We’re huge fans of Torrie & Howard-have been in fact, since they broke on the scene with their devilishly delicious hard candies.  In fact, they’re one of the regular examples we cite when arguing that having an all natural candy actually CAN taste dissimilar to crap.  So dissimilar in fact, that I’d say they make (arguably) the best hard candies available.  Using fruits & vegetables to color them, they’re natural in every way, but the flavor-that’s truly their strong point.  Then again, a lot of you are prejudiced-nay, let’s just call it racist-when it comes to hard candies.  Fine.  Live with hate if you want, because T&H have figured out a solution: they’re now making chews.

HAPPY NOW, AMERICA?

They come in three varieties: Blood orange & honey, pomegranate & nectarine, and meyer lemon & raspberry.  They also have an assorted flavors bag.  For those of you who don’t know, these three flavors are the same as three of their hard candy varieties, which makes thing super interesting.

What we have here essentially are completely natural Starburst chews.  But instead of a lengthy laundry list of artificial ingredients, we get this for the meyer lemon & raspberry:

organic brown rice, organic dried cane syrup, organic palm shortening, ascorbic acid, citric acid, natural flavor, organic rice extract.

Colored with: beetroot juice.

Oh, also, here’s a list of what’s not in here: artificial dyes, nuts, GMOs, corn syrup, gluten, wheat, casein, soy, dairy.

So we’ve established that you can feel good about eating these & giving them to your kids.  But what about the taste?  Well, it’s predictably on point.  These three combinations were always my favorite, so I naturally like them all.  I will say though, it tastes to me that these are just a bit less tart than their hard candy cousins, which might make them more appealing to the masses.

Being made with all real ingredients, they also have a softer consistency than a starburst, and way softer than a Hi-Chew, which in my opinion is the perfect consistency for a chew.  This softness doesn’t take away too much from the eating experience because again-begin all natural, I’d expect them to harden up a bit over time.  As with many great candies, aging is a recommended practice.

I’m relatively sure everyone out there will enjoy these-what’s not to enjoy about bright, unique flavors?  If this is your introduction, I suggest you pick up a variety (link below) and then after you fall in love, get their hard candies, and realize that you actually LOVE hard candies.  Then, write a brief (but thoughtful) thank you note to me.