36 Popular Sour Candies, Ranked Worst To Best
With some articles on Mashed, we writers can stay safely behind our keyboards the whole time, but others require a certain amount of participatory journalism. In these cases, we put our bodies on the line to give you the food content you crave. That's what happened with this ranking of 36 different sour candies. After we finished tasting all of these, our hearts were racing, our skin was buzzing, and the insides of our mouths felt like they had been cleaned with sandpaper. We would not recommend sampling nearly 40 different sour candies in one day. But we love our readers and we want them to know which sour candy to buy when they crave a dose of puckery goodness in their lives. We do it all for you.
Of course, taste in sour candy is very personal, so don't get upset if you see one of your favorites languishing towards the bottom of this list. Hopefully, this article can serve as a general guide that explains what a variety of the most popular sour candies taste like. Here they are, from worst to first.
36. Warheads Spray
This is meant to be consumed as a stunt rather than for enjoyment. The flavor of Warheads Spray contains no perceptible sweetness despite the fact that sugar is listed as the first ingredient. Instead, all you get is harsh, artificial acidity. Your face has no choice but to pucker up into the spitting image of the guy in the Warheads logo. Your salivary glands try to rescue you by producing extra spit to flush out the terror, but it's too little, too late. Spraying this into our mouths also made our stomachs feel kind of funny.
This doesn't have a flavor so much as it produces a sensation. What little flavor there is tastes a bit like sour apple. That could be due to the presence of malic acid, which, according to Verywell Health, is the type of acid that occurs within apples.
Warheads Spray tastes like what we imagine the stuff we spray on our dogs' legs to keep them from licking themselves tastes like. It is not food. It exists only to inflict pain.
35. Cherry Sours
We noticed that cherry sours are made by several different store brands. The ones we picked up happened to come from Kroger but, depending on where you live, you might find different varieties of these bright red, spherical candies. They look sort of like maraschino cherries.
The Kroger cherry sours weren't very good. When we bit in, the soft shell quickly yielded to an unpleasantly gritty, gummy interior. The texture was similar to cheap jelly beans and we really didn't enjoy all the crunchy bits inside of the filling.
The flavor was also a disappointment. Cherry-flavored candy can be great or it can taste like cough syrup. This candy had a pronounced medicinal flavor. Once we got over the initial rush of cherry cough syrup, we were hit by an overtly artificial wave of sourness. These take a while to chew through, so this mix of flavors lingers on your tongue for much longer than it is welcome.
34. Sour Punch Twists
These are little candy ropes with ridges reminiscent of Twizzlers, cut into pieces around an inch long and individually wrapped. The exteriors of Sour Punch Twists are dusted with a hefty amount of acidic sugar.
The Twizzler parallels don't stop at just the ridges. Apart from the sugar coating, the taste and texture of Sour Punch Twists are dead ringers for Twizzlers or Red Vines. They're surprisingly firm, with the distinct waxiness we associate with red licorice. Also like red licorice, the candy itself has a bland, slightly starchy flavor (one of the main ingredients is wheat flour). The bag we bought was supposed to contain grape, lemon, fruit punch, and blue raspberry flavors but, apart from the different colors, we couldn't really tell the difference between the varieties.
While the candy itself was too muted, the tart sugar dust on the outside was excessive. It was quite acidic and had a chemical flavor that didn't even taste like food to us.
33. Airheads Xtremes Sourfuls Rainbow Berry
Let's be blunt: these candies are bad. The outside is hard and tough, like uncooked pasta. The filling, which we guess should be a little softer, is just as hard to get through as the outside.
We're not going to penalize these for not tasting like real fruit, but they don't even taste like fruit candy. Instead, we would describe the flavor as cotton candy-like. The aroma gives big cotton candy vibes.
When you bite into one, you experience the overly sweet cotton candy taste for a second, and then it's swamped by an overwhelming wave of citric acid. The sour taste is unpleasant, as if we had accidentally squirted a little bit of window cleaner into our mouths. These candies definitely bring a strong sourness, but with no pleasant flavor behind it, the pain isn't worth it. Most of the other candies on this list will treat you much better.
