NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

I am so distraught! I got a package from my mom today (that part was awesome) with three boxes of Sweethearts. I am one of the few people in the world who actually like Sweethearts (I also like candy corn, which most people seem to merely tolerate-- I guess I have a thing for nasty seasonal candy?), but I AM SO DISAPPOINTED NOW.

The Sweethearts have CHANGED. First of all, the packaging is different. It's no longer the white boxes with the see-through front and the To/From labels on the back. Now, I can live with that; companies change their packaging all the time. However, I opened the box and sifted around to find the white hearts, which are my favorite, and THEY WEREN'T THERE-- though there was a new blue heart. Then I tasted one and found that it was weirdly soft, like when you open a package of Sweethearts on Valentine's Day and rediscover them sometime in April after a month of rain.

I went to the website, which verified my fears:

New Sayings & Colors
For the first time in 145 years, Sweethearts® discarded all its previous phrases and asked the American public to tell us how they express their love. The 2010 Sweethearts® are featured in bright and bolder new colors.

New Flavors & Texture
All new flavors for 2010 Sweethearts® include Strawberry, Green Apple, Lemon, Grape, Orange and Blue Raspberry. The new Sweethearts® have been re-formulated to be softer and more fun to eat.

No. Not more fun to eat. Ick. They leave my mouth with a sort of numb after-taste and I still feel like the texture just means they have gone stale or something. The purple flavor tastes exactly like grape-flavored chewable children's Motrin, right down to the grainy texture, and while purple was never my favorite SweetHeart flavor to begin with, I find I can't eat this purple edition at all. The green tastes like Windex mixed with Christmas tree needles. And the white heart is GONE. Most people I know say that white was always their least favorite flavor, but I LOVED IT. I actually picked my toothpaste flavor-- Crest Regular Paste-- because it tasted like the white candy hearts. This breaks my heart, Sweethearts.

Let me know if you've tried the new Sweetheart flavors, and whether you think they are an improvement. I really don't think they are. Besides, there are other brands that already make the softer (nasty) variety of conversation hearts. Leave them to it; I always specifically chose Necco brand because I preferred the chalky texture, with the ambiguously pepperminty white heart. And if most people hate Sweethearts anyway, why not leave them alone so the people who do like them can enjoy them in peace?

I hope at least they're not reformulating the regular classic Necco wafers. I guess I can always turn to those, even though they're not nearly as cool.

(I'm currently searching the site for some sort of feedback for the new Sweethearts-- a survey, etc. I may just contact the site by email, which I'm sure is obnoxious to them and will be ignored. Sigh).

Other than that, though, my package was pretty awesome. I got a sleeve of popcorn-flavored rice cakes (*dies*), ten more pairs of toe warmers, tax forms (yippee?), knee socks with a very tall and slender cat adorning the sides, and some huge adorable assymetrical mittens. (They go together but don't match each other-- they're very cute). I also got a package of gourmet instant noodles from the Akiokas a couple days ago, too. Lol.

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

I am so distraught! I got a package from my mom today (that part was awesome) with three boxes of Sweethearts. I am one of the few people in the world who actually like Sweethearts (I also like candy corn, which most people seem to merely tolerate-- I guess I have a thing for nasty seasonal candy?), but I AM SO DISAPPOINTED NOW.

The Sweethearts have CHANGED. First of all, the packaging is different. It's no longer the white boxes with the see-through front and the To/From labels on the back. Now, I can live with that; companies change their packaging all the time. However, I opened the box and sifted around to find the white hearts, which are my favorite, and THEY WEREN'T THERE-- though there was a new blue heart. Then I tasted one and found that it was weirdly soft, like when you open a package of Sweethearts on Valentine's Day and rediscover them sometime in April after a month of rain.

I went to the website, which verified my fears:

New Sayings & Colors
For the first time in 145 years, Sweethearts® discarded all its previous phrases and asked the American public to tell us how they express their love. The 2010 Sweethearts® are featured in bright and bolder new colors.

New Flavors & Texture
All new flavors for 2010 Sweethearts® include Strawberry, Green Apple, Lemon, Grape, Orange and Blue Raspberry. The new Sweethearts® have been re-formulated to be softer and more fun to eat.

No. Not more fun to eat. Ick. They leave my mouth with a sort of numb after-taste and I still feel like the texture just means they have gone stale or something. The purple flavor tastes exactly like grape-flavored chewable children's Motrin, right down to the grainy texture, and while purple was never my favorite SweetHeart flavor to begin with, I find I can't eat this purple edition at all. The green tastes like Windex mixed with Christmas tree needles. And the white heart is GONE. Most people I know say that white was always their least favorite flavor, but I LOVED IT. I actually picked my toothpaste flavor-- Crest Regular Paste-- because it tasted like the white candy hearts. This breaks my heart, Sweethearts.

Let me know if you've tried the new Sweetheart flavors, and whether you think they are an improvement. I really don't think they are. Besides, there are other brands that already make the softer (nasty) variety of conversation hearts. Leave them to it; I always specifically chose Necco brand because I preferred the chalky texture, with the ambiguously pepperminty white heart. And if most people hate Sweethearts anyway, why not leave them alone so the people who do like them can enjoy them in peace?

I hope at least they're not reformulating the regular classic Necco wafers. I guess I can always turn to those, even though they're not nearly as cool.

(I'm currently searching the site for some sort of feedback for the new Sweethearts-- a survey, etc. I may just contact the site by email, which I'm sure is obnoxious to them and will be ignored. Sigh).

Other than that, though, my package was pretty awesome. I got a sleeve of popcorn-flavored rice cakes (*dies*), ten more pairs of toe warmers, tax forms (yippee?), knee socks with a very tall and slender cat adorning the sides, and some huge adorable assymetrical mittens. (They go together but don't match each other-- they're very cute). I also got a package of gourmet instant noodles from the Akiokas a couple days ago, too. Lol.