to be my friends.

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Amazing Candy/Junk Food Things That You Should Buy - Sour Patch Kids Cereal

I mean who wouldn't want a sour cereal.

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5 Awesome Candy Themed Funko Pops - Part 2 - Sour Patch Kids

Make sure to check back every day this week as we look at some awesome candy themed Funko Pops.

Sour Patch Kids are a pretty logical design for Funko Pops. They're pretty iconic and they have some character as well. Generally in commercials Sour Patch Kids are shown to be mischievous and playful. This could work well with the Funko Pops because you could use them as a sort of Elf On The Shelf like toy. You could pose your Sour Patch Kids Funko Pops all around your house up to all kinds of shenanigans.

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5 Strange Candy Choices For Valentines Day - Part 3 - Sour Patch Kids Conversation Hearts Candy

I've never been a fan of conversation hearts as a gift on Valentine's Day. It's not that some of the messages aren't sweet, and they could be the perfect way to say "I love you". The problem is the risque that comes with these hearts. Many candy companies like to mix it up a bit and put sassy and or insult messages on some hearts. If you give your loved one the wrong heart it could ruin Valentine's Day for everyone.

The reason these are particularly strange is because you not only have the risque of getting the wrong message out, but you're also giving that person you love a sour candy. For me sour is a great treat to eat, but not really that romantic.  I also find those Sour Patch Kids to be somewhat mischievous, and that doesn't jive well with this holiday either.

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Most Notable Candy We Ate In 2017 - Sour Patch Kids "Tricksters"

These Sour Patch Kids were a real surprise, and they make the list of notable candies as the best variation on a classic candy. I really enjoyed these because they kept up the classic flavours of Sour Patch Kids, but also added a layer of fun. They could have made these in a very lazy way, just by switching the flavours (i.e. all of the green gummies would taste like orange, all of the blue gummies would taste like cherry etc.) but they didn't. Instead you really had no idea what flavour you were about to bite into until you bit into it.

Click here to find out why we liked these gummies so much.

Also, follow us on Facebook and Twitter and let us know what your favourite candy was this year.

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This New Candy Review Is Tricky. Tricky? Tricky. Tricky. Huh.

I have mixed feelings about candy gimmicks, sometimes I like them, sometimes I don't.  I often frown upon classic candies that come out with a gimmick version of a classic treat, but this time might be the exception.  This is a gimmick that not only worked, but made me think about the candy I was eating. I'm not sure if it's better than the classic Sour Patch Kids, but I think the gimmick really worked.

Click here to read about this fun new variety of Sour Patch Kids.

You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook to find out about some of our upcoming reviews before we post them. And don't forget to follow us on YouTube to keep up with all of our Podcasts and Vlogs as well.

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This Week In Candy

I've been working on the article all about winter themed candy ideas, and it lead to a new idea.  I was asking my friend Jess about some winter themed candy ideas when she started to get into the idea of Canadian candy ideas.  Since Canada is turning 150 years old this year, it sounds like designing some special edition Canadian candies would be a good idea.  I'm still at the early stages of this idea, however if you can think of some good ingredients, flavours or themes for Canadian candies, let me know.

Speaking of Canadian candies, not too many people seem to be interested in my campaign to get Tim Horton's to make a Beavertail style doughnut.  I'm still going to keep pushing it, but I really need your help too.  Call your local MP, write to the Prime Minister, at the very least make sure to post our fun little graphic (found here) on Facebook or Twitter.

This week on candycritic.org, we should be posting the latest episode of Junk Fud On The Road, all about the UK.  Hopefully we'll also post the special article all about winter themed candies that we've designed (as we mentioned above). We're also starting to think of fun future adventures later in the year, and gearing up for a big one (but we'll talk more about that later).

As for this week's review, it's a "new" variety of Sour Patch Kids, that I hope sticks around for a little while.  In fact I hope they keep trying new varieties as I think these gummies work really well with alternative flavours.  Click here to read the review.

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Candy In The Media

The cool kids at Shy Kids sent me a tweet the other day asking me to check out their latest music video for their song ® o c k e t s.  The minute the video started I was hooked, the detail found in this candy themed video are so amazing, and guaranteed to make your mouth water.  Sure it gets a little disturbing near the end, but there's nothing wrong with a little gritty candy sex and violence, right?

Check out the Sky Kids website here for more info.

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A Happy St. Patrick's Day Review!

