Maynards Sour Patch Kids Sweets

I have a real soft spot for US snacks and "candy". I blame all the US movies and TV that I have watched over the years that introduced me to such concepts as "Twinkies". Luckily, or unluckily depending on your view of these things, US products are now becoming more and more available in UK supermarkets. These Maynards Sour Patch Kids are part of the Kraft brand and have recently been launched in the UK. They are already popular in the US, indeed they are often quoted as being Justin Bieber's favourite "candy". There's a name I never imagined I would write in this blog!

The packaging of Maynards Sour Patch Kids is super bright and colourful, with slightly crazed looking "kids" on the front, probably indicating how your kids will behave if you let them eat these. On a slightly strange note I could feel, even before I opened the packet, that there was lots of sugar swooshing around inside, seperate from the actual sweets. It was almost like holding one of those sugar packets you get with tea or coffee in a cafe.

I bought quite a small 45g bag but they are also available as 160g sharing bags. Inside the packet, the sweets all had the same "Sour Patch Kid" shape in five different colours. The "sour" coating is very sugary and loose. By this I mean the coating is quite easy to shake or wipe off. This explains why there was so much loose sugar in the bottom of the packet. Almost a full teaspoon when I emptied the contents! I liked the fact that these weren't too sour, there is a slighty sour taste at first but it is quickly replaced by the sugary sweetness.

The flavours were (from left to right in the above photo); a berryish flavour (could be strawberry or raspberry), orange flavour, lemon flavour, blackcurrant flavour and finally a lime flavour. They are all quite generic fruity tasting rather than true to life fruit flavours. There don't seem to be any fruit juices or natural flavourings listed in these, simply "flavourings". They do however have natural colours listed as; black carrot, spinach, stinging nettle and tumeric! I'm sure this must be different to all the E numbers colourings in the US variety. As I've said before (especially regarding the UK Froot Loops) I prefer the all natural colours but fans of the original US sweets may be disappointed.

Have you tried Maynards Sour Patch Kids Sweets?