Taste-Testing Haute Halloween Treats

by Natasha Wolff | October 21, 2015 2:00 pm

This Halloween, here’s a hint for would-be candy passer-outers: Kit Kats aren’t going to cut it anymore. There’s an upper echelon of treats for the neighborhood kids, and it’s time to get in the game. (Plus, shelling out for high-end gummies and truffles makes stomaching leftovers that much easier.)

These days, young ‘uns seem born with increasingly discerning palates. Case in point: the rise of the kid food critic, a new generation of pre-teen foodies. They know what they like and aren’t afraid to tell you. So when DuJour wanted to get serious about separating the merely OK treats from the stellar ones, we turned to David Pines[1], a self-described “middle school foodie” and Wyatt Roe, who employs a one-to-five spork rating system to evaluate restaurants. Read on for their scarily detailed appraisals (and below, where to get the candy!). 

THE JUDGES

Name: Wyatt Roe
Location: Coconut Creek, Florida
Age: Middle School
Blog: WyattTastesGood.com[2]
This year’s Halloween Costume: A gorilla
Favorite Candy: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

Name: David Pines
Location: New York City
Age: Middle School
Blog: PinesPicks.com[3]
This year’s Halloween Costume: An M&M
Favorite Candy: Sour Power Straws (Green Apple) 

WYATT’S REVIEWS

Sugarpova Quirky Sour[4]
Overall Score: 8 out of 10
Thoughts: “The package is neat and clean and I like the logo. The candy looks bright and colorful. I want to try them. The sour taste melts into a white center of sweet, chewy deliciousness. If I got this while trick-or-treating, I’d think, ‘Man, I didn’t know that I lived next to rich people! This just made my day!'”

Sugarpova Sporty Mix[5]
Overall Score: 6
Thoughts: “I really like the shape of the gum because I play tennis and I’m really good at it. I also like the logo and bag. It starts out as little tennis ball jaw breakers. Then it softens into gum. In the center of the gum is a sour burst of flavor. Different colors are different flavors.”

Sugarfina Night Owls
Overall Score: 1
Thoughts: “I like the clear box so you can see the candy inside. The owls look cool and detailed, but they taste bitter, chewy and not good. Very disappointing. I really hate licorice. I had to eat a piece of the Sugarpova Quirky Sour to get the bad taste out of my mouth.”

Sugar and Plumm Gummy Dirt Worms
Overall Score: 7
Thoughts: “Wow, these look realistic! I think I saw one move. The worms look like centipedes; the chocolate dirt looks real and makes it gross in a good way. These are great gummies covered in delicious chocolate dirt. I really like them.”

Sugar and Plumm Gummy Brains
Overall Score: 9
Thoughts: “These gummies look like realistic little brains. I like the red and blue colors and the clear tube. They’re the best gummies that I’ve ever had—yummy, cool and fantastic.”

Moonstruck Pumpkin Patch Collection Pumpkins[6]
Overall Score: 10
Thoughts: “These look really professional. They are amazing. They come in two different slightly pumpkin flavored versions: dark chocolate and milk chocolate. The dark chocolate was deep and intensely chocolaty. The milk chocolate is quite a bit sweeter than the other and has sugar sprinkles on it. The milk chocolate little pumpkins are my favorite.” —Wyatt

Peeps Dark Chocolate Covered Pumpkin[7]
Overall Score: 8
Thoughts: “This is the only Peep I like. Other Peeps make me feel sick after I eat them. The dark chocolate really adds to the tasty pumpkin marshmallow flavor.”

The Witch’s Finger Lollipop
Overall Score: 2
Thoughts: “This looks like an awesome lollipop. The cartoon grossness is very appetizing. I wish that this tasted as good as it looked. There is no flavor in it at all. Not my favorite.” 

DAVID’S REVIEWS

Sugarpova Quirky[8]
Overall Score: 6.5
Thoughts: “First there is a delicious strawberry licorice outside. Then there is a powdery super sweet inside cream. Overall I really enjoyed the candies’ flavor of sweet strawberries and cream. However, I discovered that if I peeled the outside licorice off and ate that by itself, it was even more fun and amazing.”

Sugarpova Splashy[9]
Overall Score: 6
Thoughts: “These gummies are typical, but I love them. They have lots of fun animal shapes like sharks and octopi and come in lots of bright colors. No matter what, I could always eat this candy.”

Sugarfina Pumpkin Patch[10]
Overall Score: 7.5
Thoughts: “Right after you put these pumpkin-shaped orange and green candies in your mouth, you get a sour sugar coating on the outside of the candy. Then you bite into a chewy (but not mushy) jelly-like candy and get a great sweet flavor. This candy is much thicker and tougher than normal jelly-like candies. I really enjoyed it.”

Sugarfina Witches Brew
Overall Score: 5
Thoughts: “They consist of three different flavors of jelly candies in witch-themed shapes. The dark-colored candy has a grape berry flavor and is soft and chewy. The first bite of this candy is very, very sweet, but quickly it evolves into a delicious and pleasing grape flavor. The orange-flavored jelly is sweet and has a little sour tang to it. It is not overly sweet and overall is very good. The yellow lemon-flavored jelly is sweet and tastes like a lemon, but is much less sour than an actual lemon.”

Sugar and Plumm Gummy Spiders
Overall Score: 3
Thoughts: “It’s fun that you can see the spider shapes. The spiders look nice and have bright colors, but were a little too sweet for my liking.”

Dylan’s Candy Bar Halloween Oreo Trio
Overall Score: 8.5
Thoughts: “This looks the best of all the candy. I really like the cool icing pictures on the different types of chocolate-covered Oreos. The sprinkles on the white chocolate covered Oreo add a crunch to the already crisp cookie. The chocolate in the cookie, and the vanilla chocolate covering combine together perfectly. For the milk chocolate-covered Oreo, it was also an eye-pleaser with the same mix of colorful sprinkles on top, and much softer than the white chocolate. I am not a huge fan of dark chocolate, but this dark chocolate Oreo with a black cat on top was delicious.

ZomBee Halloween Kabob
Overall Score: 3.5
Thoughts: “This marshmallow kabob looks very good. It has four Halloween themed marshmallows on it: a pumpkin, a ghost, a monster and an eye. I would buy this candy for the nice design, but not for the taste.”

Chocolate Dipped Orange Peeps[11]
Overall Score: 4.5
Thoughts: “During my first tasting, I really liked the taste of the orange pumpkin-shaped marshmallow candy. The marshmallow is sweet, and the chocolate goes well with it. But then, during my second tasting an hour later, the chocolate seemed to have a little too much sugar compared to the creamy rich milk chocolate covering the Oreos.”

Source URL: https://dujour.com/life/kid-food-critics-rate-halloween-candy/