32. Smart Sweets Sour Blast Buddies
These are clearly supposed to be a healthy alternative to Sour Patch Kids. They're sweetened with allulose, which WebMD reports is a sugar that's found in fruits like raisins and figs. It also has 90% fewer calories than normal sugar and is only 70% as sweet as sucrose. These gummies also contain chicory root fiber. One bag gives you a jaw-dropping 46% of your daily value of fiber with only 100 calories and 3 grams of sugar.
But do they taste as good as Sour Patch Kids? You probably know the answer already: they're quite bland compared to the unhealthy version. The gummies themselves are harder and less pliable than Sour Patch Kids. Most tragically, they don't really have a crunchy coating. They're decently sour, but they're hardly sweet at all, so they feel unbalanced. If you're really hurting for gummy candy but have dietary restrictions, these might be okay, but they really don't make for a great substitute.
31. Sour Punch Strawberry Straws
We're not exactly sure why, but the Sour Punch Straws are slightly better than the Sour Punch Twists. They taste less stale, with a significantly softer texture that didn't remind us of wax at all. They still had a slightly starchy flavor, but we could also detect the artificial strawberry flavoring, which was not at all unpleasant. The rope shape is fun to snack on.
The acidic sugar powder on the outside of these is truly brutal. We pretty much immediately got heartburn after eating a couple of the Sour Punch Strawberry Straws. The sourness manifested as an unpleasant burning sensation towards the backs of our tongues, and these candies made us salivate in a way that we didn't enjoy. While the gummy candy interior was actually quite enjoyable, the intensity of the sour coating made eating these rather unpleasant. On the plus side, they smelled great, kind of like a strawberry-scented candle.
30. Fun Dip
Fun Dip requires some assembly. The packet contains two Lik-A-Stix, basically little tongue depressors made of hard candy. They're not sour at all and have the generic, chalky sweetness of PEZ or Necco Wafers.
However, the stick is bland by design, as the dipping powder is where the true flavor lies. The package we bought contained three flavors: Grape Yumptious, Cherry Yum Diddly, and RazzApple Magic. To consume Fun Dip, you lick the stick, dip it into one of the powders, and then lick the powder off. The RazzApple powder wasn't really sour at all, the CherryYum Diddly was a little acidic, and the Grape Yumptious was quite puckery.
The powders made our tongues feel weird, kind of like very mild Pop Rocks. The taste is purely industrial and not natural at all. The dipping element of this candy is novel, but everything else about it is subpar.
29. Smart Sweets Sourmelon Bites
In addition to making a Sour Patch Kids copy, Smart Sweets also makes sour watermelons. These are definitely more flavorful than the Sour Blast Buddies. Each bite gives you a healthy zing of acidity, and they actually taste like watermelon candy. They still aren't as sweet as we would like, and we're missing the crunchy sugar coating. We have a feeling that these deficiencies come from the limitations of working with allulose.
Like the Sour Blast Buddies, these treats are 100 calories per bag and contain an almost frightening amount of fiber. We like them more than Smart Sweets' other offering, but their texture is a little off-putting. The gummies are tough, leathery, and stick to your teeth like glue. We had to floss after we ate these to get all the pieces out of our mouths. If you don't mind the texture, these are the better of the two healthy gummies we tested.
28. Airheads Xtremes Bites Rainbow Berry
These are basically like the long Airheads Xtremes belts but cut up into small pieces. We're not exactly sure what Rainbow Berry is supposed to taste like and these didn't clear that up for us. We didn't even really taste much fruit flavor in these at all, fake or otherwise. That said, they're not bad. The thing these do best is the balance of sweet and sour. They bring enough acidity to make your mouth pucker, but not so much that you can't eat them by the handful. They also look super fun, with a spectrum of colors in each piece.
The texture of these could use some work, however. We like a gummy that's a little chewy, but these put up more resistance than we'd like. They're leathery and a little bit tough. Anyone who's left a bag of gummy candy open overnight knows how quickly this kind of candy can go stale. It's possible that we just got a bag that had been sitting around for too long, but it was hard for us to get past the texture.
27. Nerds
Nerds don't really advertise themselves as sour candy, but trust us: They bring the acid. In fact, all you can really taste when you eat them is sourness and sweetness, with little to no fruit flavor. They look like little rocks in a rainbow of unnatural colors. They're almost as hard as rocks too, with a smooth crunchy outer shell encasing a crumbly interior.
