SmartSweets
Today, people are becoming a lot more aware of the connection between diet and well-being. Health and wellness has certainly become more of a priority in everyday life. However, this aspiration of practicing healthy eating is typically drawn back by the urge to indulge in guilty pleasure snacks or treats. This set back in mindful eating has caused high protein, low fat, and low sugar recipes to take over most food content-creators pages, trying to initiate mindful eating. Yet, unlike easily replicated and health-conscious baked goods, there are certain indulgent food choices that cannot be recreated or satisfied through the convenience of a home kitchen.
Luckily, Tara Bosch introduced an alternative to some of the most popular and favorable candies. At the age of 21, Bosch created the brand called SmartSweets. SmartSweets is a low sugar candy, containing only 3 grams or less in the recommended serving size of 50 grams (standard gummy bag). This “healthy” candy has high contents of fiber, sweetened with natural ingredients (stevia, monk fruit, and allulose), and free of any artificial colors.
SmartSweets allows people to enjoy sweets without guilt, knowing there is less sugar and fewer added ingredients. Its purpose is to satisfy candy cravings while also reducing sugar intake, even if they may not perfectly replicate the classic candies.
Candy Review:
Logan and I tried some of the candies ourselves to give an honest review. We tried three different SmartSweets candy flavors: peach rings, sour blast buddies, and sweet fish. We also tried the “original” candies that these SmartSweets flavors replicated: Trolli peach rings, sour patch kids, and Swedish fish.
We ranked each SmartSweets candy based how accurate they were to the “originals”. We considered smell, taste, texture, feel, and looks. Considering each of these factors we came to the following agreed conclusion:
(In order of accuracy)
- Sour Blast Buddies – Sour Patch Kids
- Peach Rings – Trolli Peach Rings
- Sweet Fish – Swedish Fish
We noticed that although they were quite similar in certain aspects, they were easily distinguishable.The sweet fish had a very different smell, taste, texture, and look compared to Swedish fish. The SmartSweets version had a much darker color and stronger smell. The most noticeable difference between the two peach rings was the texture. Trolli peach rings are more gummy-like, and require a stronger bite to “break”. The SmartSweets version was softer but also chewier. The sour blast buddies had a completely different texture but a very similar sour taste compared to sour patch kids. Overall, we did agree that they were a good choice for a healthy alternative to the favorable and “original” candies.