I often try very hard to post reviews that may be relevant to whatever holiday that might be going on at any given time.  Some holidays, like Easter, Christmas, or Halloween are fairly simple to achieve this, since these holidays are pretty much dedicated to giving away sweets.  Other holidays, like St Patrick's Day are a little more challenging.  This is because, as far as I know, St Patrick's Day really isn't associated with any particular food at all, let alone any kind of sweet food.  Fortunately, in my archive, I've been siting on a review that deals with a special Irish version of a classic treat.  It seemed like St Patrick's Day would be the perfect day to post this review.

Click here to read what the difference is between Irish Sour Patch Kids and regular Sour Patch Kids.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Sour Patch Gum - Stride - I love it when two candy varieties combine into a meta candy. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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This Week In Candy

I'm having an interesting dilemma right now.  It's about a review that I'm thinking of writing for Sour Patch Kids.  Sour Patch Kids is a classic candy that just hasn't made it onto my radar yet for review.  That was until my friend Catherine handed me a bag of them and told me that these Sour Patch Kids were something special.  As it turns out she handed me a bag of Sour Patch Kids from Ireland, and these Sour Patch Kids have 5 different flavours instead of just 4.  So, do you think I should review these Irish Sour Patch Kids?  What do I do when I go back home to the regular Sour Patch Kids, do I review them again?  Just so you know, the extra purple ones are really tasty.

You may have noticed the lack of "Old Candy Critic Articles" being posted on Wednesdays.  Well I've decided to stop posting these old articles because I've pretty much run out.  There are a few that I didn't re-post, but I don't think they're really relevant to the candy world anymore.  I may change my mind, but for now they'll stay in my archives.  I'm looking to fill this gap with something new, I'm just not sure what that new thing will be yet.  I'd like to continue to collect photos of people with candy, or maybe turn the Junk Fud podcast into a weekly thing.

Speaking of the Junk Fud podcast, this week you should keep your ears open this week for a new episode featuring our good friend Mark.  We talk about classic American candy and junk food, as well as look at what international candies Americans are eating.  I've also created a web page where you can find links to all of our past episodes, so if you've missed one you can always find it here.

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We Have A Winner!!!

I almost forgot to let you guys know, but we have a winner of the Sour Patch Kids contest we held a few weeks back.  It took a little time to get in contact, but our winner Ashley will be getting a few bags of Sour Patch Kids, and a couple of t-shirts.  She only gets to keep one of the shirts because as Ashley says "I would give the other shirt to my sister, because she is sweet and colourful and sometimes a little bit of a sourpuss, just like the candies. She and I like to buy Sour Patch Kids and put a pile of them in a glass of lemonade or koolaid and wait for them to get all weirdly soft, then drink the drink. It's strange, but quite delightful, and winning the candy would mean we could have all sorts of awesome Sour Patch funtimes."

Not only does her sister get a Sour Patch Kids shirt, but we all get to benefit with a great new way to eat Sour Patch Kids.  Congrats Ashley!

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If You're The Kind Of Person That Waits Till The Last Minute...

Well, the last minute is upon us.  Tonight is the last chance you have of entering our Sour Patch Kids contest.  Tomorrow morning I'm going to wake up, check my e-mail for last minute entries, and then pick a winner.  It could be you, if you're clever enough to come up with best answer to our question.

Click here to find out what the question is, and how you can enter.

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You Claim To Like Free Stuff...

But you still haven't entered our Sour Patch Kids candy contest.  It's very easy to enter, and if you win, you'll get a cool Sour Patch Kids prize pack.  You have till the end of this week (Friday night) to enter.

Click here to find out how to enter.

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Need I Remind You Again...

We're giving away a great Sour Patch Kids prize pack to one lucky reader.  All you have to do is answer one question, and you're entered into our contest.  At the end of next week some lucky person will be getting a package sent their way, while the rest of you will just be wishing you entered the contest.

Click here to enter and find out what the question is.

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Don't Forget, We're Giving Away Some Free Candy and T-Shirts

Just a reminder that we're having a great contest with our friends at Sour Patch Kids.  You could win yourself a couple of free t-shirts and a bunch of candy.  Make sure you enter soon, because at the end of next week the contest will be over and somebody will be walking away with a great prize pack.

Click here to learn more about our contest, it's easy to enter, trust me.

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Friday Candy Video - Sour Patch Kids Are Bad

I'm loving the new campaign for Sour Patch Kids, they sent me a notice about the campaign, I checked it out, and I approve.  This first video will give you a little context for the campaign.

This second commercial is like the best candy fantasy I could possibly imagine.  I'd love to watch my sweet orderves fight each other to the death.

Just a reminder, we're giving away a Sour Patch Kids prize pack, you can learn more here.

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