Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Skittles Riddles

Skittles RiddlesI’ve been waiting for a new variety of Skittles to come along to blow me out of the water. Something that really turns expectations about Skittles on their ear, like the Skittles Carnival limited edition version a few years back. Mostly I’ve been hoping for Skittles Soda Pop: cola, root beer, lemon-lime, orange and grape soda. But that doesn’t look likely. Instead I picked up this teal blue bag of their newest called Skittles Riddles.

The newest version of Skittles have a new set of flavors and a new twist. The riddle is that The Colors Don’t Match the Flavors. There are the standard set of five colors, in this case aqua, light green, blue, red and pink. The flavors are apple, strawberry, punch, watermelon and raspberry. And as they note, they won’t necessarily match up with their colors. Some of the flavors aren’t actually that new, raspberry, strawberry and punch are found in other mixes.

Skittles Riddles

My big curiosity was whether or not the color swap would be consistent throughout the bag. Would all blues be the same flavor, or would it be completely randomized? My initial observation is that they’re randomized. (Though limited, I found one flavor in three colors at most.)

Watermelon was unmistakeable. The first time it was a dark red, another time it was aqua. It was like a Jolly Rancher in chew form. The flavor dissipates fast, but comes on strong.
Punch was strong, like a big chewy glop of Hawaiian Punch. I don’t care much for the flavor, and not having that ruby red color to warn me was a little discomforting.
Strawberry was, well, the classic Skittles strawberry. Sweet, floral, tangy and very consistent. It tasted a little like a strawberry kiwi.
Apple was a strongly artificial flavor, very little of an apple juice or apple peel note. In my case, it was actually green.
Raspberry was hard to find, I had to eat a lot of these before I stumbled on this one. It was subtle, a little tangy but missing the jam and floral notes I like in a raspberry candy.

On the whole, I like the idea of mixing up expectations. But one thing that I like about Skittles is how I eat them. I like to line them up, grouped by color and then eat them in matched pairs. When I get to the end with the singles, I like to keep my citrus flavors together and mix my grape with strawberry. With this version, I simply can’t do that. I can’t ever be sure I’m putting two of the same flavor together, and not all of the flavors actually go together well. I didn’t like watermelon combined with anything else and strawberry probably would have gone well with raspberry.

It’ll be fun for folks who don’t actually look at the colors and it is nice to see new flavors. But I’m still waiting for my Citrus Mix or Soda Pop. The novelty flavors like Crazy Cores and Fizzl’d Fruits are wearing thin and I don’t even want to talk about the poor execution of the Chocolate Skittles.

Skittles are gelatin free now and labeled as gluten free. There’s no statement about other allergens like nuts, eggs or gluten.

UPDATE 11/28/2012: Wrigley’s in the UK will be introducing a version of these called Skittles Confused (I believe they were a Sainsbury exclusive limited edition back in 2008.)

Related Candies

  1. Mystery Smarties
  2. Skittles Blenders
  3. Skittles Fizzl’d Fruits
  4. Skittles Crazy Cores
  5. Skittles Carnival Flavors
  6. Skittles (Fruits, Wild Berry, Tropical, Smoothies & Sour)
  7. Skittles Fresh Mint
  8. Skittles Ice Cream


Name: Skittles Riddles
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Wrigley’s
Place Purchased: Target (West Hollywood)
Price: $3.39
Size: 14 ounces
Calories per ounce: 110
Categories: Candy, Mars, Wrigley's, Chews, 7-Worth It, United States, Target

POSTED BY Cybele AT 10:17 am Tracker Pixel for Entry     CandyReviewSkittlesMarsWrigley'sChews7-Worth ItUnited StatesTarget

Comments
  1. Skittles are gelatin free now?  Thanks so much for mentioning that.  I never would have checked!  Thanks always for your blog and the effort you put into it!

    Comment by Laura on 1/25/12 at 10:31 am #
  2. When I ate these, I found it very difficult to distinguish the flavors. The only two that really stood out to me were fruit punch and watermelon.

    I agree about wanting Citrus Skittles; the Australian ones are excellent, especially the grapefruit flavor. And I really like the Soda Pop idea. Maybe they could even contain those little carbonated pieces like in the Fanta Hi-Chew candies!

    Comment by Lauren on 1/25/12 at 4:28 pm #
  3. At least you still have grape skittles. We have to make do with blackcurrant now. :(

    Comment by Leigh on 1/26/12 at 12:34 pm #
  4. Cybele's avatar

    Leigh - I did buy some Skittles in Germany, just to remind myself about the Blackcurrant. They’re just not like grape ... to sedate, to much like overboiled fruit jam.

    Lauren - I still haven’t found the Fanta HiCHEW here in the states yet. I just couldn’t bring myself to order online and pay about $5 per package.

    Laura - the change happened about two years ago. Starburst still have gelatin though.

    Comment by Cybele on 1/26/12 at 12:38 pm #
  5. The soda Skittles idea is fantastic. How have they not tried that yet and how can we make this happen as soon as possible?! Oh, and I totally agree about the Chocolate Skittles thing. That was a disaster.

    Comment by Alyssa on 1/26/12 at 12:49 pm #
  6. haha oh wow chocolate skittles sounds repulsive. but I think the idea of mixing the colors and flavors is interesting and new

    Comment by Colleen on 1/26/12 at 7:27 pm #
  7. This ruins my favorite candy taste test game! I like to put fruit flavored candy in my mouth and try to guess which it is.

