I have to admit, I'm stumped by these. I still have trouble with the first impression they made, which is "those two words don't rhyme." I keep picking at the combination of "Awesome" and "Twosome," and I can't help myself. Are they supposed to rhyme? Or is it just like a visual rhyme, the way the last four letters of each word are the same?

 

Then again, I am the sort of person who is driven mad when songs and poems attempt to rhyme words like "move" and "love." Those words are spelled the same, but they don't rhyme. THEY DON'T. And I can't stop thinking about it when I encounter it. Which happens more often than you would think.

So I'm already off-kilter by the time I get the bag home. I open it to discover something like a tubular shaped Sour Patch kid. Nothing about these says "Jolly Rancher." When I think Jolly Rancher, I think two things:

 

ONE. Hard candy that becomes inexplicably sticky, such that I soon fear for my fillings.

 

TWO. Tart flavors like green apple, purple grape, and so forth.

 

These candies aren't really either of those things. They aren't completely un-Jolly-Rancher-y, but if I tried them in a blind taste test I would never guess what family they hail from.

 

Each chew is very tender, more like a piece of really soft licorice. In fact, these strongly remind me of those Twizzler Sweet & Sour Filled Twist candies I tried a while back, where they basically packed a Twizzler full of a flavor paste. Except that these are tiny bite sizes, and they have a sour sugar sand coating.

 

The flavors are…okay, I guess. By combining the most common Jolly Rancher flavors (watermelon with green apple, and cherry with orange) they kind of blurred the connection these candies have to Jolly Ranchers. I think I would prefer them in single flavors. Not least because the watermelon/green apple combination tastes like bubble gum. 

 

But I must say that these are, as advertised, both bold and tangy. They remind me of some of the specialty branded jelly beans you can get at Easter time. 

 

Hey… do they make a Jolly Rancher jelly bean? Because I would be all over that noise. OH, I just checked the calendar and learned that this year, Easter is on April 8. We should be seeing Easter candy hitting the store shelves any minute now! Ooh I'm excited. 

 

If you find Jolly Rancher jelly beans, let me know what store you saw them at, okay?