Puccho Ball Candy
When I think of chewy candies, the first brand that comes to mind is Hi-Chew. I wish I could tell you that there was another brand that came in a close second, but alas it’s not meant to be. While not a close second, the second brand I think of is a competitor of sorts to Hi-Chew. Puccho also comes in a variety of forms and flavours, but their major product is similar to Hi-Chew in it’s rectangular form. The biggest distinguishing factor about Puccho though, is the fact that they usually have firm jelly pieces in the middle of the candy. Either that or fizzy candy to give it added texture or flavour. Apart from that gimmick, I tend to favour Hi-Chew in almost every other aspect.
Today’s review is not one, but two products (kind of). I figured since each of these varieties differs only by a single flavour, I’d combine them and do one review. The two varieties I have are the soda mix, and the colourful mix. The soda mix has four flavours – ramune, cola, lemon and orange. The colourful mix has ramune, cola, lemon and peach. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that these candies have some sort of gimmick to them as well – highly likely that the feature of these candies will be some sort of fizzing action. Based on what I’ve read about these, the outside is a hard outer shell, with the chewy candy on the inside. I guess I’m about to find out just HOW hard the shell is.
These things look kind of chalky. They even feel kind of chalky upon picking them up. They remind me of those powdery flat disk candies called Rockets, or Smarties as they are referred to by our friends down south. They smell exactly like it too. I’m not sure that’s a good thing if I’m being honest. I tried to bounce one to see just how hard to shell is. It sounds quite brittle and tough. I’m still not sure if I should chew it outright, or treat it like a hard candy and let it melt into the centre before I chew. I’m going to try to do both.
Ramune, or “soda” flavour as it is referred to in this case is generally not my favourite in any of it’s forms. To me it just tastes very generic and fizzy, if that makes sense. When I taste the flavour my brain automatically adds fizz because of how I’ve been conditioned with this flavour. Biting into this, I am greeted with a loud crack. I wasn’t kidding when I said these are hard. They aren’t jawbreaker hard, more like hard candy hard.
As you can see, it looks like each of these is actually three layers. The outer layer reminds me of the candy shell you would find on a mini egg, very thin and kind of crisp when you bite into it. Immediately after that layer is the hard candy layer, followed by the chewy centre. Biting into this outright is kind of….tough. I don’t mean that it’s hard to bite into it, but rather, the centre is a bit firm and doesn’t seem to be as chewy as expected, though that may be because of the other layers mixing in. On the flip-side, if I treat it like a hard candy, the experience is very different. The other layer melts away pretty fast, and leaves behind the next layer which is actually sour. It reminds me a bit of the Warheads sour layer, but not nearly as puckering. Once that layer of sour is gone, I’m left with the chewy centre which ends up being a relatively pleasant experience. Flavour wise, it’s what I would expect from the generic Japanese soda flavour, nothing out of the ordinary. A safe choice. The chewy centre, while not as chewy as I expected, was sufficient to end the experience at least somewhat positively.
Cola is also not a flavour I generally opt for, but I’m expecting it to be superior to the soda flavour. Cola is usually a safe choice, so here goes. I should probably mention that it doesn’t seem like any of these flavours are fizzy, which is kind of a relief for me. I’m not crazy about that fizzy sensation. I don’t even like when my sodas are too carbonated, and I swirl them around to try and speed up the process of “flattening” the drink.
As with the previous flavour, chewing it outright is generally not the best way to experience it. Treating them like hard candies is the way to go. In terms of the flavour of the cola, it’s nothing spectacular. It also leaves a bit of a strange after taste in my mouth, which I imagine is from the chewy piece. It kind of reminds me of how my mouth feels after I have a lot of chewy, milk based candies. Strange. Not a fan of this one.
I’m beginning to notice a theme here. I don’t actually like any of these flavours that much. I wouldn’t avoid them by any means, but I also wouldn’t go out of my way to get any of them. Yet here we are with the lemon flavour.
If I wasn’t already clear before, chewing these outright is a baaad idea. You gotta experience it to the fullest, and let it perkalate on your tongue, experiencing each of the layers as you would stages of anger. The first layer is definitely lemony, but not quite lemon. It actually reminds me more of lemon tea. I can’t taste much once I hit the sour layer, since it’s just citric acid. The centre is a nice relief of sweet, but again, is more of a lemony tea, but this time with milk. Like a sweet lemon milk tea. I am down for this one.
Just so my tongue doesn’t start to burn from all the citrus, let’s switch things up and move on to peach. This one starts off well rounded and sweet and the sour flavour quickly sucker punches me after lulling me in with it’s sweet words. I’m not a sour aficionado, so all the sour on these pieces taste the same to me.
The flavour of all the layers work well on this one, and are a little more subdued and not as strong as the other flavours. This is actually something that works in its favour, as you don’t want to contrast to be too big. I like this one as well, and is probably going to end up my favourite unless orange has something to say about it.
Finally, we have orange. Just a note that I had to sit and wait for a good 20 – 30 minutes before getting to this piece. This candy is not something you want to be popping consecutively, unless you want a sore tongue or cut up mouth. Similar to Warheads, that acid will do work on your mouth. Practicing safe snacking is something I stand firmly behind, so keep that in mind people. Safety first. Always.
I generally don’t gravitate towards orange flavoured anything, so my expectations are quite low going into this. That being said, this one was actually quite solid. I think a big part of why I enjoyed this piece is because the outer layer reminded me so much of orange Tic Tacs that I had as a kid. Anyone who has ever had one knows exactly what I’m talking about. It may not be the most natural orange flavour, but damn it’s a good one. I guess I spoke too soon when I said that the peach flavour was my favourite, cause this one just hit the top of the charts.
As I type this review up, I’m honestly asking why I even bothered buying these two bags. It’s not an issue with the product itself, but the flavour assortment. I like to keep an open mind, yes, but none of the flavours are particularly attractive to me. I guess I’m willing to put aside my preferences for the good of science. The things I do for you people.
Closing thoughts – as a product these little things are interesting to say the least. First, let me start off by ranking them:
- Orange
- Peach
- Lemon
- Ramune
- Cola
Surprisingly, ramune wasn’t the least favourite as I expected. It edged out the cola flavour by a teeny margin. As I mentioned before, Puccho is known to try gimmicky stuff with their candy, and it’s kind of hit or miss. This sadly, is a miss for me. I can see how people would enjoy this. This is very reminiscent of those lollipops that are filled with bubble gum in the middle. The big difference being that the centers aren’t quite as chewy. In fact, this candy lends itself better to being treated similar to a lollipop, which you suck on it until you get to the chewy centre. You could always try and brute force it and go straight for into the centre, but you end up missing out on the centre layer that is actually slightly sour to mix things up. That being said, if you don’t like the sour layer, you can skip it entirely and just chew through. It won’t be noticeable enough to affect the overall experience, but the texture won’t be as nice.
I’d say if you can find these on sale, go for it. I don’t think I would pay more than $2 CAD for these, though. While interesting and gimmicky, there’s other, cheaper options out there to experience something in the same vein, even if the execution isn’t exactly the same.
