Jell-O Pudding Bites get low marks for being barely edible

There could be a reason it was hard to find enough Jell-O Pudding Bites for the Spokesman-Review reader food panel.

Maybe, like our panel members, people don’t really like them much and stores have stopped stocking them already. The volunteer food tasters and their young guests weren’t kind to these new pudding bites at a recent tasting.

Three of the kids liked them well enough to boost the rating up to a measly two-and-a-half stars, but the overall rating was still somewhere between poor and fair.

“Bad,” said 6-year-old Drew Kazanis.

“Get these outta here,” 4-year-old Pierce Hubbard told his dad.

The pudding bites were panned by the adults. With an overall one-and-a-half star rating, the adults thought the chocolate flavor was just barely edible. The vanilla and strawberry flavors were scored slightly higher at two stars (a poor ranking.)

“Rubbery. (They have) only a faint flavor. Why would I bother to eat these when there are so many pleasant things available,” said food panel member Larry Inman.

“Like eating a flavorless, slightly less chewy than average rubber band,” said Donald Clegg.

Tina Johnson was not impressed at all.

“A colossal waste of time for the people who developed these,” she said.

Skip Hubbard had one suggestion for the makers of Jell-O Pudding Bites. “Perhaps these could be featured on (the television show) Fear Factor. ‘Next: Watch our contestants eat fake-tasting, chewy things.’ “

Jell-O Pudding Bites, Chocolate

Price: $2.59 for 5.4 ounces (six snack-size pouches)

Nutrition per serving: 90 calories, 2.5 grams fat (2 grams saturated, 25 percent fat calories), 1 gram protein, 17 grams carbohydrate, no cholesterol, no dietary fiber, 15 milligrams sodium.

Kids

Taste: • • 1/2

Comments: “Bad.” — Drew Kazanis, 6

“Kinda good.” — Gage Prior, 9

“Poor.” — Sydney Williams, 8

“They are chewy, very chewy. I like them a lot.” — Stephen Gese, 10

Adults

Taste: • 1/2

Value: •

Comments: “All show. No taste.” — Andy Hoye

“Awful. No chocolate flavor.”

— Peggy Kazanis

“Little pudding skin roll-ups. Which should be good, if you start with good pudding.” — Skip Hubbard

Jell-O Pudding Bites, Vanilla and Strawberry

Price: $2.59 for 5.4 ounces (six snack-size pouches)

Nutrition per serving: 90 calories, 1.5 grams fat (1.5 grams saturated, 15 percent fat calories), 1 gram protein, 17 grams carbohydrate, no cholesterol, no dietary fiber, 20 milligrams sodium.

Kids

Taste: • • 1/2

Comments: “Vanilla is better than strawberry.” — Gage Prior, 9

“I liked the pink ones.” — Katie Kazanis, 3

“Get these outta here.” — Pierce Hubbard, 4

Adults

Taste: • •

Value: •

Comments: “Chewy rubber.”

— Peggy Kazanis

“Little flavor, bad texture. No reason to eat these.” — Larry Inman

“I can’t identify these. Pink ones are gross! The white ones have no flavor. Lethal weapons. Yuck.”

— Nancy Robinson

“A starving person just maybe would eat this. Truly horrible.”

— Donald Clegg