Skittles Fizzl'd Fruits

When Cybele reviewed the new Skittles Fizzl'd Fruits, it was the first time in forever that I was excited to try a Skittles product.

I liked the Sour skittles when they first came out, but I don't really care one way or the other for the current version. I tried the Cores, but never bothered to review them. But these, these FIZZ! How do you not like a candy that could make you look like you have rabies and lets you talk like a rapper, and we all know I likes that fo' sho' (OK, the lame white girlness is showing, lol).



There are five flavors in the mix: Berry Punch, Melon Berry, Raspberry, Strawberry and Wild Cherry. As Cybele pointed out, if you think you've heard this list before, you're right -- because they are the same five flavors used in the Wild Berry mix.

Each Skittle on its own has that sandy, muted look to it -- sort of like the Sour Skittles. Each Skittle seems to have the same sweet, sort of fruity smell. The texture is also the same, regardless of flavor: chewy inside, semi hard crust.

The fizzing starts as soon as the Skittle hits your tongue, and then goes flat after about 10 seconds. It's sort of rough and scratchy on the tongue. I wish the fizz lasted longer because it is a cool sensation. For the heck of it I tried loading up on several Skittles at a time. It doesn't last any longer, but because you have more than one in your mouth it is more intense (gee, that doesn't sound too dirty). It also has an almost salty taste that goes with it -- not enough to stop you from wanting more, but it is there. Putting on my Alton Brown Junior Food Detective Hat, as best I can tell, the salty flavor comes from the sodium bicarbonate that is actually used to make the fizz. As you may have guessed from the word sodium being used in the name, it is in fact a salt and thus would taste salty. Yes folks, hard hitting food journalism is what I got going here.



The above picture shows a happily fizzing Skittle that has been moistened with a drop of simple tap water, so no disgusting, juvenile jokes please! That's my job.

Anyway, let's talk about the flavors.

Two of the five flavors are red. And truthfully, no matter how hard we tried, we just could not get a picture where you could really tell the difference. (When you actually have the real thing in front of you it is a little easier.) The darker red is wild cherry and the lighter red is strawberry. Use your imagination in place of a decent photo for this.

Wild cherry:



If you have ever had a "cherry" cough drop and really wished it was fizzy, then this is your lucky day. The flavor is all fake cherry and red dye. This is always the Skittles flavor I prefer to avoid. In fact, I wonder if anyone in the world really ever likes the cherry flavors that get stuck in these mixes. Maybe it's a vast candy conspiracy. Maybe candy makers have to keep using it because long ago the original batch of cherry flavoring somehow took on a life of its own, and turned into some sort of always-growing amorphous mass (sort of like The Blob), and the only way to keep it in check and prevent it from oozing its way to world domination is to suck out large quantities at a time and use it to flavor what could otherwise have been good candy. The Cherry Flavoring Mass (CFM) is probably imprisoned in some sort of top secret lair buried deep in a mountain where it's closely guarded by security guys in red shirts -- and because we all know what tends to happen to security guys in red shirts, I am sure it's a constantly changing guard. (I wonder if they have to hire via Craigslist?) Candy companies are then forced by our government to come and take some of the goo and use it in their products. Hmmm, you know, now that I have said it, I firmly believe that is the only reason we keep getting subjected to bad cherry flavoring.

OK... that may have been a little far fetched. I highly doubt our government is capable of executing such a complex and secret multi-level plan, much less force it on the public and still keep it a secret. Silly me...it's clearly an evil plot of the Bilderbergs.

Strawberry:



In the normal Skittles mix I actually like this flavor. And for just a moment when it first hits your tongue, it picks up almost a cotton candy taste. Once that wears off I think the lingering aftertaste from the fizz makes it taste sort of like air freshener.

Melon Berry:



This is a nice sour melon. Sort of like unripe cantaloupe mixed with watermelon. I like this flavor a lot on its own. What I found weird is that even though each appears to have the same amount of powdered fizz on them, they don't seem to actually fizz as much as the other flavors. I have no idea why. It must be related some shadowy Masonic plot.

Berry Punch:



This flavor actually reminded me of grape soda, sweet and bubbly. I know it's supposed to be berry flavored, but it just screams grape to me -- maybe it's the purple.

Raspberry:



Again, are there ever enough blue foods? (No, there aren't...and you can surely blame the Illuminati for that.) The fact that it's blue was pretty much the highlight of this Skittle for me. It's not a bad flavor; it's just sort of generic raspberry. And much like the Melon Berry, the fizz level seems unusually low compared to the other flavors.

My feelings overall? Meh. The Wild Berry mix has never been my favorite. I like the Tropical mix the best, actually. So the actual flavors didn't wow me. At the same time, with the exception of the wild cherry, there are no flavors in the mix I would go out of my way to avoid. I really liked the fizzy effect. I just wish it had been more consistent between the flavors. Would I buy them again? No, probably not, but I would eat them if offered to me. I would love to see them try this idea with the soda-inspired flavors, and with the fizz kicked up a little.

Of course, being me, I had to try an experiment. (None of this reflects on the rating -- I did it strictly for fun.) If you sip soda with two Skittles in your mouth, the fizz sensation prolongs a bit. Dropping a couple of Skittles into a little soda gives a super short (about three seconds) Alka Seltzer type fizz in the cup -- but it also makes the Skittle as hard as a rock. I wonder how many skittles and how much soda it would take to make a Diet Coke/Mentos style volcano? Sadly, as Gigi has neither the outdoor space nor the time to test it, the world will have to wait on some other nerd to figure that one out.



PURCHASED FROM:
7-11

PRICE:
$1.09

CALORIES:
200 calories per bag.

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Gluten free, gelatin free.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
skittles.com