SPOTTED: Fruit Stripe Gummy Candy

Soooo, does this candy lose its flavor as quickly as the gum when you chew on it? (Spotted by Jason B at Dollar General.)

Soooo, does this candy lose its flavor as quickly as the gum when you chew on it? (Spotted by Jason B at Dollar General.)

DiGiorno’s pizza is my go-to dinner on nights when “Mommy is too busy to cook,” or sometimes, “Mommy has gone to a dark place.” So I’m quite familiar with the DiGiorno product line, specifically the DiGiorno croissant crust.
Now, at the request of no one, DiGiorno has decided that it needs to break into the breakfast market and create a sweet pizza. This is hardly unprecedented: Pizza Hut sells an Ultimate Chocolate Cookie that could claim the title of “Dessert Pizza,” plus you can find recipes for them on various food blogs. But this is an indulgent breakfast pizza! Does this really go with your morning coffee, or is it just weird?

It’s an attractive, if unusual, dish. The light dough-colored balls taste vaguely like cookie dough, and the dark swirls are pockets of cinnamon goodness. The rest of the pizza topping is made up of what I will call “sugary gunk,” a highly technical term used by professionals.

Okay, so I felt lazy leaving it at that and looked up what the sugary gunk is. According to DiGiorno’s website, the topping includes cinnamon cream sauce, cream cheese crumbles, and churro pieces. The cream cheese crumbles are likely those little bland pieces, in which case this component is really missing the tang of cheese. The churro pieces did not make much of an impression.

The pizza really does taste a lot like a cinnamon roll, though, and the fact that it’s a flat pizza means a much higher sugary-stuff-to-bread ratio, making it arguably better than most cinnamon rolls. I get this information from my husband, who hits the Cinnabon at every rest area on the highway, so he knows his stuff.

What doesn’t quite work here is the DiGiorno croissant crust. I would be happily eating my faux-cinnamon roll when I would get some of the crust in my mouth and suddenly be reminded of a sausage-laden Supreme Pizza, and it led to a weird feeling of disconnection with the product. The sweetness is strong enough that it’s not that noticeable for most of the pizza, but when you get to the end crust, it doesn’t seem to go with what you’re eating.
Now did I have this problem because the crust genuinely clashes with the flavor profile, or is it just because I have such strong associations with the DiGiorno crust? I’m not sure, but I’m pretty sure the crust is something DiGiorno can improve, at the very least. Another crust-related problem was the fact that the croissant crust did not fully expand in the oven; however, this may be because of how we cooked it. After nearly destroying my oven with one of these pizzas (to the point where my Dad had to come by with professional-grade tools to clean it), I wasn’t taking any more risks, and I put this thing on a tray in the oven, as God intended. So you probably will get a crispier, flakier crust if you follow the directions and put the pizza straight onto the rack. That is, assuming the pizza doesn’t bend while cooking, pour its tasty filling onto the bottom of the oven, and rapidly become carbonized sludge. If you want to attempt it, you’re braver than me.
When it’s not destroying kitchen equipment, the Croissant Cinnamon Roll Pizza is a largely successful breakfast outing for DiGiorno, and I recommend giving it a try. Just keep in mind there’s definitely room for improvement here.
Purchased Price: $9.99
Size: 21.5 oz
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1/4 pizza) 460 calories, 20 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 10 milligrams of cholesterol, 550 milligrams of sodium, 60 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 17 grams of sugar (15 grams of added sugar), and 6 grams of protein.
Here are some interesting new products found on store shelves by your fellow readers. If you’ve tried any of them, share your thoughts in the comments.



(Spotted by Shawn S at Weis Markets.)

(Spotted by Tommy at Walmart)

(Spotted by Amanda Y at Kroger.)


(Spotted by Amanda Y at Kroger.)

(Spotted by Amanda Y at Market Street.)


(Spotted by Robbie at H-E-B.)



It appears Nature Valley Granola Thins are getting a reboot. (Spotted by Amanda Y at Walmart and Sarah R at Walmart.)

RC Cola used to be my favorite soda growing up. I remember it tasting sweeter and had more of a bite than Coke and Pepsi. But then it just disappeared out of my life. I’m not sure what happened. Maybe Coke and Pepsi conspired to make sure RC Cola never got shelf space, or perhaps my parents received bribes from Big Cola to make sure during my formative years that my allegiance would be with Coke or Pepsi.
Since then, I’ve had RC Cola a few times, but it doesn’t taste as good as I remember. Maybe it’s the high fructose corn syrup, or perhaps my tongue has been washed with Coke and Pepsi so often that my taste buds can’t bring themselves to relive the good times they’ve had with RC Cola.
RC Cola is still around, kicking, and according to Instacart, available at a grocery store near me. But the cola is not only alive, but it also has a new limited time only, Dollar General exclusive flavor — Berries and Cream.

The can has a retro look, and its muted colors make it look even more so. Its vanilla-heavy aroma is inviting, and it smells like what you’d get cracking open a can of Vanilla Coke or Pepsi Vanilla. However, I don’t notice any berry scent.

Thankfully, a syrupy berry flavor comes through the cola taste with the very first sip. I thought it was a bit odd at first, but subsequent sips weren’t weird. Although its name contains the vague “berries,” the only one I taste is raspberry. The cream flavor is also around, but I wouldn’t call it “cream” because it reminds me of the vanilla flavoring in other colas.

Overall, Berries and Cream RC Cola is tasty enough that I think it has the power to raise the brand up and out from behind Coke and Pepsi. Just kidding. But it’s definitely good enough to prevent RC Cola from sinking lower.
Purchased Price: FREE*
Size: 16 fl oz can
Purchased at: eBay (available exclusively at Dollar General)
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 can) 220 calories, 0 grams of fat, 50 milligrams of sodium, 58 grams of carbohydrates, 57 grams of sugar (57 grams of added sugar), 0 grams of protein, and 57 milligrams of caffeine.
*Thanks to the mnmtwinz, known for their fantastic Instagram, for sending this (and a few other extras) with the Mtn Dew I purchased from them on eBay.