A giant Fruity Candy Taste Test - 17 different candies, 53 different flavors!

There's so many different fruity candies out there. For Alli and Ian's birthday, knowing they loved doing taste tests, their aunt and uncle got them 17 different fruity candies to try out!

Tonight we're tasting 17 unique candies, but many of these have multiple flavors, leading to lots of unique tastes. By my count we've got 53 different ones!

1. Haribo Gummi Bears (5 flavors)                    10. Twizzlers (1 flavor)

2. Dots (5 flavors)                                               11. Skittles (5 flavors)

3. Haribi Peach Rings (1 flavor)                         12. Starburst (4 flavors)

4. Haribo Happy Cola (1 flavor)                         13. Mamba (4 flavors)

5. Swedish Fish (1 flavor)                                   14. Sour Patch Kids (5 flavors)

6. Mike & Ike (5 flavors)                                    15. Sour Patch Kids Watermelon (1 flavor)

7. Nerds Gummy Clusters (1 flavor)                   16. Sour Punch Straws (1 flavor)

8. Air Heads (6 flavors)                                       17. Trolli Sour Bright Crawlers (3 flavors)

9. Laffy Taffy (4 flavors)

With so many different candies to choose from, it's easy to be overwhelmed by all the different flavors. We're going to break it down by columns and pick our favorite from each one. Then at the end, when all the candies have been tried, it'll be a lot easier to pick an overall favorite. Let's get this taste test started!

Theresa - Joe, making me pick one of these is mean! I love so many of them!

Haribo invented the gummi bear back in 1922! The make over 100 million goldbears daily! With gummi bears it's hit or miss depending on it they are fresh or not. Fresh gummi bears are soft, chewy, and delicious. Older gummi bears are too hard and not the best. I do enjoy their flavor selection though. Strawberry (green) and Pineapple (white) are great flavors. 

Theresa - Who doesn't love a gummy bear? I'm going to go with delicious!

All the kids said they were yummy. 

I think they're just okay. 

Dots gumdrops (1945) have 5 different flavors, including cherry, lemon, lime, orange, and strawberry. For me, Dots have never been a favorite. It's a texture thing. Theresa on the other hand loves them. They are chewy and always stick to your teeth. 

Theresa - I love Dots!

Joe - I don't like Dots. 

Avery - I like the strawberry ones. 

Patrick - I don't like the texture. 

Sheila - I don't care for the flavor. It's almost like playdough. 

Theresa - Lemon? Even though it tastes like cleaner I still like it. Ooh, trying to make me pick a favorite from these is so cruel. I like all fruity candy. Even out of those two (gummy bears and Dots) I'm going to have a hard time. 

Haribo Peaches are two-toned peach gummies. There's always be a shortage of good peach candies. These soft gummies are delicious. 

Megan - I'm going to like these. 

Theresa - It's like a peachy-O, but not as chewy. These are a little softer. 

Megan - I love these. Me and my mom would go on a road trip and finish a bag of these. 

Haribo Happy Cola have a great cola flavor to them. The gummies are great when they are soft and fresh, but a bit rubbery when they are older. I also really like the Haribo Fizzy Cola bottles that have a citric acid and sugar outside. Are these the same flavor on the top and bottom? 

Patrick - Yes they are. 

Megan - If they could make these carbonated I would like it more. 

Avery - Yum yum!

What are the favorites from the first column? 

Theresa - You can't come to me first!

Avery - I like them all too!

Haribo Happy Cola - Patrick, Sheila, Ian, Theresa

Haribo Peaches - Joe, Megan, Mickey

Haribo Goldbears - Avery, Alli

Dots - 

Time for the second column. 

Swedish Fish

Joe - They're not as bad as I remember.

Theresa - I don't actually care for them. I could go without any of those. 

Ian - I love them!

Alli - Me too!

Megan - Is it supposed to be cherry? I can't tell. 

