Fans of tart chewy candies like chewy Sweetarts will rave about these. Lance, that’s right—the cracker company—keeps these little sweet and sour gems tucked in their repertoire. And what a bag of tricks it is, about the size of an bag of M&Ms. I opened up my first package of Sour Bloops to discover nickel-sized candies staring me in the face, in colors of peach (peach lemonade), red (wild cherry), and lime green (green apple). Red seemed the most promising, so I popped it in first. It tastes a bit like those chewable wax lips that used to be popular, or those little wax bottles of soda pop. The taste gets better as you go along. Peach was next. I kind of get the pink lemonade flavor from this, and a bit more sour taste than the red. Green is the only one left to go, but I’m already a little mystified by these candies. I don’t see the major draw, as the overall consistency seems a little, well, waxy. Green apple is actually quite nice, and the flavor is very much like a green Jolly Rancher. This one didn’t seem sour either. I wouldn’t go running out and about trying to find these things—one of each flavor is pretty much enough for me. Maybe that’s why Lance is famous for other products more than its candies.

Lance has been making fabulous snacks since the days of World War I, and started up in 1913. Among the company’s first products were peanut butter sandwich crackers and a peanut brittle bar. In the ‘50s, they marketed single-serve cracker packs to restaurants—brilliant! Captain’s Wafers and Thunder potato chips are also among their best-selling products. I’d give Sour Bloops another try if they were in someone else’s candy dish, but again, I won’t go out of my way to eat these again. As far as the wrapper states, Sour Bloops certainly aren’t “intense??? chewy fruit candies. Maybe the “blooper??? was making them in the first place.

Tags: chewy candy, fruit candies, soft candy, sour candy, sweets