Vero Mango: The Red Dirt Flavor Journey

"I taste loads of tamarind, and spice and salt." Which country made the candy I'm eating? Mexico. Of course! Tamarind is to Mexican candy like mustard is to American hot dogs - slopped on there every time whether you want it or not. Vero Mangos though...kinda yums.

Reviewed by Matty

June 25, 2010

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Try to ignore the title of this post or pretend you didn’t read it. Ok.

Now, I write: “I taste loads of tamarind, and spice and salt”. Hm. I wonder what country these come from?

Tamarind is to Mexican candy like mustard is to American hot dogs – slopped on every time whether you want it or not.

One of my workmates, Vicky, came through with a new candy just in time today as I was on the fence as to what to review. And here we have Vero Mango lollipops from Mexico – covered in the aforementioned Tamarin…which looks like red dirt.

See the stick on these things?

The red dirt is all over that. bleh. You think the FDA would stand for this type of USA lollipop treatment? Uh no.

If these weren’t given to me, for free, and I wasn’t a candy reviewer by nature, I wouldn’t have even unpackaged the thing. I would have given Vicky a slight smile, said ‘hey – thanks,’ turned around and chucked it in the compost.

Yet – the guru in me is now sitting at his work desk (shhh…) and eating away. Let me give you the blow by blow: Really salty. Right off the boat it’s tamarindy and salty. The chile spice is there too. Starts smoothish but 10 secs of suck into it, and it gets all rough feeling. Like slurping on a Cholula lollipop rolled in coarse sand. eeks. But suddenly – I like it a little. Maybe because I know there’s a mango sucker underneath and I love mango and I want to get to it? Well, by 30 secs in, the mango undertones are creeping up. Still salty. Still cholula-y. Still gritty. But sweeter now, with genuine mango taste. The mango gets sweeter and louder. Eventually, once I got through more of the grit (I assume near the end of the coarseness), I have a slightly smoother and sweeter semi-teardrop shaped sucker that’s tart. Still has major tamarind undertones with salt, but I’m deep into the mango now. Starting to like these a lot. It’s an experience. This isn’t a one taste pony where I open the package, dive in, and I know what I’m getting from beginning to end. This is a journey.

Strangely, before I started in on this thing, I was kinda hoping and maybe even expecting the sucker to be chewy; the kind of hard sucker that gets chewy the more you suck on it. Like a hard-as-hell Now and Later on a stick. But no. This is opaque for one, and it stays hard throughout. Also, the grit doesn’t go away! More than two of these at a sitting would make your mouth bleed.

At this point I’m still liking the suck of the pop, but I want to bite into it. And when I do, I like it more. This might be the best part. For one, I’m not eating sandpaper anymore. The salt and mango and spice (a little less now), and even tamarind, are great to chew together. These things are better to eat than to suck. Fills the mouth with flavor. If you just sucked these down to the end, you’d never get that flavor gush. If I eat again, I’ll bite in way sooner.

Ok. I confess. I sorta likey Vero Mangos. I started out thinking I wouldn’t then I started eating and thought “eh” then I kept eating and started enjoying and now I’m done and I think I want another.

Not sure what the hell is going on around here but I may have to circle back on some of my past Mexican candy slights. (Except Skwinkles…bleh). Vero Mangos get themselves a solid 6. Could have maybe been a 7 except for the dirt around the stick.

Get Vero Mangos at O’Ryan’s Village, best price I found – a 40-pop bag for 7 bucks and shipping.

Zolli Candy

20 Comments

  1. Raina

    Are these the ones where the mango portion is yellow like a mango when you get to it, or is it red throughout?

    I had the former recently and LOVED it. So I went to my local market and bought a bag, but they were the latter and kind of gross. The chili was so thick we had to wash them a bit to get to the hard candy part.

    Reply
    • Matty

      I think the mango portion is yellow. But the chili outside is thick. You gotta love the dirt to like these I’m afraid.

      Reply
  2. buggycas

    I think OP is confusing the earthy taste of Ancho Chilis with the bittersweet taste of Tamarind. Now I’m a huge fan of both Vero Mano, and Tamarind products, and most Mexican Tamarind products tend to have Ancho chilis in them, What you’re tasting in that delicious red dirt is the Ancho, not the Tamarind.

    Reply
  3. Aleisha

    These are amazing!!!

    Reply
  4. Scott

    Red dirt chili pop. I’m gonna say I like this thing in an existential sort of way. It is definitely a journey, almost like a Warhead but more so . I just had my first one and at first was getting a little grossed out by how long it was taking to get to the good part. I was think, “Those poor Mexican children…” After the first layer of dirt, I began wanting to see this thing through as a matter of pride. Well I did. So proud… It is very very mango flavored, which is not my favorite, but better than dirt. So I was grateful to be on the mango side of things. This was a good treat in a way that’s hard to describe.

    Reply
    • buggycas

      I’m one of those ‘poor Mexican kids” and honestly, half the time I throw out the sucker once the ‘dirt’ is gone LOL.

      Reply
  5. lunarclipse06

    i feel bad for the people who judges the candy on how it looks without actually trying to eat it first. shame on you guys. this lollipop/candy is one of the best there is.

    Reply
  6. aesthetic

    i have been a fan of these since childhood, and buy them in bags.. it is definitely one of those things you have to let grow on you, but almost every person i have introduced them to, LOVES them.. you just have to get through the tough part 😉 lol

    Reply
  7. greebs

    I thought Vero Mango was very good in “Up In The Air” by the way.

    Reply
  8. Matty

    FYI – I ate these again over the weekend and I liked it again. I think I might go out of my way to buy these. Thus I changed the star rating from 6 to 7.

    Reply
  9. greebs

    `They do sounds like they taste good. And they look like an ossified piece of baby poo. Not exactly pleasing to the eye, but whateves.

    Reply
  10. Matty

    Tres surprised. And yes – they look like yuck.

    Reply
    • buggycas

      you think they look gross there, I live in a humid place, half the time when I get these there’s this sweet off green goo in the bag.

      Reply
      • Anonymous

        is it still good to eat if it’s green?

        Reply
    • kesha

      thier good i eat them everyday but its the watermellon kindsss

      Reply
  11. Vicky

    I don’t care what you say, Kelly, I think they’re good! They’re MANGO shaped. Sounds like Matt was pleasantly surprised too.

    Reply
  12. Kelly

    OK, despite your witty post, this “thing” that you deem a lollipop looks absolutely disgusting (sorry Vicky). It looks like a burnt mini corn dog on a stick.

    Reply
    • Kyo Xtylee

      Sorry, but the opinion of Kelly sucks, you had anal sex Kelly? imagine that stick is a penis full of shit come out of your ass, The Vero Mango lollipops are delicious, but sometimes the stick gets dirty with tamarind. theres food around the world that dont look very delicious, but when you eat them discover they really are delicious.

      Reply
      • Jonny

        Whoah, whoah, dude! I agree, these are AMAZING. But let’s keep it classy, shall we?

        Scratch that, we’ve never been classy. About just civil? Regardless, thanks for reading.

        Reply

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