Haribo – Dinosaurs

Did anyone else love playing with their food as a kid? Did anyone secretly not fully outgrow that aspect of their childhood? No? Just me? Okay…Well honestly, dino shapes were my jam as a kid. I’m talking dino shaped cookies, dino fruit snacks, and of course, dino shaped chicken nuggets. Virtually identical to the chicken mash that are normal chicken nuggets, but in fun dino shapes! The only thing that stops me from ordering dino nuggets whenever I see them is the sheer shame and judgement I would face if I were to go through with that. Sadly, I am a very shameful person who can’t handle that. Maybe someday if I ever have a kid, I’ll coerce them into ordering dino nuggets, and eat their food. You know, like a typical good parent.

Dino shaped candies are a little less frowned upon, especially when it’s a tasty candy or snack that everyone can enjoy. In comes Haribo with their fun dino shaped gummies. I mean, based on the packaging it probably is still intended for kids, but like one of their many slogans, kids and adults enjoy them. That’s all the justification I need if someone were to judge me. Like when people find out I still like to collect LEGO. The intended age clearly has a plus sign, implying it’s for all ages and above! Anyways.

There’s looks to be about four different Dino shapes, and six flavours, from what I can count. It’s honestly kind of hard with Haribo gummies sometimes, since they don’t always tell you what flavours are included, and some of the colours are so similar to one another. There’s lemon, strawberry, apple or mango, melon, and currant. While the flavours are a bit ambiguous, the shapes aren’t. There’s an adorable little T-Rex, a Brontosaurus, and Triceratops, and Stegosaurus. It doesn’t get more classic than that combo. Brings me back to my childhood and those Dino chicken nuggets. There’s definitely some food-play potential with these gummies as well. Rawr!

The red one is strawberry. I think. I can’t think of any other berry it’s supposed to be. It’s pretty typical, floral berry flavour. Not too strong, not too mild, it’s no wonder that it’s one of their standard flavours.

The yellow is lemon. At least this one is pretty clear. I don’t generally enjoy lemon as a gummy flavour, but this one is nice and zesty, and is a nice kick in the face. The only downside is that the flavour is probably going to leave that citric burn on your tongue if you have more than 2 or three of these in one sitting. Moderation is key here.

The orange one is banana. The flavour of banana doesn’t come strong right away, and is more of an afterthought. The general flavour through is more like a general, mild fruity gummy. I don’t see banana much as a gummy flavour, and I’m guessing I know why now. It just doesn’t seem to work well in this format. In a milk form maybe…

The pink one seems to be watermelon or some sort of melon. It’s almost like some combination of melons, as it’s not entirely watermelon or honeydew tasting, but rather some sort of combo of the two. Not a common gummy flavour. It is a tad refreshing though, compared to the more traditional and typical flavours.

The green one is tough to pin. I want to say it’s apple, but it’s too mild to be apple. I’ve had Haribo apple and it tends to be much stronger. I almost want to say it’s supposed to be mango. I’m leaning closer to mango, simply because apple is much more distinct in general. Given the ambiguity of this flavour, I find it a bit hit or miss.

The purple one is definitely currant. Currant is probably hands down my favourite Haribo flavour. It certainly doesn’t help that currant isn’t a common flavour over here in the North. The flavour of currant is an interesting combo of sweet and tart, and kind of reminds me of a more tart, flavourful raspberry. Unsurprisingly, still my favourite.

All in all, I’d say the flavour mix in this is more tropical and unique among assortments that you find in typical gummy mixes. Even against the signature classic golden bears from Haribo, these have a more interesting flavour profile going on. I’d say that I like this mix overall more, mostly because I love currant and the flavours aren’t overly strong or overshadow each other, like green apple tends to. Also, bonus points for being fun dino shapes that seem to trigger the playful childlike wonder in me. If these are as available as the gold bears, I would opt for these more often. They aren’t limited edition and should be pretty easy to find if you live in the frigid North like I do, so go try and find yourself a bag.