I’m not sure that I’ve ever had a gummy or jelly candy that was so obviously a particular flavour without actually tasting it. This gummy looks like a strawberry, it’s even the approximate size of a strawberry. In addition, there’s a stem and leaves that you’re not supposed to eat. When I saw this candy in a bulk store in a souq in Qatar I knew that it was going to be a gummy strawberry, or at the very least I would have been very surprised if it wasn’t. While I was sure that it was going to be strawberry, there was still a big surprise waiting for me when I ate this gummy berry.

The surprise came from the texture, which ironically was not very strawberry like at all. Maybe the centre was a little bit like a strawberry, but the outside was actually kind of crunchy. It’s wasn’t like a potato chip crunchy, but more like the block of sugar crunchy. Even as sugar goes it wasn’t overly crunchy, I guess it’s what I would define as crunchy gummy. I know that’s a bit of an oxymoron, but I don’t have any other way to describe the outer layer of this gummy treat. It had a certain crunch and then gave way to a nice soft centre.

Flavour wise it was strawberry, but I would firmly put it in the category of fake strawberry flavour. The flavour was also kind of subtle, or at least a lot more subtle than I would have expected from a big gummy strawberry. The flavour could have been better, using real strawberry flavour would have been amazing, but even having a little more flavour would have been great.

I enjoyed eating this gummy, but I don’t think I would have enjoyed eating a whole bag of these. The texture was the most interesting surprise, but I’m not sure if it was done on purpose. If it was on purpose than I think it’s an interesting gummy innovation, but a strange time to use it. If it was by accident, I’m not really sure why something like that would happen. What I’m saying is that I would be interested in trying other gummies with a crunchy coating, but maybe they could be themed a little more appropriately.