Volles Rohr from Hitschler are a bag of 100% vegetarian apple flavoured candy cables, with a sour-fruity outer and a sweet vanilla core. Any good? Let’s find out!

Starting with the packet, it’s full of cute apple inspired artwork. They’re hard at work, sawing and chopping long sweetie cables into bitesized pieces.

Don’t look too carefully though, as it’s a health and safety nightmare. The bandana adorned one also has what appears to be buttocks, such was the eagerness of the artist to produce an anthropomorphised apple.

Moving on, it’s important to state that these are 100% veggie friendly. There’s no gelatine, artificial flavours or colours. They’re lactose free and vegan suitable. Unfortunately though, they do contain wheat flour and palm oil.

Described as:

Long fruit gums with a fruity apple flavor, externally acidified and refined on the inside with a soft, sweet vanilla filling. | Hitschler

The fruity candy cable is coated in a sour sugar. It’s quite a bit more tart than I was expecting, actually! One of those where occasionally my face scrunched up a bit as the sourness hit. 

At first I wasn’t quite sure what to think of these sweets. The first bite threw me – I hadn’t expected something so sour. But then, the vanilla flavour from the creamy-but-firm candy centre hit. And it’s quite prominent and a little bit… odd. I gave the packet a bit of side-eye and tried another.

The more you eat of these, the more the flavours work together. If I wanted to describe the flavour of the cable core, I’d have to liken it to Chewits in the Vanilla Ice Cream flavour. It’s got that strong, cheap brand ice cream vanilla taste. I can’t say I’m a total convert to the combination here, but it’s not a bad one by any means.

On the whole, they’re interesting. It’s not a flavour profile or taste experience I’m used to and once I wrapped my head around that, I rather liked them. I do very much appreciate that these are vegan friendly and had the packet not said so, I’d never have known. Given the colour of the cables themselves (not a neon green) I assumed natural colourings were at play, but if you’re looking for a vegan suitable sweet treat – I’d totally recommend giving these a try. They’re weird and confusing, but enjoyable.