Tuesday, October 27, 2009

The Importance of Taste Testers, Part 1

We really want to make candy that tastes good. As you might expect, I make and test taste a lot of hard candy at home… but I rely on Kate and various other friends to taste and give feedback.

Back in July, we held a tasting party that featured about 30 flavors. Several of our friends had previously expressed interest in ginger flavors. I had tested ginger by itself and found it too strong, so I tried some blends. We were excited to see how our blueberry-ginger and ginger-lime flavors would be received. Some people liked them, but overall the ginger flavors bombed. Feedback included:

"too strong. A little medicinal"

"really like the ginger, but it has an odd (nasty?) side note"

"too spicy! (not hot - just too much flavor)"

"eww eww eww eww"

"dishsoap w/ burn"

Yowch! Is there any hope for ginger? Someday we’ll find the right flavor partner and a good proportion of ginger-other, and we will sell a ginger-based lollipop.

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