Hotlix Tequila Flavor Sucker with Worm

Over the course of the 589 reviews that I have done, I have tried a lot of things. I have eaten enough full-fat dairy products to keep the makers of Lipitor happy for years to come. There have been few "limited editions" I have missed opining on. I have even had chocolate with bacon in it!

But this review is special. This is the review I ate the worm for.



Yes, like a slew of drunk frat boys before me, I can now brag that I have eaten the worm...sort of.

You may have heard of Hotlix before. They have been featured on The Food Network roughly eight million times. While they make many products, they are best known for the candy they make that contains edible bugs. I have seen these candies many times before, but I have always been a wuss about eating the bugs. I know that in many parts of the world bugs are an excellent (if not the main) source of protein -- but that is not the case in my diet, and I am lucky enough to have the luxury of being picky about it.

So here I am with a tequila flavored lolly with a worm in it in my hand...

Did I mention that tequila (well, real tequila) is not my friend? The only time I have ever been hung over I owe to the six double shots of tequila -- cheap, disgusting store brand tequila at that -- that I drank on an empty stomach...while weighing maybe 105 lbs. I haven't been able to even smell the stuff since. So maybe this was not a good choice.

The ice cube clear candy is mercifully free of tequila's strong scent. If anything, it's kind of musty scented. Flavorwise, it was more like someone made a regular lollipop while thinking about tequila. Yes, there is a flavor, but I honestly couldn't place it. It's not too sweet, which I liked. It sure didn't taste like tequila, but it also didn't taste bad.

The worm...

I admit it: I almost wussed out twice. It took some good long and hard contemplation. And hey, Andrew Zimmern has probably eaten twice his weight in bugs, so I could do this...right?

Actually yes, I could. Once I got past the idea of what I was eating, it wasn't half bad. It was crunchy (well...as crunchy as anything you have been sucking on to extract from hard candy can be), and tasted almost exactly like unpopped popcorn. In fact, the texture even reminded me of those little bits of corn "skin" you sometimes get in larger popped pieces of popcorn. It wasn't scary or gross in anyway -- even though I worried that it was going to be.

Would I ever just get one of these candies again because I liked it that much... um, honestly no, but I would try the other flavors -- worms included.


PURCHASED FROM:
Balboa Candy
Newport Beach, California