I’m in my new favorite high end candy spot (TJ Maxx), just looking through their jumbled aisle of sweets & snacks. Why? Because for some reason, they have a pipeline from the UK for some random and sometimes excellent candies I’ve never seen before. Additionally, they regularly have great deals on bags of American stuff like Jelly Belly, Albanese, etc. Also, if I wanted to browse for a bronze sign that says “BOSS” or  needed another water bottle, there’s literally hundreds to choose from.

The point though, is that I always walk out of that place with something. And today, it’s toxic.

I had to get these to try, but also because who doesn’t want a couple of glass beakers to eventually use as candy dispensers? WHO AMONG YOU!??? Right. So they came home with me.

They’re cute and colorful. The label lists the flavor in a Periodic Element chart style. What’s not to love?

Like I said, these are from the UK. I’ve had a lot of boiled sweets (check out our series of reviews from last fall), and these look very similar to most of them. Would they be a simple fizz ball?  Or something different? I started with the blue raspberry.

Aaaaaand had to spit it out because it was too sour. I mean like…insane crazy sour that wouldn’t quit. And I love insane crazy sour-but this was too much. Not one to take that kind of shit lightly, I took a break and went back for another.  This one…I handled. Perhaps I adjusted, perhaps the first one was an anomaly-er-no. It wasn’t. They’re still super sour, but I got over the hump.

The lemon though, is sour to a high level, but never enters the unbearable stage. It’s a good lemon, nice flavor.

These are made by Maxons, which is a super legit old school confectioner from the UK. I feel like these are more or less a marketing ploy-someone had a fun idea to shove sour stuff in beakers, and..there ya go-but they’re still fun for a sour fan. I’ve seen these for sale in random places on the web (including a museum’s gift shop) but generally, they’re not easily available.

That’s ok though because…I don’t think I’d recommend them. If you want excellent hard sour lemon, Super Lemon by Nobel is easy to get. For me, the boiled sweets really excel in their simplicity. Cola cubes, pineapple cubes, fizz balls, northern pears-all excellent flavors, all classics. These Radioactive Sours though…ring more of an American trash candy than a staple.