We may be sour, but we know our sweets.

Dr. Doolittle’s Precious Freakin’ Grapefruit Pastilles

Reviewed by on Feb 14, 2009 | 7 comments

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Review by Jonny

First things first. If you try looking for these candies, don’t look for the packaging shown above. I’m pretty sure that’s the old or European packaging. In the states, they come in a similar, oval container that’s pink with old fashioned looking white lettering. It’s nice looking.

But nice enough to warrant 3 bucks a tin?

Before I get ahead of myself, let’s touch on the candies themselves. They’re small oval gummies, and look about the color of a grapefruit. You can taste that these are quality off the bat-they have a nice, genuine grapefruit taste. Not as tart as I might like, but certainly very flavorful. The consistency is very good-firm, but not too firm. Overall, these are very good.

But…the problem is in the preciousness. I have a thing against candies that come in tins-I just do. I don’t mind the look or utility of the packaging, I just resent that I’m paying for THAT in addition to the candy, which is all I really want.

Remember in the 90′s when Altoids mints came out? And we all bought our first tin, then when the mints were all gone, we kept the tin for…some other use? And then threw it away a few months later after it was collecting dust on our desk? Yeah.

Well that about sums up my feelings on cutesy tin packaging. I don’t like it. And these things, while they might be good, certainly aren’t good enough to warrant three bucks for a few ounces. I’d MUCH prefer a hanging bag, no frills, that ontained twice as much (although I’m pretty sure that most hanging bag candies hold around 3 or four times as much as Dr. Doolittle’s).

I just don’t have a romanticized vision of carrying around a friggin’ pink tin so I can “pop” a gummi or two when I feel the urge. I want a fucking gigantic bag so I can sit my fat ass on the couch and gorge on them. Ok? We’re clear?

I don’t want to write these off, because I DO like the taste. And I’m interested in trying their lemon and wild berry flavors. However, I just can’t see myself plunking down 3 bills a pop for these more than once.

Bottom Line: This one’s tough. The candies are very good, but you don’t get enough and I feel like a girl buying a pink li’l tin.

 

 

 

 

  • Candy Gurus

    Good review.

    2 comments:

    1. Not entirely sure what you were using the Altoid tins for in the 90s – please share.

    2. You mean, yr NOT a girl?

    -MattyR

  • Denise Ryan

    Bwah, ha, ha!! How damn true!! I bought a tin in Cracker Barrel the other day – it was a cool Hershey tin with about 5 miniature bars in it for about $5.00. I’m still deluding myself I will use it for something. I am a suckah!!!! And it’s not even pink.

  • Candygirl

    Ok- here is my thing. I hear you with paying for crazy packaging, but! Presentation is everything! So what kind of sugguestions can we offer to this fine company with the tastey grapefruit chewies?

  • Candy Gurus

    Fair enough, Candygirl.

    Here’s what I’d say:

    mock up a classic, cool looking bag. Make it unique somehow through materials (heavy foil? Dual layered)? Have the artwork be vintage, etc. Then put 2-4 times the amount that you put in the tins into the bag, and charge the same or even a tad more. Then I’m in all day.

    -Jonny Guru

  • Erich W

    Where can you buy these in the states? Is there a distributor? Can I go to a store and just pick up a tin? After Trader Joe’s stopped selling them, angry crowds emerged.

  • Candy Gurus

    Eric-

    you CAN get these in the states. Cost Plus carries all three flavors. I’m not sure if they sell them online or not, but you can get them at their retail stores. Good luck.

  • Linus

    Wow, how purple your prose is! These pastilles are organic, etc… and “tins” are much more green than plastic. Before any garbage goes into landfill, it goes through a collection magnet and steel packaging is gathered for reprocessing for new cans, steel parts, whatever… endlessly. Glass is similarly an endless supply stream. Plastics, on the other hand, can be recycled once and reused a second, expensive time, and that’s it, for now, which basically explains the huge gyres clogging the ocean lanes and Berkeley’s recycling rules. The only problems with steel and glass packaging is weight and fragility. Otherwise, they’re very green.