While paying for gas the other day, I saw this small package sitting by the counter, where they place small inviting items for you to impulse buy, and I impulsively picked it up and bought it.  I saw the idea of cranberry Raisinets as a pretty interesting idea and figured I’d give it a try.

     I have fond memories of Raisinets from being young and my few excursions to the movies involved either Raisinets and/or Snow Caps.  Since I haven’t had them in years I figured I could have a quick snack with a little nostalgia mixed in for free.

     This is a very small package, as most 100 calorie packs are, but that just made it easier to pick up and not feel bad about the extra snack.  I dumped out the contents and inspected them, and from what I remember about old school Raisinets, these seemed to be about the same size.  They seemed to be similarly as lumpy and malformed as I remember also.  While Raisinets, in my opinion, are one of the ugliest candies around, it’s the taste that I remember from my childhood, so I was hoping these would be similar.

     The strange thing about these Cranberry Raisinets is that they seem to be about 95% Raisinets and only 5% cranberry, even though there is no raisin included and this candy is chocolate covered cranberry.  You wouldn’t know it from the taste.  Chewing these Raisinets is no different from chewing regular old school ones until the very end when you finally get a little of the classic somewhat tart cranberry flavor. 

     As soon as I finished eating my tiny bag, I went to the cupboard and grabbed some regular Craisins to compare and they blew me away with their intensity.  Clearly these were not used for the Cranberry Raisinets.  In contrast, the C-Raisinets are very very mild.  Don’t eat them looking for craisins, eat them if you want Raisinets with a slight cranberry flavor.

     I was surprised to find out that the characteristic taste of Raisinets, which seemed the same to me as it did back in the day, and effectively tickled my nostalgia, does not lie in the raisin or in the raisin/chocolate combo.  It must then reside in the chocolate or the processing of the candy samples.  I imagine they could coat anything using their process, and it would taste pretty much the same.  Final thoughts are that these were pretty good overall, but failed to live up to my expectations and really, there’s no reason to purchase them over ordinary raisin filled Raisinets.