Sugar Free Life Saver

I am pleased to present the sugar free Life Saver, another in my occasional series of guest candies. For reasons unclear to me, this candy was not popular when it was in the Candy Bowl. It should have been.

Once you get beyond the stigma of "sugar free," you will find this is one flavorful non-nutritive foodstuff. But what flavor? It tastes like fruit, but not like any particular fruit. Childhood experience with purple magic markers led me to believe this would be a grape flavored candy, but it tastes like neither grape or artificial grape. Raspberry? Perhaps Life Savers outbid Jolly Rancher for the last barrel of artificial wild berry flavor. The only aspect in which the candy disappoints is the aftertaste, which has slight notes of dish soap.

The factor that moves this candy from just north of blah to just south of boffo is the crunch. The fine people at Life Savers have managed to duplicate the crystalline crunch of a fine hard candy, and the absence of sugar (no, Dear Leader, your nemesis HCFS was not invited to this party) means that it doesn't gum up when you chew it.

If you needed any more reason to try this candy, consider this: Life Savers is owned by Wrigley. Maybe that funny flavor was the taste of Chicago.