Tales of the Flowers: A Nerds Gummy Cluster taste test - 6 unique flavors - Rainbow, Grape Strawberry Blitz, Very Berry, Berry Punch Rush, Spooky, and Frosty

A few years ago, the family decided to do a giant Fruity Candy taste test to determine our very favorite fruit candy treat. We tasted 17 unique items with 53 different flavors to come up with our favorite. The winner of that taste test, with 44% of the overall votes, went to Nerds Gummy Clusters! Who doesn't love those tiny tangy and tart candies.

Well did you know that there are more than just 1 flavor of Nerds Gummy Clusters? After collecting a few versions over a couple months, I finally had enough to have a taste test with 6 different kinds of Nerds Gummy Clusters!

In our test today we'll try Very Berry, Rainbow, Berry Punch Rush, Frosty (Christmas), Grape Strawberry Blitz, and Spooky (Halloween).

Nerds candies by themselves are delicious. Crunchy and sweet, they were one of the best candies I remember from growing up. Having that little box that was split down the middle with 2 flavors, and slides on the top to release each one as you shake it into your mouth. The hardest part about eating them was that you couldn't just "pop" them into your mouth. I think the Ferrara Candy Company (who also make Sweetarts, Jelly Belly, Brachs, Trolli, and more) came up with the "gummy" idea to make Nerds more accessible to easy snacking, And it's worked for us!

Nerds were invented back in 1983, and rolled out nationally in 1985. Nerds themselves did okay as a candy, pulling in $40 million in revenue in 2018. But, in 2020, Nerds Gummy Clusters hit the market. In 2024, Nerds revenue was up to $500 million with the Nerds Gummy Clusters accounting for 90% of that! Wow! That was a great idea!

The back of the bags, just because.

Where do we start? I mean, it's gotta be with the original right? Those gummy clusters surrounded by rainbow Nerds.

Rainbow NERDS surrounds fruity, gummy centers. Those sweet little sparks are fantastic inventors. A poppable cluster, packed with tangy, crunchy NERDS. A candy so tasty there aren't even words. We also see the Nerds crew (I couldn't find a name specific to them) on the back, in Pink, Purple, Yellow, and Green.

Each gummy cluster is literally coated with Nerds.

Megan - This smells like my childhood.

Patrick - Are you going to cut them in half?

Joe - No! (Not like those Cordial Cherries)

Patrick - You are what you eat! ... I'm a Gummy Cluster!

Megan - Tis the season to be jolly and eat Nerds. Fa-la-la.

Alli - Do you have Tropical?

Joe - No, those are the gummy ropes.

Avery - Yummy! A little sour.

Joe - They're sweet and crunchy Nerds. A little tangy.

Ian - The Nerds flavor doesn't go with the gummy inside.

Joe - What is the flavor inside?
Megan - Gummy.

Patrick - Fruity gummy.

For our next flavor, let's try the Nerds Berry Punch Rush. This bag seems to be football themed. There's Nerds on top with a football and helmet, along with a field down below.

No Nerds on the back of this bag. But you can enter to win an epic tailgate party.

The bag doesn't say what flavors they are, but I think White is Fruit Punch, while Red is usually Cherry with Nerds. Blue, I'm guessing a berry of some sort.

Joe - I do taste the punch.

Patrick - I do like that one.

Joe - It's very flavorful.

Now, let's move on to Nerds Very Berry. It's all Purple, Pink, and Blue on the front.

With the same characters on the back.

Just like the picture on the bag showed, the gummies are coated in Pink, Purple, and Blue Nerds.

Isaac - Those are a little bland.

Megan - Maybe raspberry?

Theresa - I don't taste raspberry. That would be gross. These are yummy.

Megan - What flavor do you think it is then?

Theresa - A mixture of berries. But not blue raspberry.

I was really excited to see this as a flavor finally. The split box of Pink and Purple Nerds was my favorite growing up. I loved both Grape and Strawberry flavors, I really liked the design of the bag too, split down the middle with grape on one side and strawberry on the other.

The bag also seems to been football themed, with the Pink and Purple Nerds carrying a football and wearing a helmet.

Again you can enter to win an epic tailgate and other prizes. It's unfortunate that this looks to be a limited time flavor.

I didn't do anything weird when processing these photos. That's just what these Nerds Grape and Strawberry Blitz clusters looked like coming out of the bag. The purples seem to have faded such that they're hardly distinguishable from the pinks.

Joe - I like that one.

Ian - We've got ourselves a winner.

