3 Valentine's Day-Ready Sweets That Aren't Chocolate

Chocolate and Valentine's Day may be practically synonymous, but the parade of sweets doesn't end there. We're cleansing our palate from the onslaught of chocolaty goodies with Gimbal's Fine Candies Lover's Line ($4 each), a trio of adorable candies (Cinnamon Lovers, Sour Lovers, and Cherry Lovers) that, while available year-round, seem particularly appropriate as the all-hearts-everything holiday looms near. As one of our tasters put it, "who needs a Valentine when you have these sour-lovers?"

Like chewy, cheery, oversize Red Hots, Gimbal's Cinnamon Lovers bring the heat. Sure, the flavor may not be revolutionary, but we'd argue that there are far too few cinnamon-flavored candies out there; we will happily gobble these up when we need to get our fiery fix.

★★★★☆

Most sour gummy candies come in a handful of flavors, but not Gimbal's Sour Lovers, which pack a whopping 12 flavors ranging from meyer lemon to mango in each bag. The (small) downside: with such variety comes a bit of confusion, as a few of the flavors look very similar. The upside: Gimbal's candies are sweet and sour through and through, unlike many similar treats which only get their sour flavoring from their mouth-puckering coating. Our favorite flavors include grapefruit, which is just bitter enough; fuji apple; meyer lemon; and watermelon.

★★★★

Love cherry? Then snag a bag of Gimbal's Cherry Lovers. These jelly-bean-like sweets don't stop at classic cherry; the flavors run the gamut from cherry kiwi to cherry cola (which boasts a spot-on fizzy cola kick). As the name suggests, this assortment is for the true cherry-lover; if that describes you well, they won't disappoint.

★★★☆