One of the trends in the candy world that really came out of the 80s is the super sour. For years every candy company in the world has been looking for a way to make me cry. I have to say some have made it for me, I’ve cried more from eating some sour concoctions than I did at the end of old Yeller. It’s a strange sensation too, that feeling that every muscle in your mouth is contracting in such a way that you can’t move your tongue. The worst part of it is when your eyes start to water and you lose the ability to swallow. Then when your mouth finally lets go all you have is this strange pasty feeling and a faint memory of what just happened.
Sure this works, it’s a candy sensation that makes a good part of your body react most importantly your mind. But I have to be honest; I think many candies are abusing this great power, or more directly not using it properly. Sure a candy can be sour, but if that’s all you’ve got, I say stay home. The only reason you should be able to just be sour is if you’re the sourest treat ever (on a side note if you think you’ve got that send me a sample and I’ll be the judge).
I once tried a gumball called a Mad Dog, it seemed friendly enough at first, but I was wrong. You see what this gumball did was start off really sour, about as sour as a Tear Jerker (A Tear Jerker is one of the better sour gumballs out on the market) but this treat was not ready to let you off that easy. The thing about Tear Jerkers is the best way to get rid of the sour is bite into the sweet gum, but this treat had other plans. You see after biting into the gumball I found that it was in fact full of foaming powder. So with my face still all messed up from the sour my mouth became full of foam and my friends watching me eat this treat had a great time.
Sour is fine, it’s a great thing, but I’ve seen it and it’s been around for more than 20 years already, if you’re going to use it make it clever.
Chris Stewart
www.candycritic.org