Avery - Yes, it's a winner.

Joe - It's not a very strong flavor though. It seems muted.

Isaac - This one and the Very Berry were bland. The Rainbow and Berry Punch Rush were flavorful.

Theresa - It's a delivery system for Grape Strawberry Nerds, which is what I needed it to be. I can't just hold all the Nerds loose.

Jon - I like the distinct flavors versus all the flavors together.

For our next gummy treat, we have the seasonal Spooky Nerds Gummy Clusters.

The Nerds are dressed in a witch hat and a dracula cape.

From what I can see, these are Orange, Grape, and Fruit Punch flavored.

Joe - Can you taste the orange flavor?

Patrick - It's kinda boring. It's a little blah.

Megan - Why is that one so mellow. It's weird.

Theresa - It's like a light fruit. Almost a little tropical. But too mild.

And finally, we have the Christmas themed Frosty Nerds Gummy Clusters. There are also Valentine and Easter varieties but we're just not doing this taste test at that time of year.

The Green, Red, and White Nerds on the back have holly leaves and berries as decoration.

And where the other Nerds might have seemed a bit desaturated, these Frosty Nerds are vibrant with color! The flavors I think are Watermelon (green), Cherry (red), Fruit Punch (white).

Avery - Mmm! It's so good!

Theresa - Watermelon and Cherry?

Megan - I think so.

Joe - Definitely like Cherry.

Avery - It tastes like frosties (Icees)

Jess - The Rainbow one was the most "Nerd like" one.

Joe - I thought my favorite was going to be Grape Strawberry, but it wasn't. It didn't have a strong flavor.

Isaac - It's definitely not Very Berry, Grape Strawberry, or Spooky.

Patrick - Is that cause it didn't Pop with flavor? It's a gummy crunchy, but not flavor.

And the favorites?
Avery - Grape Strawberry. Just that one.

Alli - First Grape Strawberry and then Berry Punch Blast. But they're all good. None I hate. My least favorite might be Christmas.

Joe - But you really don't hate Christmas.

Ian - Number one is Grape Strawberry easily. Second is Very Berry but it's a long distance between them. I didn't really like the Frosty ones because it's too strong of a Nerds flavor.

Eli - Berry Punch. All the others blended too much with the gummy.

Emma - I liked Rainbow the most.

Isaac - Rainbow. It gives you the most flavor. My favorite way of eating Nerds is pouring them out of the box in my hand and eating them. I don't care what flavor I get.

Joe - I think I like the Berry Punch Rush best.

Theresa - First is Grape Strawberry. Then the Frosty Holiday one. Then Very Berry, Berry Punch, Rainbow, and Spooky.

Megan - Mines a tie between the Frosty ones (reminds me of my childhood) and the Rainbow.

Patrick - There are three I would never eat again and three I would.

Joe - That's harsh!

Megan - I doubt that! I bet if I put it in your pocket at a movie, you'd still eat them.

Patrick - Okay, then the three that I don't want to try again TONIGHT are Very Berry, Grape Strawberry, and Spooky. Top is Berry Punch Rush.

Sheila - The Grape Strawberry is the best overall. The worst is the Frosty.

Mickey - Rainbow is the best followed by Grape Strawberry, then Frosty. I liked Spooky the least. But I don't dislike any of them.

Jess - Rainbow and Berry Punch were the best.

Jon - Grape Strawberry reminds me of what I had growing up. Rainbow was also at the top. But I'd eat them all.

Sheila - You can tell the favorites by what is left.

Jon - Now we should mix them all up together in a bowl and just eat whatever you grab.

Theresa - I don't think there's any flavor of Nerds I don't like.

Megan - These bring me joy. It's what I eat on a long car ride.

Patrick - Are they different than the Nerds Ropes?

Jon - They have more Nerds on these. Each is surrounded 360 degrees by Nerds.

Megan - They were the Nerds Ropes rejects.

Are the gummy centers the same in all of them?

I cut each open to compare. It looks the same to me!

Patrick also helped by removing all the Nerds on one of the gummy centers.

How many Nerds are on one of those anyway Alli? Hmm, let's get started peeling them away.

They were actually stuck pretty well to the soft gummy candy. I guess that's how they survive shipping without falling off. Still picking them aparts.

Looks pretty clean to me Alli.

One thing we noted was that these Nerds that are used for the Gummy Clusters are a lot smaller than the regular Nerds you might get in a box of the candy Nerds. Were these the rejected pieces that weren't big enough for the other boxes?