Junk Food Nation, I wanted to briefly mention and educate you on the MLB Draft.  In basketball and football, Draft Day is a real special day for the country – it’s a small number of rounds, and it’s usually televised with some pomp. Players put on the new teams’ hats, they walk across the stage, shake the commissioner’s hand, and hug the commish and then their families. Hugging is definitely a big part of it:

Some guys just don’t wanna let go. But for America’s pastime, the first year amateur baseball draft goes unnoticed. Unless you’re a real baseball nerd like me, you probably didn’t even realize that the MLB draft took place on June 4-6.  And quite frankly, there’s a reason for this – because the MLB Draft entails more people drafted than some small countries!!!

The NBA Draft has two rounds, and 60 players are drafted.  The NFL Draft has seven rounds, and about 250 players are chosen. The MLB Draft? 40 ROUNDS!!! You heard me, FORTY. Anywhere from 1200-1500 players are taken in the MLB Draft!!  Those extra zeroes aren’t wrong – indeed over thousand players are drafted by the MLB each year.

I’m pretty sure in Round 38 some teams are drafting “Fred, the backup kickball pitcher from DC,” and “Chris, the toaster guy at Subway” and “Iron Man, whenever he becomes real.” And there’s no other way to do it – most major league teams have 7-8 minor league teams that need filling as well as instructional leagues, but still – that number is overwhelming, isn’t it? I’m surprised they get the whole thing done in thre days.  And the whole thing is televised on MLB Network (which no one has).

Anyways, now you know.  Today’s junk food: New Werther’s Original Caramel Apple Filled Hard Candies!

New Werther's Original Caramel Apple Filled Hard Candies: The Money Shot

I’ve said before that Werther’s Candies = old man candy. New Werther’s Original Caramel Apple Filled Hard Candies tries to fight that notion, but I dunno – caramel candies filled with apple flavor? Is this really a good idea?  I found these in Walgreens for $1.50.  We’ll see if it’s worth it.

Creamy apple filling? Sounds...weird.

New Werther’s Original Caramel Apple Filled Hard Candies are filled with creamy apple filling.  Yeeeg. I don’t know why, but putting the words “creamy” and “apple” together feels weird to me.  I guess it really shouldn’t weird me out – after all, I like apple pie and vanilla ice cream – but here, it’s strange.

So...green

Apparently the cross section of these New Werther’s Original Caramel Apple Filled Hard Candies is green-apple green.  I think the thing that’s throwing me off is that I always avided caramel apples growing up anyways.  I grew up in an era when parents were skeeved out by kids getting caramel apples or the like for Halloween, so any fruit went instantly into the garbage – no need to check for pins or razor blades, etc.  So caramel apple candy still doesn’t register for me.

Not bad, calorie-wise

YAY CORN SYRUP!

New Werther’s Original Caramel Apple Filled Hard Candies has apple juice in it. Well, that’s a start!

Gustav Nebel makes old man candy

There’s a TOWN called Werther out there where these caramels are FROM!? How’d I miss this?? I always thought Werther was the dude who made these candies. Head=spinning.

Golden gems

These New Werther’s Original Caramel Apple Filled Hard Candies were very interesting. First, the outside was not as “hard candy” as I expected – in fact, when I bit into it, the whole thing came apart rather easily. It didn’t shatter, per se, or break off – my teeth sunk into it and I was able to bite the whole thing apart. The consistency reminds me of those cheap lollipops you get from the barber shop.

Simple caramel

The flavor of the outer shell was a really nice caramel flavor.  Since it wasn’t the typical Werther’s hard candy, it tasted more like any chewy caramel would – burnt sugar taste. The shell was sweet, and also chewy.

Soft Shell, Gooey center

The green apple syrup center, when eaten by itself, tasted like typical artificial apple flavor – very sweet and sort of sour, with a nicely manufactured apple flavor.  The taste of the syrup diminished very quickly after rubbing it on my tongue.

Unnaturally green

Taken together, did this taste like a caramel apple? Sort of – the apple taste evaporated so quickly that mostly you still just get caramel flavor, and at the very start of it you get a hint of apple.  Good effort and smart design, but execution poor.  I probably wouldn’t have these again.

Thoughts? Let me know if the comments below!  Or hit me on Twitter @junkfoodguy or on my Facebook Page.

Sincerely, Junk Food Guy