Surf Sweets Jelly Beans

These little organic treats were brought to me by the Easter Bunny (aka my mother), who also got me some Sweet & Sara marshmallows and Primal Jerky Strips. Yay for snacky vegan foods :D Anyway, these Surf Sweets jelly beans are certified USDA organic, are made with organic fruit juice, enhanced with vitamin C, and are naturally flavored and colored. They are also made in the USA.

So, the whole bag smelled like strawberry jam when I opened it. Sometimes strawberry is good in my book, sometimes its not. There are four colors, pink, red, orange, and yellow, so I'm assuming that means four flavors.

Pink: There's a nice little bunch of these strawberry flavored beans. They have very strong flavor, I'm really not too fond of them but they're okay.

Red: There is only one of these and its cherry. Yum yum yummy. I love cherry.

Orange: Only one of this color too. Eh, its orange. mostly sweet with a little tang.

Yellow: The majority of the beans are yellow. As far as I'm concerned, they are a little bland compared to the other three flavors. They are kind of just.. sweet.

These have that typical grainy jelly-bean texture.

Ingredients: Organic evaporated cane juice, Organic tapioca syrup, Organic grape juice concentrate, Pectin, Citric acid, Ascorbic acid, Colors added (including black carrot juice concentrate, turmeric, annatto), Natural flavors, Confectioner's glaze, Carnauba wax, Organic sunflower oil.

Nutrition: A serving is 19 pieces or about one package. 90 calories per serving, 0 calories from fat. Total fat 0g, Sodium 15mg, Total carbohydrate 22g, Dietary fiber 0g, Sugars 18g, Protein 0g.

Well, I like them enough to eat the whole bag but I wish the majority of the beans were red as that one was my favorite. Definitely a great Easter basket stuffer for vegans and health conscious parents. A 6 out of 10.

Wha Guru Chew

This was an intriguing little candy I found at Apple A Day in Miami Beach. The Cashew Vanilla flavor is described as Candy Smothered in Vanilla Caramel. It is also labeled Handmade and All Natural. It is a product of the USA.

The taste is different. It tastes kind of grassy. The chew is soft and stringy. The flavor is sweet, salty, and something I can't quite pinpoint.

Ingredients: Brown rice syrup, Cane sugar syrup, Sunflower seeds, Cashews, Vegetable oil (canola and/or safflower and/or sunflower oil), Cashew butter, Wheat germ, Natural flavor, Salt, Soy lecithin.

Nutrition: A serving is one bar (32g). 150 calories per serving, 80 calories from fat. Total fat 9g, Saturated fat 0.5g, Sodium 60mg, Total carbohydrate 15g, Fiber <1g.

To be honest I didn't enjoy this at all. I took a bite and wasn't really a fan. And just to make sure my taste buds weren't being weird I tried it again a good hour later. I'm still not a fan. For some people the flavor might be something they really enjoy. The texture is pretty good and I like that it is "all natural" and "handmade". I rate this a 3 out of 10.

Organica White Bar

The Organica line of vegan chocolate bars are made in Switzerland for Venture Foods UK Ltd. The back says from Geo Organics. So, I am kind of confused about the company. The website they provide is seriously organic.co.uk. I visited the website and eventually ended up at venture foods.com which clears up my confusion: "Venture Foods is a small independent company and we distribute our own brands- GEO Organics, Organica, and Rain Tree." Small, Independent, and Organic, these people seem to know what's up :) In addition, the packaging states that 84% of the ingredients are derived from Third World ethical trading projects and the bar is wrapped in recycled paper (although it is also wrapped in plastic on the inside to protect freshness). I ordered this from veganessentials.com.

This is really a beautiful bar. It was broken when I opened it, probably from the shipping process, but otherwise in pristine condition. Its not white like a typical dairy white chocolate would be. It is an interesting off-white with specks of what I assume are vanilla beans. It smells like sweet, milky vanilla. It has a soft bite and melts almost instantly. Its cool on the tongue and really tastes like white chocolate. Sweet and creamy with nice vanilla notes.

Ingredients: Cocoa butter*, Cane Sugar*, Rice syrup (10%)*, Vegetable oil*, (Sunflower oil*), Vanilla*, Sea salt.

*Organically Produced

Nutrition (UK style): Per 100g: 646 kcal, Protein .4g, Carbohydrate 48.7g, Fat 50g.

So, this is half pure fat and very caloric. But, the bar is pretty big and I can't imagine anyone eating the whole thing in one sitting. I did a little math, each square is about 27 calories. I am a huge lover of dark chocolate and was not expecting to love this as much as I did. It is really unbelievably delicious and I feel good supporting this company who seems to have their priorities straight. A 10 out of 10.

Whizzers Chocolate Beans

Finally, vegan M&Ms! Or vegan Smarties if you're in the UK. Actually, these are made in the UK, so it would probably make sense to say these are veganized Smarties. I ordered these from veganessentials.com. The simple packaging states "Whizzers Chocolate Beans. No Dairy, No Wheat, No Gluten. Free from Artificial Colours or Preservatives." The back describes these as "Chocolate centres in a crisp sugar shell. Chocolate centres contain 56% minimum cocoa solids." There are four colors, yellow, brownish-orange, pink, and green. The colors are dull compared to Smarties or M&Ms due to the natural coloring.

