Starburst Airs Gummies – Sour Tropical Mix

Not to sound rude or offend anyone, but ever since I discovered Hi-Chew I feel as though I’ve outgrown Starburst for the most part. They will occasionally have some new novelties or new flavours that still get my attention, but as far as the standard chewy candy goes, I rarely see a reason to have a Starburst over a Hi-Chew. Having said that, it’s also important to acknowledge that as novel as Hi-Chew gets, they don’t tend to stray away from the chewy concept – they have balls and minis, but they still rely on the classic winning chew formula.

Starburst on the other hand and to its credit tries a lot of other formats, like jelly beans, gummies and various other product lines. While jelly beans are my favourite so far, I do like to venture into the gummy territory, just to give it a go and so I can at least say I gave it the ol’ college try.

This particular mix is part of their Airs Gummies line which goes for that soft, foamy gummy texture. Or so I imagine based on the marketing for these. Plus it’s sour and tropical, so I’m sure there will be at least a few surprises incoming. There’s four different flavours here, so let’s see how they stack up.

Yellow is pineapple and it’s an easy flavour to imagine. Pineapple with a slight hint of sour dust is possibly one of the easiest flavours to emulate, and this does a solid job of it.

Purple is passion fruit and this reminds me just about any candy with that flavour. It especially reminds me of the classic Starburst passion fruit pieces, with it’s vibrant floral flavour.

Orange is mango, and this one was some what boring. It barely had the flavour of mango to it, and didn’t really feel as vibrant or punchy as the other flavours. In fact, the mango flavour is so muted you might be forgiven if you didn’t figure out what this flavour was by taste alone. It seems to be a common issue with gummies, where the gummy flavour just doesn’t seem to travel through very well.

Green is kiwi strawberry and this one brings me back to my childhood. The kiwi juice and the tartness of green kiwis is very present, but the strawberry is sort of absent, or not trying very hard. I barely get a hint of berry flavour to it, and the predominant flavour is kiwi. But it’s not quite just kiwi, so you can sort of imagine the berry is there.

The interesting thing about these is that visually they have an opaque look to them which implies these would be soft. To be fair they are, but that initial bite requires more force than I expected. These are firm, and have a decent chew to them. They do get soft very quickly once they’re in your mouth, but not as soft as their marshmallow appearance or name would imply. In fact, I’ve had normal translucent looking gummies who were less firm than these.

While I don’t think I would get these again, it’s not that I think their bad. I just don’t think they are my cup of tea. On their own these are not a bad choice if you want something different in terms of texture, and in flavour too I guess. It’s worth a try at least once.