There’s certain taste preferences that develop with you as a kid: you like chocolate, you hate beets, you like garlic, you hate brussell sprouts, you like lemon, you can’t frikkin’ stand eggplant.  Or maybe that’s just my tastes, but you get the point- you learn these things early.

However, this isn’t to say that tastes can’t change, cause they do.

Mrs. Jonny Guru just turned me on to dipping chips in lowfat cottage cheese.  Sounds hellish.  But know what?  It’s good.  Damn good.  So there ya have it-not a fan of cottage cheese for 39 years and now?  I’m looking forward to dipping away in a few hours.

So again, tastes CAN change, but usually they don’t. If you hate something as a kid, you probably hate them now.

Which brings me to Sunkist Fruit Gems:

check the little buggers out:

I know you’ve had these. I have too, as a kid. Didn’t like ’em. Remember these ittle fruit patties? The best thing about these is their natural tasting flavors. They come with orange, lemon, grapefruit, lime and raspberry. Perfect selection for me.

While I think that all of the flavors are good, the grapefruit is clearly the best. Sharp, sweet and tangy, it’s a great representation of the fruit. Flavor among all of the pieces isn’t the problem here.

The problem, as it so often is, is the consistency.

It’s not fair to say that these aren’t chewy enough–they’re not chewy at ALL. It’s like taking a bite into really dense jello. You bite it, and it starts dissolving in your mouth. Some people like that (apparently a lot, as these candies have been around forever), but I don’t. I think there’s a class of candy called “fruit pate”, and this might fall into that.

I don’t know and I don’t care, cause I just can’t feature these.

I think Grandmas might dig on these the most. No teeth? No problem. Gem out. But for those of us with teeth and a sense of challenge, I can only recommend taking a Pasadena on these, despite their good flavors.