There is a lot of size variation between individual Nerds. The smallest ones are like large grains of sugary sand, while one Nerd in our box was as big as a pinto bean. The big ones are kind of difficult to deal with because of the strong sour flavor.
As a standalone candy, Nerds are pretty unwieldy. You have to pour them into your hand and then carefully transfer them to your mouth. It's easy to accidentally scatter the little bits everywhere. They're also just kind of one-note in flavor. We would never eat a whole box at once. Nerds are at their best when incorporated into other confections.
26. Juicy Drop Gummy Dip 'N Stix
Juicy Drop Gummy Dip 'N Stix are one of the wilder candies we tested for this ranking. As the name suggests, they're a dip-based confection. You get a little plastic cup with red gummy sticks surrounding a smaller plastic cup filled with murky-looking syrup. Although the sticks are covered with coarse sugar, they're not actually sour at all. In fact, they tasted incredibly similar to Swedish Fish. We enjoyed them on their own.
Dipping the sticks into the syrup reminded us a lot of dipping French fries in ketchup. The syrup was too powerful for us and tasted like fake sour apple amped up to an unpleasant degree. We couldn't taste the sticks at all after they had been dunked. This product was a fun novelty, but as food, it wasn't the best. It also used a ton of packaging materials for a relatively small amount of candy, which we didn't love.
25. Fruit Gushers Super Sour Berry
We wen were growing up, Fruit Gushers were some of the coolest candies out there. The commercials were hilarious, and there was something super fun about biting into one and feeling the sugar syrup inside ooze out.
Perhaps our memories of Gushers were enhanced by nostalgia because we were disappointed by these sour ones. Our main problem was that they didn't really gush. Some had no liquid center at all, and those that did only contained a tiny bit of thick syrup.
On the positive side, unlike many of the candies on this list, the different colors actually tasted distinct. Some were pretty sour, while others were mostly sweet. The sourness was incorporated into the gummy shell of the Gusher itself rather than relegated to a dusting of sugar. Honestly, they tasted pretty good, but our feelings of betrayal regarding the lack of dramatic gushing prevent us from rating these higher.
24. Trolli Sour Brite Crawlers Very Berry
Each of these gummy worms is two-toned, which is supposed to correspond with two berry flavors. All told, there are three different two-flavor combinations in a package: raspberry-blueberry, strawberry-blackberry, and blue Raspberry-berry punch. We would be lying if we told you that we could taste any difference between the flavors.
Despite the fact that they all tasted the same, these weren't bad. Sour Brite Crawlers have a very different texture than other brands of gummy candy: soft and bouncy, with an almost aerated, fluffy texture. The mouthfeel is the most appealing part of these gummy worms. Trolli isn't shy about dumping a ton of sour sugar on these, which gives the outsides of the worms a pleasantly gritty crunch. The balance of acidity to sweetness was pretty good, but the sugar coating had an astringent, bitter aftertaste that lingered on our palates long after we were done tasting them.
23. Warheads Cubes
Given how extreme some Warheads products are, we were surprised at how chill the Warheads Cubes were. They come in a variety of colors that all basically taste like fruit punch, with a starchier texture than some of the other gummy candies on this list. That's probably due to the fact that they're thickened with corn starch instead of gelatin. They had a very thick layer of sour sugar on the outside, which gave them a satisfying crunch and didn't taste overly artificial.
While these weren't bad, we also had to wonder why Warheads was bothering to make such a tame candy. When you see the Warheads logo, you expect your mouth to be thoroughly assaulted with citric acid. If you want sour gummies that actually taste good, that's what Sour Patch Kids are for. Warheads should stay in the ridiculous lane it has carved out for itself.
22. Trolli Sour Brite Crawlers Fruit Punch
There are only two flavors in this bag of Sour Brite Crawlers. The yellow-and-blue worms are berry punch, while the orange-and-pink ones are tropical punch. Unlike the Very Berry variety, we could actually distinguish between the two flavors. The berry punch worms were sourer and had a slightly lemony flavor. The tropical punch ones, on the other hand, had more of an orange-pineapple-mango vibe. All in all, these worms deliver on their fruit punch promise, which was a pleasant surprise.
