This is truly a classic candy. A good part of my childhood love of candy is surrounded by these chewy little squares. It’s strange if you think about it, because they’re really not that interesting as a candy. They’re just little tiny cubes of taffy with very fake fruit flavours. It’s not the most original idea in the world, taffy has been around for a very long time, and fake fruit flavours are nothing new either (even when Starburst came out in the nineteen sixties). I’m not sure why I like these so much, or more importantly why I liked them as a child so much. At this point I know the main reason I love them is because I have such fond childhood memories attached to the flavours.

The flavours of these taffy cubes are the keys to its success. The texture is good, nice and chewy, but not so chewy (as some taffies can be) that your jaw starts to ache instantly. It would take a lot of Starburst to really hurt your jaw, they melt in your mouth pretty quickly, and turn into a fruity blob in your mouth. The flavours are what I think makes me think of Starburst candies, and the flavours are actually all pretty fake. They’re almost the best examples in the candy world I can give you for fake flavours. This is by no means an insult, in fact it’s an amazing feat. Thanks to candies like Starburst, we accept many of these flavours as tasting like certain fruits, even though objectively, they don’t. This doesn’t make them a lesser candy, it allows them to have a unique place in our taste buds, without having to compare to a particular fruit exactly.

I don’t think you could ever argue to me that Starburst are bad, I love them. I’m not sure how unique they are, but somehow, I still find it really fun to eat them. I’m not the only one either, while I know plenty of kids who love them, I also know plenty of adults who still love them too.