Something about Winco Foods brings out the candy experimenter in me.  Maybe it's just because they have such a wide range of unusual and off-brand candies.  (This week they had Idaho Spuds on sale, 5 for a dollar!  People, you cannot top that!)  Or maybe it's just that my mental resources have been worn down to a nub by the time I get to the checkout stand.

At any rate, this week I picked up a box of Chewy Gobstoppers, despite the fact that I dislike the original Gobstoppers, and I'm not a big fan of "chewy" as a candy texture.  

I like the flavor of Gobstoppers, even though it's just your basic off the rack candy flavor from the Wonka Candy Company.  I have mentioned before how I feel like they have six tubs of flavor in a warehouse somewhere, and their entire manufacturing process is just a matter of deploying those flavors in different forms.  (Taco Bell does pretty much the same thing, except with lettuce and cheese instead of Lemon and Cherry.)

One thing that tilted me towards buying these is that my main objection to Gobstoppers is that they are too hard.  I know how ridiculous that sounds.  It's like objecting to a Hershey bar because it's "too chocolate-y."  But there you have it.  

I used to like gobstopper candies, but that is when I was young, and didn't have quite so much dental work.  These days I feel like I'm taking my life - or at least my annual deductible - in my hands whenever I risk a Jordan Almond.  So the idea of a "less hard" gobstopper caught my attention.

Despite the promise of chewiness, I was not able to cut one of these in half for their picture.  Not without risking the tips of my fingers.  And I really tried, people!  Rest assured the outer layer of the Chewy Gobstoppers is still pretty hard.  (I guess what I really need is some kind of candy vise, because this is not the first time I have had this problem.)

As for the chewy… well.  It's chewy in the same way that a cheap gumball is chewy.  In fact, you could be forgiven for mistaking one of these for a very stale cheap gumball.  Except that after you give it a few chews, it dissolves instead of turning into gum.  But it has that same almost crunchy chew, very crystalline and dry.

From what little I can gather from the candy itself, there are actually three layers: a super-hard outer coating, an inner layer of the hard powdery original Gobstopper material, and then an inner layer of "chewy."   This inner layer puts me in mind of Giant Chewy Sweet Tarts, which I adored when I was in junior high.  They weren't "chewy" so much as "extremely cohesive under pressure."

These also have a similar tangy flavor, although it's hard to discern any specific flavor beyond "undifferentiated fruity."  The package promises that these are "gobstoppers that change colors and flavors" and that they are.  So much so that it's difficult to make anything out, aside from that classic Wonka palette of flavors.