Tirol Chocolate – Pine Pineapple Candy
Not long ago I did a series of summer Tirol chocolates that were collaborations with various companies and brands. Today’s limited edition is a collaboration with Tirol and Pine. Pine is a long standing candy company that has established itself through its pineapple flavoured hard candies. They do various iterations of their signature hard candy, like gum, gummies and also do other flavours like orange. I’m not too familiar with what else they offer, beyond the iconic pineapple hard candies. It will be interesting to see how this translates into a chocolate format.
Something I found interesting about this bag is that it has 6 pieces instead of the 7 that I’m used to. I’m not quite sure why that is, but I guess there is probably a reason for it. Maybe it’s a cost issue? Regardless, it doesn’t have any real impact on me.
If you’ve ever had a pineapple hard candy, you would most likely be very well acquainted with the smell of fake pineapple. For some reason they all smell the same. For those of you who grew up in the west, think of it as how a pineapple lifesaver smells.
Taking a closer look at the bottom of the piece reveals a lot of what appear to be small shards. I can only imagine that they represent the ground up pieces of the hard candy. I’m assuming it’s a softer version of the hard candy, as candy shrapnel is a great way to cut up the roof of your mouth if you’re not careful.
Having told you how it smells, I’m willing to bet good money that you also know how this will taste based on the smell alone. And you would not be far from the truth. As I expected, the inside is basically just a collection of ground up slivers of the hard candy that are made slightly softer. Flavour wise there’s not much to say other than that it also tastes like artificial pineapple. I can’t really fault them for that, since it’s very clearly advertised as a collaboration with a hard candy brand. In that aspect I think they capture it well. Texture wise, they also capture the essence of the hard candy quite well.
While they capture the experience and flavour of the hard candy quite well, I can’t say that I’m a fan. This is probably because I’m not crazy about the original hard candy itself, on account of I find it a little too sweet, and I’m not big on hard candy anymore. If you are a fan of hard candy, and that distinct artificial pineapple flavour, go and find a bag of these to try. Otherwise, I would have to recommend against these, sadly.
