“It happened a long time ago in the little village of Werther: the confectioner Gustav Nebel, at the peak of his skills, created his finest sweet. He took fresh cream, real butter, white and brown sugars, a pinch of salt, and lots of time. And because the candies came out particularly well, they were called Werther’s Original.”

Ah, I love a good history even if it’s just an exaggeration of the truth or in some cases, purely fictional. It gives a product character and personality. I also love heart-warming ads, like the one featuring a loving grandpa and his angelic grandson sharing a Werther’s Originals.

True to its classic status, the candies come in an warm, but slightly oldish looking packaging. When you open the other wrapper a luscious caramel aroma hits you. Each golden brown candy is individually wrapped in clear cellophane. There’s a dent in the middle of the candy. I’m not too sure whether this is the result of the manufacturing process or an intended shape but it provides a niche for your tongue.

The candy is smooth, buttery and sweet as candies should be but what’s special about this particular sweet is its deliciousness. As far as caramel candies go, Werther’s Original is the bee’s knees. It is definitely not a run of the mill mediocre-tasting candy, no. I kid you not when I say you can almost taste the quality of the ingredients used once you pop one in your mouth. Storck website claims these are made “because you are someone very special!” and that the candies are “uncommonly good”. I don’t know about the first part but believe you me, these are indeed uncommonly good. I am not a hard candy lover but this gets a Perfect 10!

Candies are by nature, bad for you because, being nothing more than sugar, they rot your teeth and are full of empty calories. A candy without nutrition warning is worse because you’ll never know how much is too much. The lack of nutrition information seems to be a common characteristic of the few European products reviewed here so far. Am I missing something here? Do I care? Mmmm.. caramel candy…nyom nyom nyom…

Photo: Storck

As deliciously sweet as the Werther's Original boy.

I was shopping for something sweet when a friendly-looking goldfish cracker with rainbow sunglasses caught my eye. His name is Finn and he has a couple of colorful cracker friends. He invited me to sample a few of them. What is it with product mascots and cannibalism? Doesn’t anyone find it weird that the friendly characters on boxes are asking you to eat their own kind?

Goldfish is targeted at kids. The packaging is cute, colourful and very nicely executed. In fact, Pepperidge Farm is one of the few brands that has consistently good design over its range. But I don’t know why there’s no clip for the bag (like their biscuit range) though, so once open you either need to use your own bag clips or transfer to an air-tight container. I did neither of this, resorting to fold the bag a few times over. Surprisingly, the crackers stayed crisp for two weeks!

The colors of the fishies are very vibrant and is part of the fun of eating them. Some did remark how toxically deep the colors were but I kind like them that way. There’s also a cute website supporting this product. There was a version of the website(2006-ish) that was so well-done I kept going back just to experience it over and over again. Kudos to the marketing team.

For all the aesthetic appeal of the packaging, product and website, the taste is a big letdown. I have eaten Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Cheddar before. I picked Colors because I thought it was a different product failing to read the label properly (same great cheddar taste). The thing is, I didn’t like the normal version that much so it’s no surprise that this cracker and I don’t go swimmingly well together.

Cheddar is a sharp cheese with a balanced buttery saltiness. What is passed off as cheddar here tastes just like 50 tablespoons of salt with none of the creamy cheesy sharpness I’ve come to associate with cheddar. One wonder what kind of “real cheese” these fish crackers were actually baked with.

The box shouts that this is a “baked, not fried fried”, subliminally implying that this is healthy. Yeah, I’ll fall for that one. I did, really.A serving size is 55 pieces or 140 calories. For me, this is more than enough (I usually stop at about 20 per sitting) so I assume it’s more than sufficient to satiate an average child.

A bag lasts for two weeks. If you don’t mind the salty, one-dimensional taste, Goldfish Colors is gives good bang for your buck.

Photo: Pepperidge Farm

Salty without character.

The pieces are packaged in a small and modest-looking foil wrapper. It is nice and homey with a rustic feel – the only boast being the pieces “bursting with intense flavor”, the flavors in question being honey mustard and onion.

Honey mustard and onion – the thought of these two ingredients combined conjures the image of a beautiful symphony of tastes. Caramelized savoriness of toasted onions uniting with the bittersweet seduction of honey and mustard. Now imagine crunchy chunks of pretzel drenched in these wonderful flavours.

Despite looking like they have been soaked in oil, the sourdough hard pretzel pieces retain a delightfully dry crunch. Bursting with intense flavor, you say? Indeed. Every bite is so full of concentrated tastiness, my taste buds are dancing, jumping and rejoicing with delicious, delicious (yes, twice) joy. Breaking up the pretzel into small pieces is a genius move as it allows the fantastic flavouring to penetrate over a greater surface area.

Granted at $3.95 per pack this isn’t the cheapest snack on the aisle, but oh the crunchy deliciousness of these pretzel pieces more than makes up for it.

Are these healthy? At 140 Calories a serving, one could do worse. But who cares about calories? The flavours! Bursting with flavours! Can you tell how much I love these thing?

Photo: Snyder’s of Hanover

Bursting with flavours, a truly satisfying savoury snack