scmrak's Full Review: Twizzlers, Cherry Pull-n-Peel, 14-Ounce Bags (Pack...
As a child, most Saturdays meant Dad and I'd go to the lumberyard in one of the nearby towns. I've never figured out how he decided which one to patronize, but I always hoped it would be Grabill; 'cause once he'd tied everything to the car-top carrier, we'd head over to the "home center" where I'd get to pick a fistful of penny candy (my little fist, not his). My first stop was always the wooden barrel alongside the counter where I would pick a couple of licorice laces: always red, mind you.
Things change: the lumberyard's become a cluster of "shoppes," the son of the owner of the home center is Mom's congressman, and licorice laces are wrapped in plastic for germ-phobes; when you can find 'em, that is. My favorite flavor, however, remains unchanged: red! In the absence of laces, these days I choose Twizzlers Pull 'n' Peel (cherry, naturally).
Twizzlers, originally developed by Young and Smylie (Y&S), is now part of the Hersheys product family. Hersheys introduced the Pull 'n' Peel variety in 1994, a mere 149 years after Y&S began making licorice and seventeen years after Hershey bought the brand. They're available in four flavors (Cherry, Watermelon, Berry, and Paradise Punch), but not classic black licorice.
Pull 'n' Peel differs from Twizzlers Twists, the "ordinary" variety, in that instead of a single twisted hollow tube of candy, the candy is braided like a rope. As long as the licorice is fresh (and fairly warm), individual strands the diameter of a pencil lead can be peeled off and eaten individually. They're like miniature licorice laces (and you get to play with them...).
How'd they do that? trade secret... but if you compare the ingredients to those of Twists, you'll see that Pull 'n' Peel shares most of the components (corn syrup, flour, and smidgens of palm oil, artificial colors and flavors, and preservatives); however it also contains small amounts of glycerin¹ and corn starch. Nutritionally, they're pretty much the same as Twists: a gram or so of fat per 45g serving, 100mg of sodium, and 36g of carbs. That's for a two-twizzle serving. A one-pound package contains about ten servings, or 1600 calories, a gram of sodium, and 10-plus grams of fat. Like most candies, not terribly healthy... The Pull 'n' peel variety is also somewhat more expensive. I guess it's a glycerin thing.
Unhealthy or no, I'll keep on eating Twizzler's Pull 'n' Peel (even if the Hersheys webmaster can't spell "watermelon"). They're closer in texture (and maybe taste, though who could tell?) to those licorice laces I loved as a kid. And that's not to mention that they're (almost) as much fun to play with as they are to eat!
¹ the same compound that helps keep your mansuit soft and smooth. Ain't science wonderful?
At 471 words, this qualifies as an entry in the Lean-n-Mean VI entry.
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