Recently in Wonka Category

Wonka is consistently coming up with the most unique ideas and flavor combos in candy, can always count on them to put something really different out there. A few years ago they had a SweeTarts Rope, which was a cherry licorice tube filled with blue goo that had Nerds in it but it wasn't around too long before Nestlé (which owns Wonka) discontinued it. Obviously they reworked the idea and came out with Kazoozles.

I love how colorful and whimsical Wonka packaging is, makes me that much more excited to eat their candy. Described as Delickoricious, they come in Cherry Punch and Pink Lemonade. I started with Cherry Punch (blue package) and sadly, it was a little underwhelming. The first thing I thought when I bit into a rope was that it tasted like cough syrup, yuck. Candy should not taste medicinal! The medicine taste never went away and eventually it faded to the background a bit. The rope itself had a nice firm chew, firmer than your standard Red Vine and more like those giant red licorice ropes you can get at the ball game. The goo in the middle was yummy, like cotton candy or a Pixy Stix, to me it wasn't very "punch" flavored, just a super sweet vaguely fruity slightly gritty frosting.

The Pink Lemonade was a hair better. As you can see these had big sugar crystals on them, which were a nice texture addition and broke up all the chewiness. The licorice wasn't very lemony, like super watered down Country Time. To combat all the sweetness it would be better if there was some tartness thrown in but the filling is more of the same super sweet variety, dare I say it's the same filling as the Cherry Punch but just in a different color.

I did enjoy these, just not as much as I was hoping and I would probably pick them up again if there wasn't anything more appealing on the shelf though honestly I'd rather just have some Red Vines.

I saw these reviewed on Candy Addict and found them so intriguing and interesting (and I love Nerds) that I desperately sought them out in every drug store, grocery store, etc. that I went into. Voila! The Walgreens near my parent's house netted success thanks to my mom's keen eyes.

In the bag, they're not very impressive looking. They're very dusty and made the bag look like it's filled with brightly colored rocks and dirt. But I digress. Don't you just LOVE the cute little Nerds in bunny ears on the bag? Well I do.

They come in your standard candy colors: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green and Purple. Red was strawberry I think. It wasn't exactly obvious or strong, which isn't a bad thing. A lot of strawberry candy tastes fake but not in a good way, unlike fake banana candy which I care for a great deal. Orange was....ORANGE! Isn't that crazy?! So yeah, it was your basic zingy orange, like Crush soda. Yellow was lemon as usual and it was a nice lemon, bright and happy.

Green took some major taste testing to figure out for sure.
At first I assumed lime but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was watermelon! It's a nice, pleasant watermelon with no harsh aftertaste like some watermelon flavors.

Purple was grape. Blech. I don't like grape flavored things, and when I was young would always make my brother eat any purple candy I got. It's an ok taste, just not for me.

The biggest upside of these bumpy little guys is their wacky crunchy chewy combination.
 
Coming from Wonka, it's no big surprise that these are unique and different. The crunchy outer shell kind of breaks away as you chew them and mingles nicely with the chewy of the bean and since it's not a sticky bean, you don't get those pesky chunks stuck in your teeth. Won't your dentist be pleased?

I think they started out as a seasonal Easter thing, but according to Mariko at Candy Addict "An email from Wonka tells us that these are offered year round as Giant Chewy NERDS!" Be on the lookout for these guys but be careful, you might just eat a whole bag!