When it comes to “classic” fruit flavoured candy combinations, the combination of cherry, lemon, lime, orange, and strawberry are pretty high on the list. These are 5 flavours you see pared together very often, and for good reason. This combination works, separately they're all good flavours, and combined in many different ratios they also taste great. So, one could say that Just Born was playing it safe, but there's so much more to them choosing this combination. Mike and Ike's are in fact one of the candy companies to make this combination of fruit flavours a classic. They’ve been doing this for a long time, and they’re one of the reasons this combination is so well known.

Just because this is a classic flavour combination, also doesn't mean it's impossible to screw it up. The key with these flavours is to make sure they all work in harmony as well. In this case we know that each of these flavours work well together in theory. As far as flavour authenticity, these Mike and Ikes would never be mistaken as being the real fruit, but they have the perfect fake flavour of each fruit down. Balance wise they're almost perfect, except for maybe the cherry, which seems a little stronger tasting than the rest.

Texture wise they're a little chewier than a jelly bean (there closest candy cousin) but you have to eat a few handfuls before your jaw starts to hurt. This box is probably a little too much for one person in one sitting, but it encourages you to share.

These are a classic fruit candy for a reason. They seem like they're not very exciting, but that's only because they helped shape what we call normal candy today. Instead of thinking about these as being something bold and new, think about these as being part of the backbone of candy history.