The box of Wonka Sour Nerds caught my eye at the store last night.  For one thing, it was wrapped in cellophane, which was a little unusual.  And while I have heard of Sour Nerds for a while now, I hadn't tried any.  But in the name of broadening my candy horizons, lo, to include even sour candy, I decided to buy a box.

Unwrapping the cellophane wrapper was eerily reminiscent of opening a pack of cigarettes.  I'm sorry, can you give me a minute?  I quit smoking last September and sometimes… yeah.  Okay.  I think I'm alright now.  Okay.  Sure.  Let's talk about candy.

I was pleased that the box has remained unchanged from the days when I was a chubby little lass, trekking down the block to buy a box from the Qwik Stop after school.  You have one side and the other, and there's a complicated bit of fussery in getting your candy out.  And it's every bit as satisfying to tip your head back and knock the box against your teeth to get the candy out.

I am convinced that the package design is hugely responsible for the success of Nerds.  Picking at the tab to open the slot to pick out the slider to slide it out and shake it in your mouth, it's all very primal.  It speaks to the monkey parts of our brains which could happily spend a day licking a twig and sticking it into an anthill.  

Also unchanged is the somewhat vexing habit Nerds have of hopping boundaries.  You always find a few Nerds of one flavor in the other side.  It is inevitable as it is frustrating to those of us who get a little neurotic about our candy boundaries.  I mean, if I wanted a mouthful with the flavors mixed, I'd just open up both tabs and shake them into my mouth at the same time.

Once I got past my delighted fascination with the cardboard box design, it was time to try the candies.  Meh.  They weren't very sour.  I mean, Nerds are already a little on the tangy side.  These just have the tanginess amped up a little tiny bit.

I'm pretty sure the lemon is just the regular lemon flavor Nerds.  Maybe a little bit more so.  They taste almost exactly like dabbing a bit of Countrytime Lemonade powder on your tongue.  Not that you would ever do such a thing, of course.

The apple flavor had a nice little flavor of sour green apple.  It reminded me strongly of a green Jolly Rancher.  Pleasantly apple-y without being too tart.

The strangest thing is that, as you can see from the picture I took, there is a huge size disparity between the two flavors.  The apple ones are easily twice the size of lemon.  I have no explanation for this.

I also have no explanation for why these are being sold wrapped in plastic.  Aside from being a nefarious plot to make me think about smoking cigarettes, I mean, OBVIOUSLY.  But I hope this isn't part of a long-term project to start wrapping stuff in plastic.  THE LAST THING THE WORLD NEEDS IS MORE PLASTIC and Nerds have gotten along fine without plastic for some 20-odd years, thank you very much.