Albanese – Sour 12 Flavor Gummi Bears
Albanese is a famous and well regarded brand of gummies in the US. Their main claim to fame is the famous 12 flavour gummi bear assortment. I opted to go for the sour version, as I wanted to try something different. This is similar to their classic assortment except it’s sour. Interestingly enough, these are both sour due to the coating as well as the gummy itself. Far more common is it to be sour on the outside and sweet on the inside.
The 12 flavours here are cherry, strawberry, mango, pineapple, lemon, orange, green apple, watermelon, pink grapefruit, lime, blue raspberry and grape. Truthfully I won’t be able to keep track of all that, so instead I’ll just go over which ones stood out for me.
The texture of these is very soft – they have a slight initial resistance on that first bite, but after that it’s really quite soft and while still chewy, it’s nowhere near the firmness or chewiness of a Haribo. I imagine this could be popular for a different audience that wants a softer gummy, but sadly I am not in that camp. If I don’t feel like hurting my jaw or chewing too hard though, these would be great.
The flavours are interesting and the big assortment gives a lot of variety. Personally though, I would have preferred fewer flavours so I could get a better grasp on each one. The key thing here is the flavours are slightly sour versions of the original. Instead of being sweet, the gummy itself has a distinct tartness to it, which works for some flavours like lemon and orange, but is on the more jarring side for ones like watermelon. Because of the tartness of the flavours, the ones I found to be the best are actually ones I don’t usually opt for. Pineapple was a clear winner despite it being sour and tart, but some of the citrus flavours like orange and especially pink grapefruit also stood out to me.
Something I found interesting is that most gummies tend to use gelatin which gives them a bouncy texture, but also makes them non-vegan. Vegan gummies use pectin as an alternative but it doesn’t have the same level of bouncy chew to it that gelatin does. Albanese uses both gelatin and pectin, which is something I noticed, and now I’m wondering if other brands do the same.
These were certainly an interesting offering, but I’m not sure I enjoy it enough to want to get it again. I’ll certainly give their other products a try, but this one is a one and done for me.