The sour powder on the outside of these is more subdued than in the Very Berry bag. These are still definitely sour gummies, but the fruit flavor is a bigger part of the taste experience than the sour sugar. Overall, these were quite tasty. However, despite the mild levels of tartness, there was still an unpleasant chemical aftertaste from the sour powder that detracted from the experience.
21. Ice Breakers Sours
Unlike any of the other candies on this list, these aren't gummy candy; instead, they're little capsules of hard candy. They're also sugar-free. Ice Breakers Sours are sweetened with sorbitol and aspartame instead of sugar. The pieces are mostly white with little flecks of color that represent the three flavors: watermelon, green apple, and tangerine. We guess that the color specks are supposed to be the flavor crystals promised on the package, but we couldn't tell if they made any difference at all.
Regular Ice Breakers are mints, and while we didn't taste any mint in the sour version, the candy is similarly refreshing. You can really taste the differences between the flavors, but all three are about the same amount of sour. These are designed for you to suck on them for a while so they dissolve slowly. If you crunch down, they're very hard, and the flavor becomes a little too strong. If you're looking for a low-calorie way to get your sour fix, these are a pretty good option.
20. Mike and Ike Sour
We don't love regular Mike and Ikes. They're not bad, but we find the original fruit flavors to be a little one-note and overly sweet. The sour version is definitely an improvement on that front. The acidity adds some much-needed interest to the standard Mike and Ikes formula. We also enjoyed that the sourness was incorporated into the interior of the candy. There was no sour sugar dust on these, but there was plenty of tartness.
Each box contains an impressive 10 flavors, and each tastes unique. Some are much sourer than others. A particular favorite of ours was the pink flavor, Sour Slammin' Strawberry, which was both incredibly sweet and tart at the same time. These have the same texture as regular Mike and Ikes, which is rather jelly bean-like. A lightly grainy, gummy interior is surrounded by a soft shell. These were quite pleasant on the whole, though some of the more sour flavors were a little too astringent for us.
19. Nerds Rope
The ratio of Nerds to rope in this candy is quite high. The rope is red and super soft, verging on gelatinous. We couldn't really tell you what it tastes like other than sweet, as its flavor is completely overwhelmed by the tangy Nerds. It's merely a vehicle for the star of the show.
The Nerds enrobing the rope are surprisingly sour, though they are mellowed out slightly by the sweet rope. Still, their tartness dominates the proceedings. They add a serious amount of crunch as well.
One area where we were mildly disappointed by the Nerds Rope was build quality. The Nerds were attached very loosely to the rope, and as we ate it, many fell off and made a mess all over the table. It wasn't a dealbreaker, but it was a bit annoying. And if you tear the rope into pieces as the package encourages you to do, you'd lose a lot of candy, which is kind of a bummer.
18. Sour Patch Watermelons
Sour Patch knows what it's doing when building a gummy. These sour watermelons are quite soft, with an almost juicy mouthfeel. The light dusting of coarse, sour sugar on the outside of the pieces adds just enough textural contrast to keep things interesting. In terms of pure physical construction, these are exceptional. The watermelon pieces are slightly larger and thicker than the standard Sour Patch Kids, so they feel more substantial.
In the taste department, the Sour Patch Watermelons fall a little flat. They don't taste like watermelon at all. They don't even taste like the weird artificial watermelon candy flavor you get from other melon-flavored treats. Instead, the flavor is generically fruity, almost like a mixed-fruit punch. These gummies are also quite sweet, and the citric acid-spiked sugar on the outside doesn't do enough to balance that out, which is pretty disappointing for something that's supposed to be sour. These taste good, but they're not memorable.
17. Haribo Sour Streamers
When we buy a bag of candy, it's usually all going down that hatch in one sitting. Crushing a whole bag of these might actually be kind of difficult, however, as they are pretty intense. They're shaped like thin little ribbons, so there isn't that much sweet candy to soften the assault of the sour coating. These are only appropriate for people who are really into tart candy. The Haribo Sour Streamers made us salivate from all the acid, and even hurt the tips of our tongues.
If you can handle the pain, these are high-quality gummies. They're definitely on the firmer side, but that texture feels more like an intentional choice than a byproduct of staleness. They come in four flavors that all taste the same, but that's true of so many of the candies on this list that we can't hold that against them too much.