    Although, trying to guess even though you know the color would still be fun!

    Comment by Eric on 1/31/12 at 4:03 pm #
  8. I am allergic to Strawberries and Raspberries well and berries with seeds on the outside skin. I was curious if you were allergic to this particular candy. Google directed me his to this outstanding blog. Please check out mine, if you feel like reading a indian girl’s lifestory *wink*

    Let me know… please.. I bought a share size and I am waiting to dive in like literally 3 days now, want to dive in.

    Kavi

    Comment by Kavi_Kris on 3/05/12 at 8:43 pm #
  9. You say, “Watermelon was unmistakeable. The first time it was a dark red, another time it was aqua.”

    However, the Watermelon flavor is always RED (never aqua).  You are mistaken in this.

    I’m about halfway through a one-pound bag.  Watermelon is RED.  Fruit Punch is GREEN.

    Comment by Freelancer on 5/17/12 at 2:59 pm #
  10. Wish I could buy them here in Germany. I love american candy but always have to import the best of them cause they’re not avalable here :-(

    Comment by Daniel on 5/24/12 at 2:23 am #
  11. This is what my taste buds are telling me.
    Green-Punch
    Pink-Apple
    Blue-Strawberry
    Aqua-Raspberry
    Red-Watermelon
    It never changes BUT that’s the beauty of the riddle!!! If you eat them together there are notes in each that can trick your taste buds in any direction:-) Its all a matter of perception:-)

    Comment by Chef Sarah on 5/26/12 at 11:05 pm #
  12. Almost positive now (4 bags later) red-strawberry pink-apple green-punch blue-watermelon and aqua-raspberry. For me apple and strawberry were the easy ones it took me another bag to sort out the other 3 now i love them!

    Comment by crizt on 5/28/12 at 11:59 pm #
  13. The flavors never change in a color.
    Red=watermelon
    Green=punch
    Blue=strawberry
    Pink=apple
    Teal=raspberry
    I almost had two 2 oz bags of Skittles Riddles and I didn’t notice any flavor difference. The teal ones were delicious.

    If the colors matched the flavors they would be:
    Red=strawberry
    Green=apple
    Pink=watermlon
    Teal=Punch
    Blue=Raspberry

    Comment by colgatepony234 on 5/29/12 at 3:28 pm #
  14. I hope there is a new Skittles flavor in 2013.

    Comment by benamore on 9/30/12 at 10:10 am #
  15. i hate green apple and i cant seem to get one that doesnt taste like it… i hate this stupid riddles skittles!!! ...the soda idea sounds pretty good ! P:

    Comment by ss on 10/17/12 at 2:36 pm #
  16. Flavor timeline:
    1974: Original Skittles introduced.
    1989: Wild Berry and Tropical Skittles introduced.
    1992: Tart and Tangy Skittles were discontinued and replaced with Sour Skittles in 2000.
    2000: Sour Skittles are introduced.
    2005: Smoothie Mix was introduced.
    2006: Ice Cream Treats were introduced.
    2007: Smoothies are discontinued; Chocolate Mix was introduced; Ice cream was discontinued.
    2008: Skittles Sensations are introduced; Crazy Cores were introduced.
    2009: Skittles Sensations were discontinued.
    2010: Skittles Fizzl’d Fruits were introduced; Chocolate Mix was discontinued.
    2011: Skittles Blenders was introduced; Fizzl’d Fruits are discontinued.
    2012: Skittles Riddles are introduced.

    This is not a complete timeline, it will be updated later.

    Comment by benamore on 10/20/12 at 5:18 am #
  17. We decided that red=watermelon, pink=apple, blue=strawberry, teal=raspberry, green=punch. After most of a 14oz. bag those were our choices. Then I bit into a blue one that was DEFINITELY apple….my daughter even smelled it as I chewed it and she said, “YES, definitely apple”. Weird. I guess they want to keep your tastebuds on their toes. LOL!!

    Comment by KMO on 12/29/12 at 11:10 am #
  18. new flavors of the decade:
    2011: blenders
    2012: riddles
    2013: darkside

    Comment by benamore on 1/07/13 at 8:18 pm #
  19. taken from wikipedia

      Watermelon (Red)
      Strawberry (Blue)
      Punch (Green)
      Apple (Pink)
      Raspberry (Teal)

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skittles_Riddles

    Comment by Jenny on 1/16/13 at 2:08 pm #
  20. I didn’t find these tasting good at all.  I recognized watermelon, but one tasted a lot like rancid butter and another like cough medicine.  Don’t stop making the original.

    Comment by mistake on 1/29/13 at 9:15 am #
  21. I hate all of you get a life

    Comment by God on 7/29/13 at 3:22 pm #
  22. The flavors, at least in the package I’d purchased, seemed to be consistent.

    I’d say the apple tastes a great deal like a green apple, in that the most notable flavoring agent is malic acid, a derivative of apples.

    Comment by sean on 8/14/13 at 1:24 pm #
  23. As of 2014 they are now discontinued (no longer available). You can still order some online at CandyWarehouse.com

    Comment by benamore on 10/09/14 at 7:50 pm #
  24. What happened to them? Why did they go out of stores?

    Comment by maria on 11/26/14 at 10:41 pm #
  25. Please bring these beauties back for good! No changes, tastes fine! It is a party in my mouth without that disappointing lemon or lime! Riddles have been the only EVER pack of skittles I grab. No disappointment in this pack! smile

    Comment by Sarah on 3/08/16 at 8:44 pm #
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