In this New York Times story about energy drinks and their relation to risky behavior behavior among adolescents, one commenter says something rather interesting about "gateway candy." In his opinion, the kids who like the crazy, ultra-hot, ultra-sour candy grow up to be the risk takers and drug addicts, while the sedate chocolate and caramel lovers become the solid citizens. He's kind of joking, but it's kind of true.

In fourth grade, my friend Alex and I would make pilgrimages to the Toot Sweets in Northgate Mall, where I discovered the painful pleasures of holding an Atomic Fireball in my mouth as long as I could, the cinnamon heat filling my sinus cavity and making my eyes water. Not long after I got heavy into Warheads, eating so many the inside of my mouth would peel and I wouldn't be able to eat for days. Then I'd do it all again a few months later. In middle school, my friends and I would actually snort Pixy Stix and Kool Aid powder at parties to get a "sugar high" (incredibly gross, doesn't work).

And yeah, I grew up to be a rock climbing, speeding ticket-getting, "oh, I'm not really worried about malaria" kind of risk taker.

So what about you - what were your favorite candies as kids, and do you think your choices predicted your adult personalities?

It sounds to good to be true -- a berry that makes sour things taste sweet!

The berry is very real. It's called "miracle fruit -- that's actually what it's called -- though the scientific name is Synsepalum dulcificum for those of you who want to get technical. And more for the technical folks, a protein in the fruit binds to taste buds and alters the tongue's so-called sweet receptors to activate when sour foods are eaten. Sour things taste sweet for about an hour after the berry is eaten.

It may seem just a novelty or a fun foodie trick to do at parties, but there could be some health and medical uses for the berry once the science people figure it out. I can think of a few now: lose weight by tricking your taste buds into thinking that extremely low calorie foods are actually as sweet as dessert, and any other use in which people need a sugar substitute.

[via: Gimundo]

Most sour candy seems to be marketed at kids and I'm willing to wager that at elementary schools around the country, perhaps around the world, kids still have contests to see who can out-sour their friends by eating extremely sour candies. I never went in for the sour candies because, to be honest, they don't usually taste very good. The overpowering sourness gives way to an almost burning sensation and you wonder if you are ever going to regain the use of your tastebuds even after you have spit the candy out. But they're fun to eat, right? Isn't that why people subject themselves to them in the first place? I have no idea, but I can say that the people eating the sour candies in the Sour Death Balls video, where they seem to be trying to keep the candies in their mouths as long as possible, above don't exactly look like they're enjoying every moment of the experience. For us viewers, on the other hand, the faces they make are pretty funny, though.

[via growabrain]

I was in line in the supermarket last night, and the woman behind me told her son, around 10 or 11 years old, that if he wanted he could run to get some ice cream. About 5 minutes later the kid came back.

With frozen eyeballs and green slime.

He picked up Fear Factor Pop Ups, from Popsicle. These little frozen concoctions look like regular Pushups, but they have "extreme" colors and big eyeballs on the top of them. Let's take the copy straight from the web site:

"In sour cherry with an eyeball gumball and sour watermelon, both with the shocking taste of sour lemon slime. Or the slime pop - sour watermelon flavored ice with sour lemon slime." (Do those lines even make sense?)

The mother, needless to say, was not pleased with her son's choice. In fact, I think I heard her say the word "no" about 17 times. The poor kid was heartbroken when she told him to take it back and get something "normal." But he didn't cry, so good for him.

I didn't even know they made food products based on reality shows. I'm not looking forward to Big Brother Cake or Blind Date Juice.