16. Baby Bottle Pop Strawberry
This is another novelty dipping candy. In this case, the mouthpiece of the baby bottle is actually a strawberry-flavored lollipop that had a sweet, strong fruit taste that really stood up well on its own, unlike the bland stick in Fun Dip. You're supposed to lick the lollipop and then dip it into the flavored sugar contained in the bottom of the baby bottle.
The dipping sugar was surprisingly bland. Unlike Fun Dip, where the dip was almost too intense, the Baby Bottle Pop powder has a very mild strawberry flavor, almost like plain powdered sugar. This was one of the least sour things in this ranking. The lollipop wasn't sour at all, and while the sugar had a little tang, it didn't hit us over the head with acidity. Perhaps some of the other flavors bring more pucker. Stll, diespite the timid acidity, the flavor of this Baby Bottle Pop was quite nice.
15. Airheads Xtremes Bluest Raspberry
Finally, we found an Airheads Xtremes product that didn't make us sad. These long, slender candy strips are flavored with the ever-mysterious, quasi-mythical blue raspberry flavor. Really, they just taste like what you imagine any blue-flavored product would. Fortunately, we enjoy that flavor, and it shines through in this candy. The strips are quite sweet and fruity. They also look great, with a patriotic red, white, and blue color scheme. We still found the flavor of the Airheads sour powder coating the outside to be a bit unpleasant, but it's balanced out by the tasty gummy underneath it in this case.
These also had a much better texture than any of the other Airheads products we tested. They were just chewy enough without going over the edge into toughness. They were a good bit softer than the Haribo Sour Streamers, the product on this list they most resemble.
14. Trolli Sour Gummy Creations Martian Mix
This bag of Trolli gummies comes filled with a variety of fun shapes that you can use to build your own U.F.O.-themed mega candies. We liked that some of the pieces were chunkier than a standard gummy worm, as the shape allowed us to enjoy the delightful texture of Trolli's gummies in a more substantial form.
Allegedly there are six fruit flavors in this bag, but the different colors were mostly indistinguishable. The one flavor that they all shared was quite tasty, however, so we weren't mad at the lack of variety. Said flavor was a kind of mixed-fruit taste that was hard to identify.
These were the least sour of any of the Trolli products we sampled. They tasted good, but we missed some of the tangy zip of the original Sour Brite Crawlers. We would still recommend these if you're a Trolli fan looking to switch it up.
13. Jolly Rancher Gummies Sours
These have a very soft, gelatinous texture, though the sugar dust on the outside does helps prevent them from sticking together. We really enjoyed the supple, almost juicy mouthfeel of the Jolly Rancher Gummies.
Another point in favor of the Jolly Ranchers Sours is that the fruit flavorings really shine through. They don't taste at all like real fruit, but they taste strong. We particularly enjoyed the cherry and watermelon flavors. They're also shaped like little fruits, which is fun.
This might be sacrilegious, but we actually enjoyed these more than regular Jolly Rancher hard candies. With hard candies, you either have to suck on them for a long time, which we're always too impatient to do, or crunch down and endanger your dental work. We found the soft gummies to be a lot more user-friendly. The sweet, fruity flavors combined with the acidity of the sugar coating also made these easy to eat by the handful.
12. Trolli Sour Brite Crawlers
It's quite strange to us how big of a quality difference there can be between different flavors of the same product. The original bag of Trolli Sour Brite Crawlers, for instance, was noticeably tastier than the Fruit Punch. That was, in turn, better than the Very Berry.
For some reason, the chemical aftertaste that bothered us in the other two bags was almost completely absent from the original flavor mix. This bag has three flavors: strawberry-grape, cherry-lemon, and orange-lime. They were all good, but strawberry-grape was best, as the almost floral notes of the fake berry flavoring mixed well with the sour sugar.
These were more sour than the fruit punch Sour Brite Crawlers, but the coating tasted less fake and didn't linger on our tongues as long. As with all Trolli products, the texture of these is spot-on. You have to chew them a bit, but they also feel nicely supple.
11. Twizzlers Sweet and Sour Filled Twists
As you might have guessed from reading our comments about the Sour Punch Twists above, we're not usually the biggest fans of Twizzlers. We know these candies have passionate fanbases, but they've always seemed starchy, bland, and waxy to us. So, we had low expectations for these Twizzlers Filled Twists. We are happy to report that these totally changed the way we think about Twizzlers products.
