I am one of those people who every time they go into a supermarket or a shop has to see if there is something I haven't seen before or something on offer I fancy to have a munch on, so when exploring Tesco today I was browsing down the sweetie isle for something to chew on for the drive home, when I came across these little packets on the shelf amongst the children sweets I couldn't resist..

~*~ What are Fruitella Crunchies? ~*~

I'm guessing most people know what the Fruitella sweets are? If you don't they are little square fruit chews, that now have real fruit flavourings and no artificial colours.. These little sweeties are similar except instead of a somewhat soft chewy sweet these ones are hard, in a crisp sugar outside coating.. The come in six different flavours, but when you open the packet they don't really look all that appetising..

~*~ Packaging? ~*~

Well the packets are about 5 centimetres long and if you didn't notice them on the shelf I wouldn't honestly be surprised because they sit on the shelves and are so tiny they just blend in the background, in the pastel packaging. It is stripy reflecting the colours of the sweets inside, thankfully the bright colours on the edges aren't as bright as the sweets inside, else I think they would be lying about artificial colourings!

It has a picture of the sweet on the front which doesn't make them look all that appealing really, though I suppose for 19 pence a packet the pictures wouldn't be all the spectacular really!

~*~ My Opinion ~*~

Just before you pop one into your mouth the first thing you will think of is that they look like over grown and more square skittles, but let me assure you they taste nothing like skittles, there is the hard case on the outside that if you dare not to put the whole thing in your mouth at once, leaves nasty little bits of the shell wherever you are sitting.

The flavour is a little overbearing at times especially in the lemon flavoured sweet, I know they decided to put only natural fruit flavourings in but they are just a little over the top in some places. There is nothing to complain about the texture though well not once you have got through the shell, which should be soft like the skittle shell but ends up being more the smartie texture shell.

There are six different flavours in the packet, they are; cherry, strawberry, apple, orange, lemon and raspberry. To be honest none of them are particularly tasty when you get them on your tongue, the lemon is bitter, the blackcurrant is incredibly bland, the orange tastes like there was no flavouring in it at all.. The apple tastes like a tea bag, of all things when you first put the sweet in your mouth you feel like you are munching on a teabag, after a few chews it does begin to taste like apple, a very sour apple.. The strawberry really doesn't taste like strawberry to be honest, I am not even sure what it does taste like.. Finally as with most sweets the raspberry is the only one that tastes even remotely like the flavour it is meant to have..

I know they are only 19 pence a packet in Tesco, but they really are a bad packet of chewy sweets, even just for kids to keep them quiet, they are so acidic, after eating the packet - despite there only being 6 sweets, a drink is definitely in order, to get rid of the nasty aftertaste..

The funniest thing is that this packaging has no nutritional information at all, it covers the sweet flavours and some of the ingredients but nothing at all about how fatty, sugary or calorific they are. They aren't going to be very good for you I am guessing, well definitely not for your taste buds.. Unless that is just my taste and I am picky with my sweets.. Give me the original Fruitella's any day as they are nice and chewy and don't leave a nasty taste in your mouth afterwards!

Not a recommended sweet even though they are cheap, find the original packet of Fruitella's if you want to give your kids something with real fruit flavours, either that or a good packet of maoam because they are far better tasting! Or even for adults, go for the maoam they are a little more expensive but so much more fun and better tasting!