Mike and Ike (1940) candies are a product of the Just Born company that also makes Hot Tamales and Peeps marshmallows. I always went for the Hot Tamale versions of these candies and never gave Mike and Ike much of a chance. They are the same flavors as the Dots we tried earlier!

Megan - I don't hate these. I like the crunchy outside. 

Ian - Those are good!

Theresa - Yellow is good. Orange is good too! 

I guess Nerds candies just aren't as prevalent as they were in the past. I don't see them on the supermarket shelves very often. I do see Nerds variations though, like Nerds Ropes and these Nerds Gummy Clusters. That's a shame because I love those crunchy sweet and tart Nerds candies. Sticking them to a bit of gummy candy is pretty great too.  

Patrick - These are like Nerds Ropes that fell apart. 

Megan - Those look fun!

Sheila - They smell good!

Joe - I like those! 

Airheads (1985) were a favorite of mine in school. That taffy has a great tangy flavor. 

But what is that White Mystery flavor? It turns out that the Perfetti Van Melle company that makes them takes a similar approach as Dum Dum lollipops. The Mystery flavor is the remnants/overlap when they switch from one flavor going through the machine to another. It could be grape/watermelon, or cherry/orange. Who knows! 

Avery - I want Mystery Flavor!

Theresa - These remind me of eating a candle. 

Joe - How many candles have you eaten? 

Megan - They remind me of those wax bottles filled with liquid. 

Patrick - I used to get 4, put them all into a ball, put them in my mouth right before class, and enjoy it for the whole class time. 

What are the favorites from this column? 

Nerds Gummy Clusters - Joe, Megan, Patrick, Sheila, Mickey

Mike and Ikes - Ian, Theresa 

Airheads - Avery 

Swedish Fish - Alli

Let's move on to the next column.

Laffy Taffy (1970s) has never been a favorite of mine. The flavors have always been weak compared to many other fruity candies. And they even make a banana flavor that is the worst! 

Theresa - I feel like you can just throw all those banana ones out. 

Megan - Into my mouth. The banana one is really good flavor. I just don't like the texture of it. 

Joe - Patrick tell us a joke. 

Patrick - What's spicy but cold in the winter? A chili pepper!

Theresa - It's really waxy. 

Megan - It's like an oily texture. Again like a candle. 

Patrick - I could probably only eat one of those. I used to really like these. 

Twizzlers (1929) is technically not licorice but a licorice-type candy because they don't contain any licorice extract. Strawberry is the most popular flavor. I've always hated licorice. The texture is way too waxy. Chew, chew, chew, then I guess swallow this, but it hasn't really dissolved and it's only smaller waxy bits. 

Alli - Do we eat get a stick? 

Ian - That's delicious. 

Joe - I hate licorice. 

Avery <spat it out>. It's the first one she hasn't liked. 

Sheila - I don't like those. 

Megan - Those are terrible. 

Now here's a candy I do like! Skittles (1974) invite us to Taste The Rainbow with 5 different fruity flavors. There's Strawberry, Green Apple, Grape, Orange, and Lemon. But how many different flavor combinations are there? I remember a commercial from the 90s asking that same question. Besides the 5 originals, you can make Ora-gra-ple, Straw-ple-berry, lem-lim-ora, and thousands more. The final number that they came up with was that there were 371,292 potential flavor combinations in every bag of Skittles. Crazy!

Ian - I want a Green Apple!

Sheila - It started off good, but it reminded me of a lemon cleaner at the end. 

<everyone reaches for a lemon>

Joe - Now everyone wants to try the lemon cleaner. 

Skittles are good!

Starburst has four fruity flavors!

Patrick - I don't know why everyone loves pink. Orange is the best. 

Joe - Them's fighting words! Pink is one of the best candy flavors ever. 

Theresa - At least no one is saying Cherry is their favorite. 

Megan - I'm not a monster. My favorite is pink. 

Alli - Orange is like eww. 

Avery - When you're as old as daddy, you might like orange. 