The outsides are soft, stretchy, and pleasantly tangy. The insides are filled with a sweet and sour goo. There are two flavors in the bag: Sweet Cherry Kick and Sour Citrus Punch. As you would expect, the citrus-flavored Twizzlers are a little tangier than the cherry-flavored ones, but even the latter has a pleasant amount of acidity. We extracted the filling so we could taste it on its own; it tasted nearly the same as the gummy candy surrounding it. These had more pronounced fruit flavors than many of the other candies on this list, which we quite enjoyed.
10. Warheads Extreme Sour
These hard candies are classic Warheads. When you first put one in your mouth, be prepared to be totally overwhelmed by acid for about 15 seconds. The wrappers even warn you that eating too many too quickly can irritate your mouth. As such, it was a struggle to not spit the candy out during the initial sour phase. Our eyes watered, our tongues burned, and our teeth clenched. Just when we thought we couldn't take it anymore, the sour layer wore away. The rest of the candy is a gently sweet lemon sucker, a welcome reward for the pain of the first few seconds.
Although the initial sour kick of Warheads is super unpleasant, they're overall a fun experience. You get the intense challenge of the initial rush of acidity, but it's balanced with tasty sweetness. We can see why we loved these so much as little kids. Candy is supposed to be fun, so we're ranking these pretty high.
9. Lucas Sweet N' Sour Mango
Lucas Sweet N' Sour Mango is a powder that comes in a tiny little bottle. It's super intense, and not just because it's sour. A peek at the ingredients list shows that it contains hefty doses of salt and chili powder in addition to sugar and citric acid. The salt and chili give an intriguing savory-sweet edge to the powder that really makes it stand out. The spiciness is very present in the overall taste experience. Each little pour of powder shot a burst of flavor up our noses. Our sinuses felt very clear after tasting this candy.
While it was delicious on its own, we could see this candy making for a very good condiment as well. We're excited to experiment with shaking it over freshly-cut fruit such as mangos, strawberries, and pineapple. It's sort of like a sweeter version of Tajín seasoning.
8. Juicy Drop Pop Knock-Out Punch
Juicy Drop really goes all-out when designing its sour novelty candies. The packaging for the Juicy Drop Pop looks like a miniature rocket ship made out of plastic. The base of the rocket ship contains a fruit punch-flavored lollipop with a groovy orange-and-red swirl color. It tasted almost exactly like Hawaiian Punch, which we had no complaints about whatsoever.
The tip of the rocket is filled with a sour goo that's almost like the dipping sauce from the Juicy Drop Dip 'N Stix. The idea is that you squeeze some of this liquid onto a little groove in the lollipop and lick it off. The liquid was definitely sour, but not unpleasantly so. It tasted like green apple and added just the right amount of acidity to the lollipop, ultimately giving it a more complex flavor. Unlike the Dip 'N Stix, the two components were better together than either by itself.
7. Sour Skittles
Since Skittles is a relative newcomer to the sour candy game, we were expecting these to be pretty mild, but the first one we tasted literally made our eyes water. We were also surprised that the different colors tasted quite distinct from each other. To our palates, all normal Skittles taste the same, but each flavor of Sour Skittles was its own experience. The lemon and lime ones were the most sour, orange was in the middle, and grape and strawberry were sweeter.
The inside was the same as a normal Skittle: chewy and slightly grainy. The center was coated with the standard candy shell, which was itself covered with a rough layer of tart sugar. The double layer of coating gave these candies a super satisfying crunch that we loved. These are worth checking out if you're a Skittles fan looking for new flavors to try or if you're a sour candy aficionado.
6. Juicy Drop Gummies Knock-Out Punch
This is another wildly elaborate product from Juicy Drop, this time with two components. The first is a pouch of red fruit punch-flavored gummies covered with sweet sugar. They're not acidic at all, but sweet and fruity. They're not the greatest gummies we've had, but they're pleasant enough. Each is cup-shaped, with a deep depression on top.
The second component is a plastic pen about the size of a Sharpie containing a bright red sour gel. You're supposed to squirt the gel into the hole on the top of each gummy and eat both together. The sourness of the gel more than compensates for the mildness of the gummies. You can still taste the fruit punch, but the gel makes it tangy and delicious. We especially enjoyed that you could choose how sour to make your gummy by dosing out your desired amount of tart juice from the pen.