The taste is all there. The candy shell is crisp and sweet. It is a bit thicker than I remember the M&M shells being but its enjoyable. The chocolate center is decent. Its not the best tasting chocolate but then again neither were M&M's chocolate centers. Basically what I am trying to say is that these serve the M&M replacement purpose.

Ingredients: Sugar, Cocoa mass, Cocoa butter, Emulsifier (soya lecithin), Gum arabic, Glazing agent (carnauba wax), Flavouring, Natural colours (tumeric, copper chlorophyllin, carmelized sugar syrup, beetroot juice).

Nutrition (UK style): Per 100g: Energy 2119kj, 505kcal, Protein 3.3g, Carbohydrate 70.3g, Fat 21.8g. (The package is only 50g so there are about 252.5 calories total.)

The biggest difference with these and M&Ms are the colors. The flavor and texture are familiarly yummy and these candies turn out to be quite addictive. I am in the habit of sucking on the shell until it can easily be peeled off releasing the cool melty chocolate on my tongue. I am pretty content with this sweet vegan treat. An 8 out of 10.

Jelly Gummi Bears

Vegan, organic, and gluten free Let's Do... Organic Jelly Gummi Bears are distributed by Edward and Sons Trading Company Inc. They are a product of Germany but one side is in English, the other in French. The box, which seems a bit jumbled design-wise, contains four bags of gummi bears. The bags contain 8-10 gummi bears which must be randomly packaged because I had to open two bags just to sample all four colors.

Both packages smelled the same when opened despite the fact that one bag contained 6 green bears (out of 8) and the other, 4 red 3 yellow and 3 orange. The scent was apple juice. Not the fresh kind, the kind that comes in a lunch sized box.

These are nothing like what I remember gummi bears being like. First off, they are coated in sugar which reminds me of gumdrops, second, the texture due to lack of gelatin (not a complaint), is more jelly than gummi. The package does say Jelly Gummi Bears.

green: Hm, green apple. Nothing amazing.

yellow: I was expecting lemon but found it to be a sweet, apple-ish but not green apple, more like apple juice taste. No tang, it starts tasting like fake banana but that could be the yellow color playing with my mind as there are no artificial colorings or flavorings.

orange: Overly sweet orange juice from concentrate.

red: Sweet and very slightly tangy. No distinct fruit flavor.

Ingredients: Dehydrated cane juice*, Corn malt syrup*, Juice Concentrates (may contain apple, apricot, aronia, carrot, cranberry, elderberry, lemon, or red beet)*, Spinach powder*, Apple pectin, Citric acid, Natural fruit flavors.

*Organic Ingredients

Nutrition Facts: Serving size is one bag, four servings per container. 80 calories per serving, 0 calories from fat, 15mg sodium, 22g carbohydrate, 18g sugar.

I am not impressed with these. I do enjoy the pre-packaged serving size but how can a serving size be one bag if the first bag had 8 bears and the next 10? I like that they are all natural and organic and they are cute, but not my cup of tea. I rate them a 4 out of 10.

All Natural Fruit Jellies

I picked these up at Trader Joe's yesterday with my mom. They are jelly candies made with all natural colors and flavors. The package says these are a product of Greece.

Ingredients are as follows: beet sugar, corn syrup, water, pectin, citric acid, natural flavors (orange, lemon, grape, raspberry, blueberry, mandarin), sodium citrate, vegetable colors (carotene, curcumin, anthocyanin), ascorbic acid (vitamin c), cornstarch.

Now, with six flavors you can imagine my surprise when I found only four colors (yellow, orange, pink, and red). Of course that is because of the natural coloring and I'm not complaining.

Eventually I realized that there really were six different colors, with slight variations of the orange and pink.

These are like gumdrops but softer. The sugar on the outside is sweet and adds a texture that benefits the overall feeling of the candy. The jelly itself is sweet and juicy.

darker pink: I have no idea what this flavor is. Its mostly just sweet, no exciting tanginess but enjoyable to say the least.

lighter pink: Sweet with nice strong concord grape notes.

yellow: This is lemon no doubt. At first its like lemonade, very sweet like the light pink one, but eventually becomes a little bit zesty. Yum.

light orange: Citrusy and fresh. Mandarin I am guessing. Slightly tangy but not too powerful.

dark orange: This is like a glass of fresh orange juice. Refreshing.

red: Yummy but, like the light pink, indecipherable flavorwise. Obviously we have the darker pink and red narrowed down to either blueberry or raspberry. The two colors have different flavors definitely, but I can't decide which is which.

A serving size is 5 pieces, 11 servings per container, 140 calories per serving, 0 calories from fat, 10mg sodium, 36g carbohydrates, 29g sugar.

Overall I enjoy these but wish the non-citrus flavors had more of a punch. I really love that they are natural but they are confusing and I was left unfulfilled by the lack of flavor in the light pink and red. I probably won't buy these again. On a scale of 1-10, I rate these a 6.