Review: Thrills Gum - "It Still Tastes Like Soap!"

Hello again and welcome back to The Sweet Bean!

Today for review I will be featuring a Gum... Thrills!

If you were a Canadian child in the 1970's or 1980's you will know this one for sure! Thrills Gum is a purple "rosewater" flavoured gum that has been compared to tasting like soap. Yes, soap. It even brands itself as so with a slogan of "It still tastes like soap!" Which I find quite amusing. It was originally manufactured by a company based out of London, Ontario called O-Pee-Chee. However, it is now made by Concord Confections.

I have had this gum in the past... not particularly willingly. My Mother used to share her fond memories with me of going to the bowling alley with her older sister in the 1970's who would give her nickles to buy this purple gum from the candy dispensers.

I remember the first time she bought it for me and my siblings and we thought it tasted terrible! She kept on chewing though, as she reminisced about her childhood. She actually did enjoy how it tasted of soap!

However, trying it now, several years later I have grown to almost appreciate the strange soapy flavour. The rosewater floral flavour is much more strong for the first couple of seconds, but then subsides to more of a mellow floral taste as you chew it for more minutes. As I currently chew the gum, minutes pass and it hasn't gone stale yet, which is a bonus for me as I hate stale gum!

Overall, I would rate this gum a 2/5 for flavour and overall enjoyment. I would definitely classify this as a novelty or nostalgic candy to enjoy with someone who can share their unique stories of enjoying this gum in "The Good Ol' Days".

Hope you enjoyed this post, another Canadian classic confectionery!

Purchased at Dollarama for $0.77


-The Sweet Bean

Psst! Here is a sneak peak of upcoming classic Canadian
Chocolate Bar Reviews! Stay tuned.

Review & New Try : Pal-o-Mine - Canada's Oldest Chocolate Bar

Hello!

Today's review will be on Canada's oldest chocolate bar: the Pal-o-Mine bar by Ganong Brothers Limited.

The Pal-o-Mine bar was introduced in 1920 after years of the company testing and developing different versions and recipes. The Ganong Bros. Limited Company was founded in 1873, I will be making a full post on the history of this historic brand, please stay tuned for that!

But for now, the chocolate bar itself! Let me start off by saying I have never tried this bar before, having turned away peanuts and other nuts for most of my childhood I only started enjoying their uniqueness recently. Even more recently, nuts in chocolate have made it to my list of candy to eat. I didn't like crunchy bits.

The bar is marketed as "Fudge & Peanuts". Before opening, I carefully inspected the bar to feel it's shape and it felt quite stiff. I was afraid it might hurt my teeth. After opening and biting into the bar I was quite surprised to find a soft, almost melty inside. It was definitely more Fudgey than Peanut. It was like a peanut flavoured fudge. I didn't taste a single peanut piece in the whole bar. It had a homemade fudge dipped in semi-sweet chocolatey taste which was very pleasantly unexpected.

Overall I would rate this bar a 4/5 and will definitely be purchasing again in the future!

Hope you enjoyed my first review, thank you for reading and please stay tuned for more exciting content!

Purchased at my local Grocery Store for $1.29 CAD

-The Sweet Bean

Guide to The Sweet Bean's Posts

Hello!

Here is a Guide to the posts which will be making up The Sweet Bean. I decided to categorize my future posts because I enjoy structure when writing.

Please look forward to upcoming posts in the following categories:

Review - As the name suggests, this is where I review a candy and let you know how I think it tastes and give it a rating from 0 to 5. 0 meaning I hated it to 5 meaning I loved it!

Faithful Favourite - These posts will feature a candy I have been enjoying for a long time and would like to share as one of my favourites.

Spotlight - When a company or particular candy is featured. The history and story will be discussed.

Musings - This is where the art and look of the candy will be highlighted. This can mean anything from a display at the convenience store I admire or a different country's candy which I find appealing and wish I could try.

Comments - Humble comments and observations of whats new or trending in candy.

Recipes - Sharing candy and confectionery recipes I have either come up with or found online and taste great.

New Try - This indicates it is my first time trying the item and will usually coincide with a review.

Miscellaneous - Everyone knows sometimes you just have to let loose from structure! This category can have random, unpredictable posts.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy my upcoming posts!

-The Sweet Bean

Introducing... The Sweet Bean!

Hello fellow Candy Lovers!

Welcome to The Sweet Bean! Inspired by the various candy related blogs I've been reading over the past few years I've decided to create my own. Here on The Sweet Bean I will be sharing my musings, comments, reviews, even recipes all related to candy and other confectioneries.

Even people who only know me a bit know one thing about me: Candy Obsessed! I've told almost everyone I know about my dreams to one day open a candy store.

Ever since I was young I've had a fascination with everything candy related. Not just eating it (although that is a major plus) but also how it is made, packaged and sold has always intrigued me. There can be the same brand of chocolate bar in two different countries but have different recipes and can taste completely different! Of course I have my faithful favourites I have been eating since I was a kid, which I will divulge, but I've also expanded my horizons and have developed new favourites which I never expected to enjoy.

Candy is always changing and the trend for what's popular at the moment can differ from year to year or country to country. What will always remain constant is the joy and satisfaction you get from ripping open that shiny, well designed package and enjoying what's inside.

Although due to my location of Nova Scotia, Canada I wont always have access to some of the new and exciting offerings someone in the US might have, I will do my best to discuss and review just as exciting Canadian counterparts.

I can't wait to keep tasting and learning more about candy, please stay tuned for upcoming reviews, spotlights, recipes and much much more! Stay Sweet!


-The Sweet Bean