Green sweets are evil and must be STOPPED (Tesco Fruit Pastilles)

Member Name: jojoegypt2008

Product:	Tesco Fruit Pastilles
Date:	31/03/09 (330 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good taste - some flavours, no additives, price

Disadvantages: Some weaker flavours, calories and sugar!

I'm such a Dooyoo addict these days... I just opened up a packet of Tesco Fruit Pastilles, and do you know the first thing I did? I took out one of every colour so that I could independently taste-test them (the things I do for you...) and write a review.

Overview

These fruit pastilles are of course Tesco's own brand version of the famous Rowntree's Fruit Pastilles. They're a lot cheaper (retailing at 65p for a 250g bag, as opposed to £1.24 for a 205g bag - yes, you read it right folks, a SMALLER bag - of Rowntree's).

Packaging

The packaging (as you can see above) is in the same tone as Rowntrees', although more subdued in colouring - the logo on the front reminds me of Rainbow (remember Bungle and Zippy????)

Anyway, to the good bit - the tasting....

Taste

Let's start with the nasty green ones (usually I throw these out of the window, or give them to my other half - I used to save them up and send them to a friend who likes green sweets, but then they took her away to an asylum....). Lime, according to the flavourings list on the back. The flavourings are all from concentrated fruit juice, which is nice, but fairly standard these days. The sugar on them is not as coarse as the sugar on Rowntree's ones (although this does mean you don't sandpaper your tongue...)mmmmbleurgh, it's a bit bitter and not that sweet at the end. I'm not impressed with the limes.

Lemon (yellow) next. Here's a lemon slice... oh wait. The shapes are pretty much random. Bizarre - they go to the trouble of making them fruit shaped, then don't match up the shapes to the flavours. Hmmm. Wait a minute... this is Pear flavour! Much nicer than lemon! Tangy, with that nail-varnish remover taste of pear-drops. Mmmmm good.

Lemon this time: pretty good, less sharp than I would expect lemons to be, but pleasantly sweet. A bit bland.

Now orange (in the shape of a raspberry... Sigh.). Mmm, zesty, mmm, oh, wait, no the flavour's gone. Bit of a let down there - nearly tasted like orange, but then went sugary and gooey at the end.

Ahhhh. Raspberry. My favourite. Even shaped like a raspberry (for the connoisseur). Mmmmmm-hmmmmm. Subtle, delicious and surprisingly real taste, this one.

Blackcurrant: Deeper flavour, tastes like distilled Ribena...Heaven.


Right. I've put the packet away now (before I slip into a hypoglycaemic coma).


Summary

Overall, these are a reasonable substitute for good ol' Rowntrees. The good colours (red, black, er...pear) are lovely, just as good as their counterparts. The orange (I like to think of this as the Cat Deeley of the fruit pastille world - you can't hate it, but would you give up everything for it?) is disappointing and saccharine tasting.
The 'bad' colours - green, lemon/yellow - are fine, but not as good as their counterparts. This doesn't worry me, as I don't eat those weirdy colours anyway, yuk.

The texture is stickier than Rowntrees' - there's less substance, and less 'chew', although as one who has less than perfect gnashers (surely not, I hear you cry! And you reviewing sweeties and all....), this might be a good thing. There's less of the outer hardness of Rowntrees, and this does mean they become sickly tasting quite fast. Diet fruit pastilles, perhaps?

Nutritional Info

They're not too awful on additives, preservatives and e-numbers, advertising 'no artificial colours or flavours'. They are of course pure sugar, and five sweets is 17% (nearly a fifth) of your daily sugar intake!!!! They would also not be suitable for vegetarians, as they contain beef gelatine.

I'm not sure these pose a real threat to Rowntree's Fruit Pastilles, as they are not an exact equivalent. They are, however, a nice sweet treat, and well-priced. Just be careful with the shapes and colours - it can be very confusing, and no-body wants to accidentally eat a lime sweet when they wanted a raspberry one, now do they?

Summary: Good for the price, but not the best.