Wednesday, March 4, 2009

New Flavors: Skittles Sour & Wonka Runts

Sour SkittlesFrom time to time candy formulas change enough that I think the product deserves a re-evaluation.

Skittles Sour have shifted their flavor array. Originally Sour Skittles were just a sour dusted version of the Fruit Skittles in Strawberry, Orange, Lemon, Grape and Lime.

Somewhere along the way they dumped the Lime in favor of Blue Raspberry (which is a bit odd, considering that limes are the only other naturally super sour fruit besides lemon). I reviewed this version back in 2007.

Sour SkittlesThe newest version of Skittles features two new flavors: Green Apple and Watermelon. They’re subbing in for Orange and Grape.

So the new version is: Lemon, Strawberry, Blue Raspberry, Watermelon and Green Apple.

I think the addition of Green Apple is a natural evolution. It’s not one of my ideal flavors but really lends itself to a super-tangy version like this. The flavor was completely artificial, like some sort of off-gassing of some fresh plastic product, but that’s not necessarily a turnoff when it comes to ultra-artificial candies like Skittles.

The Watermelon is one of those bees in my bonnet. Unripe watermelon isn’t even sour, it’s just a different texture and lacking in sweetness ... it’s not like an unripe apple or strawberry. In this instance is a fake watermelon with a super burning blast of sour powder. It reminded me, though, of salty watermelon because of the sharp shock to the tongue.

Sour Skittles have their fanatical following, so I think it’s important for Skittles to cater to them. In my ideal candy world, the Sour Skittles would be more like the Crazy Cores, with a non-powdery shell that has the super tart blast and then the nicely flavored chew center. They’re really messy and even sealed packages are dusty and leave a sour residue on my fingers before I’ve even opened it. For me, I really only love the lemon one, so it’s not worth it for me to buy them.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Runts

The other new tweak on the market is Wonka Runts which seems to change their flavors about every 18 months lately. (Here’s my last review from March 2008.)

When originally introduced in 1982 Runts were Banana, Orange, Lime, Cherry and Strawberry. Each candy was shaped in some way like the fruit they were flavored for. Bananas are banana shaped, Oranges were little spheres, Strawberries were hearts, Limes were footballs and so on.

Then in the 90s instead of just a single substitution, Lime was removed and two new flavors were added, Watermelon and Blue Raspberry. Sometime in late 2007 there was a shift again and Watermelon, Cherry and Blue Raspberry left in favor of the more tropical Mango (a large football) and Pineapple (actually pineapple shaped!). I really liked the pineapple but many folks complained not only about the loss of their favorite flavors over the years, but also that the color variation was very citrusy.

So early this year I spotted the newest change.

Runts are now: Green Apple, Grape, Strawberry, Orange and Banana.

I was pretty excited about the Grape. They’re a big ovoid, I think the same mold as the Mango was. They’re extremely purple, but have that great fake grape flavor of SweeTarts or Spree.

The Green Apple is okay, but the addition of this flavor to the mix along with Grape makes this very similar to SweeTarts (though Banana still keeps these closer to the long-gone Wacky Wafers).

After munching on these for several days (it was a big 7 ounce box) I’m left with only the Green Apple ones, which aren’t bad so much as they were just more prevalent in my mix. (I really could have used more Orange and Grape.)

Of the two candies, simply because I bought this theater box at the Dollar Tree, it’s a really good deal - 7 ounces of candy for a buck, versus the 80 cents or so for the Skittles.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Related Candies

  1. Skittles Crazy Cores
  2. Gobstopper Heart Breakers
  3. Skittles Chocolate Mix
  4. Skittles (Fruits, Wild Berry, Tropical, Smoothies & Sour)
  5. Runts Freckled Eggs
  6. HiCHEW Assortment
  7. SweeTarts: Chicks, Ducks & Bunnies (2006)
Name: Sour Skittles & Runts
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Mars & Wonka (Nestle)
Place Purchased: CandyWarehouse & Dollar Tree (Harbor City)
Price: $.80 & $1.00
Size: 1.8 ounces & 7 ounces
Calories per ounce: 115 & 113
Categories: Chew, Chalk, Sour, Skittles, United States, Mars, Nestle

POSTED BY Cybele AT 10:19 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. There are also the new flavors in the chewy runts, which I quite enjoy. Although the pineapple and mango were pretty awesome in the chewy runt flavors as well.

