The extremely fine people at Dorval sent a care package for us to review-their biggest claim to fame are sour belts.  Know what I’m talking about?:

You’re either a sour belt fan, or you’re not.  Me, I am, big time.  My wife?  Not so much.  In fact, she HATES them-not for their taste, but for the trail of sour/sugar coating they leave on our black couch after I munch on them.  Is it too much to ask that after I spend a grand or two on a piece of furniture that I’m allowed to eat on it?  Isn’t that why we have a son and a hand vacuum?

The belts, despite their semi-ridiculous packaging (Really?  You’re wrapping ONE in plastic?  Who eats ONE of these things?), are very tasty.  Sour belts have a tendency to all taste the same, especially the ones you get from the bulk bin at Safeway.  Sour, sour, sour, but not much in the flavor department.   These have a fresher feel, while still retaining a super tough and chewy consistency-it very possibly could be the packaging that helps, so I guess I should shut up about that. Yay landfill!

I wanna give props to Dorval for their belts, as well as their sour straws-they’re very good.  The biggest competitor Dorval has for these ropes are the “sour punch straws” that are pretty much everywhere.  Let me tell you something-Dorval kicks ass over the Sour Punch Straws.  The SPS flavors are terrible-after only a few, the taste is just gross. Trust me, I speak from experience.  These Dorval “straws” have the flavor down, and thus reign supreme.   They ride a nice line between sour, flavor, and consistency. Remember, in our world, soft gummies are for toddlers.  People like us (pre-schoolers) need a tougher chew, something to challenge the molars.  Dorval delivers on these counts.

But I don’t want to even talk about their gummies aside from saying that they’re damn good.  Rather, what I want to talk about is fate.  When the Dorval folks put our care package together, they threw in some belts, some sour ropes, and then tossed in about 6 individually wrapped candies that looked like your garden variety filled hard candies. I like that touch.  It’s  like a little surprise bonus, a few random candies rolling around the bottom of the box.  The thing is…they changed EVERYTHING.

In fact, I had to contact the Dorval people and have them send more of the little bastards, as I ate them and then had nothing to photograph.  First, the strawberry filled candies:

These are ubiquitous.  Tons of candy companies make filled strawberry hard candies, and I think, by law, they all have to use this exact same packaging.  What’s the deal with that?  Cause I’m here to say, these do NOT taste like the others.  These are seriously complex- a very deep strawberry flavor, edging with a touch of tart, and deeper, sweeter notes.  Then, after a round or two of sucking, when it’s time to crunch down on it, the filling in the center is an awesome combo of slightly moist and very chewy.  It’s like a Grandma candy amped on a Monster energy drink-and they weren’t even the best of the two candies!

No, the real star here was what I thought to be the fruit flavored filled hard candies.

I put one in my mouth, and sucked away.  Similar to the strawberry, they were very tasty.  Then, as I bit down, I realized these weren’t hard candies at all-they’re chews.  Chewy as hell chews to be exact.  They start out hard, and they don’t give quickly. It’s a different kind of texture that I’ve experienced before. And they’re incredible.  Delicious flavors (grape, orange, pineapple, strawberry) with a great chew, and a very authentic fruity tartness.  I guess I’ve had candies like these, but…I can’t really compare it directly to anything.

Tougher than Starbursts and Sambas.  Softer than Now & Laters.  I guess they are kinda original.  I know that I couldn’t stop eating them, and quickly went to the computer to buy some.  Here’s the official link.  And guess what?  They’re cheap as hell.

What I’m saying here is that you should drop the 3 bucks and change to buy a bag of these.  Not that you shouldn’t buy the belts as well, but those you can find anywhere on the web.  To say they’ve saturated the market would be an understatement.

So what have we learned today?  Always look at the bottom of the box.  And don’t write off presumably garden variety treats before trying them.  If life is like a box of chocolates, than I’m here to say you should sell that box of chocolates for a box or two (less expensive!) of Dorval treat. And be sure to throw in a few dozen of the chews, if not a few dozen bags.  The sours are great-but the chews? Greaterest. And that’s damn good enough.