Mini taste test. What is your favorite Starburst flavor? 

Pink (strawberry) - Joe, Theresa, Megan, Alli, Ian

Orange (orange) - Patrick, Avery

Yellow (lemon) - Mickey

Red (cherry) - Sheila

Made in Germany. 

Mickey - The name makes you think of something tropical. 

Theresa - I wonder how a German candy became so popular here. 

Does anyone remember when the flavors you got inside a Mamba would be random? It had lots of flavors on the wrapper, but it could have been any flavor inside. There were even multiples of the same flavor some times. 

Today we had all the flavors that match the wrapper. Raspberry, Lemon, Orange, and Strawberry. 

Theresa - Not as good as Starburst. They're not as good after trying all those other candies. 

Patrick - Raspberry is my favorite in those. 

Joe - It has a lot less flavor than Starburst. 

Theresa - Almost like it's a creamy candy. Like a Raspberry Cream or something. 

Megan - I am not eating all those. Those are nasty. 

Time to vote for favorites!

Joe - Wow, this column was kindof the disappointment column. 

Sheila - I agree. 

Starburst - Joe, Sheila, Mickey, Alli, Theresa

Skittles - Megan, Patrick, Ian

Mamba - Avery

Twizzlers - 

Laffy Taffy - 

Our final column is the Sours! And sours really only works with fruity candy huh? You wouldn't want to get a sour chocolate. 

Megan - This is not my favorite column. 

Theresa - This is my favorite column. 

The two of them are pretty opposite in their likes and dislikes. 

Megan - I'm noticing a trend. My favorites have to have a good texture. 

We've tried so many different versions of Sour Patch Kids! 

Pop Pop - Is everybody going to be bouncing off the walls tonight? 

Megan - Sleepover at Gram and Pop Pop's tonight!

Joe - The lime is really good. 

Patrick - So is the blue raspberry. 

These are pretty tasty!

A look at what I was doing most of the night. Cutting up candies into different bite size pieces. 

Time for some Sour Watermelon Sour Patch Kids candies. 

Sour Patch Kids Watermelon. 

Theresa - Those are not that great. 

Joe - I like these watermelon candies. 

Alli - These are so good!

I don't think Avery likes these sour candies. 

Sour Punch Strawberry Straws are one of Theresa's very favorite candies ever! 

Megan - No. No. 

Avery - Uncle Joe! Yum yum!

Ian - Delicious!

Theresa - They've changed them. They're softer now. They taste like they're fresh. I think I like them older. 

Alli - They're so good!

Trolli Sour Brite Crawlers are one of my favorite sour worm candies. 

I didn't realize the red/blue was strawberry/grape. Those are my two favorite candy flavors! Grape is usually purple. Blue is throwing me for a loop.

That's a sour face!

What's your favorite from this column? 

Sour Punch Straws - Sheila, Avery, Ian, Alli

Trolli Sour Brite Crawlers - Joe, Megan, Theresa

Sour Patch Kids - Patrick, Mickey

Sour Patch Watermelon - 

Alright everyone! You have tried 17 different fruity candies! Some of you have even tasted 53 different candy flavors. Which candy is the very best overall? What candy will reign supreme?

With 4 votes, our biggest winner is - Nerds Gummy Clusters! Those crunchy and tangy Nerds wrapped around a chewy gummy rope was the favorite of Megan, Sheila, Mickey, and me. 

With 2 votes (after a change from Alli in the last column), it's Trolli Sour Brite Crawlers! That would have been my second choice. 

Patrick loves the Haribo Happy Cola gummy candies the most. 

Avery thought Skittles were the best. 

Ian thinks the Mike and Ike candies were the overall winner. 

Gram - I need a piece of chocolate after all that. 

Megan - Me too. 

Ha! I will take chocolate over fruity candy any day too! 

Hope you enjoyed the taste test! Thanks Uncle Jon and Aunt Jess!