    Comment by Shani on 3/04/09 at 11:07 am #
  2. Peloria's avatar

    Am I the only one who misses the lime Runts?  They were my favorite.  Those and cherry - which are gone now too, darn it. 

    Excited to try the grape and green apple though!

    Comment by Peloria on 3/04/09 at 12:03 pm #
  3. I just want a box of entirely banana Runts. Do they sell that or do I have to keep separating them by hand?

    Comment by Cristin on 3/04/09 at 12:46 pm #
  4. bettyfelon's avatar

    After strawberry, lime was my favorite skittle flavor. I’m disappointed to see it go

    Comment by bettyfelon on 3/04/09 at 10:29 pm #
  5. holy crap, and there’s surfing banana and skateboarding grape on the box!  I want to frame it.

    Comment by the pizza on 3/05/09 at 3:09 am #
  6. I don’t like the disappearance of lime flavored candies. Lime is almost always my favorite! It’s difficult to find lime flavored candy now :(

    Comment by Shannon on 3/05/09 at 6:56 am #
  7. I would love it if they would put all of the flavors together! I do love my banana and so hope they won’t get rid of that!

    Comment by kelly on 3/05/09 at 7:39 am #
  8. Tricia's avatar

    Peloria, I really liked lime Runts, too! They were my second favorite (after banana).

    Comment by Tricia on 3/05/09 at 8:55 am #
  9. As far as I’m concerned, Sour Skittles are the best candy they’ve come up with yet.  Skittles are one of my favorite fruity candies, although the new chocolate ones are absolutely awful.  The Sour version is fabulous.  As far as I can tell, it’s simply regular Skittles with a very sour powder on the outside.  Want a “rush”?  Tap the residual powder from the package into your mouth when they’re gone!  Yikes!

    Comment by The Educated Fool on 3/05/09 at 9:27 am #
  10. wow- I can’t believe the banana ones are so popular.  We don’t like them and can’t even get the dog to eat them.

    Comment by lynn on 3/05/09 at 11:21 am #
  11. Although I am too loyal to previous sour skittle flavours, and have some *horrid* childhood experiences with the flavour Watermelon, I eventually tried it and I liked it. Next time I should keep my stubborn-ness tamed.

    As for Runts, I have never tried these due to the reason that I simply despise the flavour of banana. It makes me sick, bleh! But I have a bad feeling that they would taste too artificial and may make me waste a dollar.

    Comment by Jen on 3/06/09 at 9:46 pm #
  12. i like these a lot. my favorite is…...umm…they now have mango and that is my favorite

    Comment by Olivia on 3/20/09 at 9:35 am #
  13. I made a petition to bring back the old flavors. It’s at http://petitionspot.com/petitions/originalruntflavors

    Comment by DonPianta on 4/12/09 at 8:52 am #
  14. I just tried the new run flavors. I am not crazy about the grape. It tastes kind of like licorice to me! My favorites will always be strawberry followed by the beloved lime flavored ones. I hate the bananas. I always have a little pile on my desk when i’m sorting through them. Those go straight to the garbage!

    Comment by J on 6/06/09 at 1:22 pm #
  15. We were unable to clip our granddaughters seat belt and took our vehicle into the service department.  After they checked it out they found there was a skittle jammed into the clip and could not get it out. Our warranty will not cover this so we are trying to remove it ourselves.  Do you have any ideas how to get it out?

    Comment by JoAnn Carlson on 7/13/09 at 9:01 am #
  16. I miss the old sour skittles. Why did they change them? I’ve tried all the other skittles and nothing is an good as the old sour skittles. Now they are just the original flavor with sour dusting. Even then some of ones in the bag are bare. I really hope they bring the old one’s back!

    Comment by Chris Thomason on 8/29/09 at 8:05 am #
  17. I love the green apple, sour raspberry, and watermelon so much more than the other version. It’s like they cheaped out, instead of creating new flavors they just covered the ones they already had with sour coating. Plus the coating needs to be much thicker.

    Comment by Erinn on 2/09/10 at 4:53 pm #
  18. I adore runts.In fact, I’m actually eating some now, from a 5 oz box! :D They are so delicious that I just can’t resist them. I’m always pawing through the box searching for my favorite flavor, which is definitely banana, followed by grape, orange, lime and finally strawberry. I wish that they made a box of runts with just bananas; I would buy ten!

    Comment by Katte on 12/28/13 at 10:31 am #
  19. What r the current runts flavors?  May 2014

    Comment by agrich candy llc on 5/13/14 at 2:34 am #
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