Now & Later Long Lasting Chews - Original

I stumbled across a blast from the past on a recent grocery shopping trip with these Now and Later candies! I wasn't even looking for them, and I don't think I've had them ever since I was a little kid. When I picked up the package just for curiosity sake, I wasn't even expecting them to be vegan, but they were! It's funny how much accidentally vegan candy you can find when you avoid the chocolate stuff.

Before jumping into the review, I want to mention that while the "long lasting chews" variety of Now & Laters are vegan, the chewy/soft ones are not as they contain egg.



Buying. I found these at Winco for less than $1. Now & Later has a handy product locator on there website to find it locally here. Online, find them on Amazon, Old Time Candy, Candy Warehouse, and many other online vendors I'm sure.

Packaging. Why is there so much wrapper on these things?? First, there's the outer wrapper holding everything together, then each flavor has it's own wrapper, and then each individual piece of candy is wrapped. I really think they could do without the "middle man" flavor wrappings at least. Count on having a lot of trash if you're eating the whole pack.

Nutrition. You would expect candy to be mostly sugar and therefore completely unhealthy junk food, but these Now & Laters get an added unhealthy bonus of transfats! The third ingredient (after two varieties of sugar) is hydgrogenated soybean oil. Tsk tsk.

Tasting. I don't know if it was because it was so cold in my house at the time, but I feel like I nearly broke my teeth biting down on what I was expecting to be a chewy candy. After warming them up slightly, they were reasonably chewy as I expected them to be. The "original" flavor variety includes three "berry" flavors: blue raspberry, strawberry and cherry. The flavor was ok, pretty standard artifical flavors as would be expected from a cheap candy.

The paper seemed to like to stick to the strawberry ones for some reason.

Bottom Line. I don't see myself buying these ever again, not even to try the other flavor varieties. I just did not care for them much at all, if I'm in the mood for a super chewy candy I'd much rather get Mambas or Mary Janes. If you like hard-ish chewy candy, then maybe you'll like these. These could be a good option for giving out on Halloween.

Ferrara website. (Maker of Now & Laters)