Mister Owl, how many different flavors of Tootsie Pop are there?
Mister Owl - One, two, (crunch), three.
Oh Mister Owl. Even when they were invented back in 1931 there were at least 5 flavors. Today we're trying 19 different flavors!
Alli's been on the lookout for new taste tests for a while. Ever since her Dot's Taste Test and Bottle Cap Taste Test, she's been wanting to do a Tootsie Pop Taste Test. She saves them as she finds them, but even then, she was only able to find 4.
Alli - Daddy, can you look for an Orange Toot-sie Pop?
We'll keep an eye out Alli.
Thankfully Santa came to visit on Christmas and left her a present!
In order, from the back of the package, there's Watermelon, Cherry, Green Apple, Strawberry Kiwi, Banana, Raspberry, Grape, Fruit Punch, Tangerine, Mango, Chocolate, Orange, Black Cherry, Blackberry, Lemon, Strawberry, Blue Raspberry, and Pomegranate.
Not quite content to stop there, because it's Christmas, the seasonal Candy Cane Tootsie Pop flavor is available!
Theresa and the kids went through the bag and separated the different flavors. There was a decent distribution of the flavors. They were able to find at least 6 of each flavor, which I appreciated. There were a few too many of some flavors (looking at you banana), but what can you do.
Did I make a little stand just so I could see all the unwrapped Tootsie Pops in a row? Yes, yes I did.
Wow, that's a lot of different flavors.
Nothing to it but to do it! We've got the whole house here to try all these Tootsie Pop suckers.
Let's get started!
1. Watermelon
This pop is the classic artificial watermelon. Very flavorful and if you like fake watermelon, this will satisfy.
2. Cherry
This was one of the original 5 Tootsie Pop flavors. This flavor is the same as most cherry medicines, so Theresa and Ian despise it.
3. Green Apple
The flavor of this pop is a little tart, like all the normal green apple flavors you've had. Kids will like it. Adults, maybe not so much.
4. Strawberry Kiwi
I was really wondering how this would have a different flavor than regular strawberry. Kiwi doesn't stand out as a strong flavor to me, and it's true in this case too. I just taste strawberry. It's a good strawberry flavor though, so no complaints there.
5. Banana
Oh banana. I'd say banana is a pretty polarizing flavor candy. You either love it or you hate it. In this house, there's only a few who love it.
Never-the-less everyone tasted it, and in a surprise move, even the people who were looking forward to it didn't like it. To me it tasted like the Runts banana flavor.
6. Raspberry
In my memory, I remember Raspberry having a much stronger flavor, but this little pop was weak. It was sugar, but there was very little other flavor to it. Maybe we got an off batch?
Grape is one of those flavors that I always wanted as a kid. Does it taste like real grapes? No, not at all. Does it taste exactly like that artificial grape flavor everyone has agreed on? Yes it does and I love it. Ian again was a little put off because it tastes like medicine (or because medicine tastes like it).
8. Fruit Punch
Just your typical fruit punch flavoring. I don't particularly care for it, but that's just me.
9. Tangerine
This one tastes a lot like Orange to me. There seems to be a little bit of a taste difference between this an the Orange pop, but not much. I didn't have a preference for one or the other.
I think it was around this time that my tongue started tasting "fuzzy" from all the sugar.
10. Mango
Theresa loved this one, saying it had a much more complex flavor than the other. Not just sweet, but also some other flavor notes.
11. Chocolate
It's the classic Tootsie Roll flavor but in a hard candy form. Whether it's a chocolate candy cane or chocolate Brach's disc candy, this is the flavor I taste.
Ian loved the chocolate Tootsie Pop.
For every flavor following it, he'd take a few licks on whatever we were testing, then go back to the chocolate pop.
12. Orange
It's orange.
13. Black Cherry
Black cherry huh? This one did have a little bit of a different taste to it when compared to the regular Cherry. Richard thought maybe a little bit of Dr. Pepper.
14. Blackberry
The table agreed that it didn't taste so much like blackberries, but it does have a good berry flavor to it. I thought it was pretty good.
15. Lemon
Everyone was hoping it would taste like a lemon drop. When we tried it, Theresa said it was more like Mr. Clean. I guess that's a fine line to walk between tasting like a fresh lemon and tasting like lemon cleaner.
16. Strawberry
Turns out this did taste a little different than the Strawberry Kiwi we'd tried before. Maybe a little brighter? I was also picking up on a Strawberry Nesquik powder flavor. It's a good one.
17. Blue Raspberry
How this is so different than the regular Raspberry, I don't know. It's definitely that classic artificial Blue Raspberry flavor you find in Icees. The kids and I love that Blue Raspberry flavor. Theresa and her parents don't.
18. Pomegranate
I don't really know what pomegranate tastes like so much, but this one tastes like cherries.
19. Candy Cane
The taste test would have ended at 18, but since it's Christmas there's a special seasonal flavor that I was able to find. Candy Cane! When Santa Claus is going around the neighborhood on his sleigh (with the Redondo Beach Police Officers Association), he gives out these Tootsie Pops to the kids. It's a favorite for the holidays.
That many Tootsie Pops means a lot of Tootsie Pop wrappers. Speaking of wrappers, remember the Urban Legend about finding a wrapper with a Native American shooting a star with a Bow and Arrow, and if you found one, you could redeem it for a free Tootsie Pop. I remember finding those wrappers, but never trying to redeem one.
It was interesting seeing what people did with their suckers once they were done taking a few licks off them. Some were neat and organized, keeping things tidy for comparison later.
Others just put the sucker down wherever, grabbing a random one if they wanted to try another lick.
Time to vote for our favorites! Theresa wanted to do categories for her favorites. Best Peppermint flavor, most complex flavor, tastes the most like cleaner, etc. No Theresa, you've got to pick just one.
Okay, time to vote.
Favorites are:
Chocolate (Ian and Richard)
Candy Cane (Chi)
Mango (Theresa)
Strawberry (Alli)
Watermelon (Joe)
Flavors that were second favorites for many: Candy Cane (Theresa, Joe), Watermelon (Richard, Ian).
Least Favorite:
Banana (Joe and Richard)
Blue Raspberry (Theresa and Chi)
Grape (Alli)
Lemon (Ian)
Yum!
So that was our fun Tootsie Pop taste test! We all had a lot of fun with it, trying the different flavors.
Oh my goodness..."silly, crazy" Joe...squeezing 19 Tootsie Pops into the mouth...more ouch than yummy as I watched each addition :-)...glad you survived that "ultimate taste test"!!! Very nice homemade Tootsie Pops stand...also liked seeing each unwrapped flavor with its wrapped version on the stand as it's tested. If the watermelon flavor tastes like the Jolly Rancher version, then that's my favorite here. I was looking forward to the banana flavor being a hit, too...disappointed that it was a big letdown. The mango sounds really interesting as a flavor...maybe a rival to the watermelon? Ian and Alli had that "yummy" expression when trying the chocolate flavor...cute! The unwrapped, stacked mini Tootsie Pops looked like colorful, shiny marbles. Hey, Alli...that was quite a taste test with so many flavors...nice idea! EOM
ReplyDeleteYep! You'd like those Watermelon ones. They're pretty good! I just don't know if you can buy them individually.
DeleteHalfway through, I was starting to get concerned. Luckily there kept being space available.
I don't know how I ended up here clicking random links lol, but this was an adorable read. What a "sweet" family you have!
ReplyDeleteVery impressed with your analysis.....keep up the great work....
ReplyDelete