5. SweeTarts Ropes Sour Apple
SweeTarts Ropes come in several flavors, including tangy strawberry, cherry punch, and a couple of twisted varieties that combine multiple colors. We sampled the sour apple variety, as it seemed like it would be the sourest. It's definitely puckery enough to qualify as sour candy, but it's not sharp enough to satisfy the people who want their candy to hurt. We enjoyed the balance between sweetness and acidity and thought it had just the right amount of pucker.
The outside of the rope is a soft, slightly gummy candy with a hole running down the middle. It was pleasantly pliable and tasted fresh. The inside was filled with white frosting. We were surprised to find that when we dissected the rope and tasted each element individually, the frosting ended up being significantly sourer than the outer shell. Overall, the candy tasted like the artificial green apple flavor you've likely encountered in other treats. Nothing about it tasted natural, but we loved it.
4. Nerds Gummy Clusters
Nerds Gummy Clusters are a symphony of different colors, tastes, and textures. This is one of the most complex sour candies we tried. The inside of each cluster is a soft, fresh-tasting red gummy candy that's not sour at all. We're not sure if it's supposed to be strawberry- or cherry-flavored, but it definitely tastes like red candy fruit.
The pleasantly bouncy center is coated in Nerds, which add a delicious, audible crunch and a decent amount of sourness. I'ts really satisfying to feel the hard exterior yield to the soft, rubbery interior. Unlike the Nerds Rope, the candies on the outside of the clusters are firmly embedded in their gummy substrate.
Since these aren't super sour, they don't make your tongue feel weird or irritate your mouth. We thought we detected a slight fizzing sensation from the Nerds, but that may have just been our imaginations. It's quite easy to eat way too many of these in a sitting.
3. Sour Patch Blue Raspberry
If you only like the blue Sour Patch Kids, then this bag of candy has your name written all over it. According to the bag, blue is the "nationwide winning color," so apparently, there are a lot of you folks out there.
These are very good. Like the Sour Patch Watermelons, the texture of the gummy is incredible. It's a little bit firmer than the watermelons, but not so much that it reads as tough. Since these are smaller than the watermelons, the ratio of sweet candy to tart sugar coating slants a little more towards the sour end of the spectrum. Sour Patch Blue Raspberry candies are very balanced, with enough sourness to make your mouth tingle if you eat a bunch in a row, but not enough to become unpleasant. The sour coating also tastes noticeably less chemical-forward than many other brands' offerings.
However, for us, this package's main selling point is also its greatest downfall. Blue raspberry simply isn't our favorite flavor of Sour Patch Kids. We prefer the classic mixed package over this monochromatic version.
2. Haribo Sour Goldbears
Haribo original Goldbears are the platonic ideal of gummy bears that all other gummy bears shoot for, so we had high hopes for the company's sour version of the iconic treat. These met our expectations, and then some. Texture-wise, Haribo makes gummies for people who want their candy to fight back a little. Unlike some gummies that you can munch on by the handful, these require serious chewing and are best eaten one at a time. They're a real jaw muscle workout, but not in a bad way.
The gummy interiors of these bears taste the same as the normal version. Each color tastes different and is reasonably reminiscent of the fruit it's supposed to mimic. Strangely, the green bears are strawberry-flavored. The sour coating of crunchy sugar brings a little bit of some acidity, but it doesn't overwhelm the mild fruit taste of the bears. We could easily eat a whole bag.
1. Sour Patch Kids
The original mixed bag of Sour Patch Kids is truly the apex of sour gummy candy. The texture is perfect, with just enough chew to keep you interested. The coating of sour sugar on the outside is thick and crunchy and actually tastes like sour citrus instead of laboratory chemicals. The fruit flavors are sweet and recognizable. Orange tastes like orange, strawberry tastes like (artificial) strawberry, and so on. While there is some variety in the sourness of each flavor, none are too weak or too strong.
For a sour candy to be great, it needs to be sour enough to make you wince a bit but not so much that it becomes a challenge instead of food. Sour Patch Kids strike that balance perfectly. If they were any sourer, they'd be hard to eat, but they're just mild enough to keep you reaching for more. That's why they take the top spot on this ranking.