Sour Patch Kids Oreos? Peeps Pepsi? What's behind the weird flavors popping up on store shelves (2024)

Van Leeuwen Ice Cream usually draws customers with gourmet takes on classics like vanilla and pistachio. But occasionally, the artisanal ice cream maker headquartered in New York slips in what it calls a “shock flavor,” like Hidden Valley Ranch or pizza.

Surprising flavor combinations – think gravy-flavored Jones Soda or Sour Patch Kids Oreos -- are showing up more frequently in grocery stores and restaurant chains. Hershey recently introduced pink lemonade-flavored Kit Kats, while IHOP and Lay’s brought out Rooty Tooty Fresh n’ Fruity potato chips, designed to taste like strawberry-topped pancakes with a hint of bacon.

While it’s tempting to pass off these limited-time flavors as social media stunts, experts say there’s more to the story. Food companies are responding to the changing and expanding tastes of consumers while also trying to keep brands relevant and distinct to win space on crowded store shelves.

“We’re in a really exciting time of flavor development where consumers are not just one thing. You’re not just a sour lover or a sweet lover. You want a little of this and a little of that,” said Kristen Braun, the senior brand manager for Oreo innovation at Chicago-based food and beverage company Mondelez International. “Companies are finding the freedom to explore a little bit more and get more creative.”

READ MORE

What a blast to work at NASA. Space agency is sky-high again in latest survey of federal employees

Many remember solid economy under Trump, but his record also full of tax cut hype, debt and disease

Stock market today: Asian stocks advance after Wall Street closes out another winning week

Sour Patch Kids Oreos – vanilla cream-filled cookies speckled with colorful bites of the sour candies – are one of about a dozen limited-edition Oreo flavors that Mondelez plans to release this year. Braun said it takes the company one or two years to develop such products, which stay on shelves for about nine weeks. She’s already thinking ahead to future flavors that blur the lines between sweet, salty and spicy.

Oddball pairings aren’t entirely new in the food and beverage industry. Hubba Bubba released a bubble gum-flavored soda in the late 1980s, for example. But manufacturers and their suppliers have gotten more sophisticated and efficient, making it easier to experiment and put out limited-editions more frequently, said Mark Lang, a food marketing expert and associate professor of marketing at the University of Tampa.

Kyle Shadix, who as the corporate executive research chef for PepsiCo, has worked on beverages like Maple Pepsi and a strawberry shortcake Pepsi sold in Japan, said the members of Generation Z are also fueling innovation. They’re diverse, adventurous and pick up on food trends quickly through social media, he said.

“They’re every chef’s dream to design for,” said Shadix, who is currently experimenting a lot with Mexican, Korean and Japanese flavors. “Gen Z is going to drive us faster. We’re going to start to see even more exploration quicker than in the past because they’re just so open to it.”

Toying with flavors can boost brands in several ways. Sometimes they bring new customers to a brand. They might also nudge buyers to pick up the original flavor, Russell Zwanka, director of the food marketing program at Western Michigan University, said.

“Sour Patch Oreos sound interesting, but nobody wants to risk buying Oreos that don’t taste good, so people buy both,” Zwanka said.

When companies combine brands, they’re trying to build an association in consumers’ minds. Peeps-flavored Pepsi, which came out last year, sends the message that Pepsi is current and fun, Lang said. Mustard-flavored Skittles, which came out last summer, made the 104-year-old French’s brand seem playful.

Enter Kraft Heinz, which approached Van Leeuwen Ice Cream a few years ago about macaroni and cheese-flavored ice cream. Ben Van Leeuwen, the company’s co-founder and CEO, was doubtful at first but found that Kraft’s powder blended well with the Brooklyn-based company’s ice cream.

Van Leeuwen’s Kraft Macaroni and Cheese ice cream came out to rave reviews in 2021 and was re-released for a short time last fall.

“We will only do a shock flavor if we can make it good and distinct. We will not do a shock flavor where it’s just shock in name but taste like vanilla,” Van Leeuwen said.

But novel flavor combinations don’t always work. Van Leeuwen couldn’t eat more than a few bites of his company’s Hidden Valley Ranch ice cream, which contained onion and garlic powders. And shock flavors typically don’t end up on the permanent menu because of their lower “eat-ability,” he said.

“I think you would taste our mac and cheese and you’d say, ‘Oh, that’s good,’ but do you want to take a pint of that mac and cheese from your freezer when you’re watching whatever show on Netflix and eat the entire thing? Probably not,” Van Leeuwen said.

Candy brand Brach’s ran into that issue with its Turkey Dinner Candy Corn, a 2021 limited-edition version of the fall staple that tasted like turkey, stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce, apple pie and coffee. Katie Duffy, vice president and general manager of seasonal at Ferrara Candy Co., which owns Brach’s, acknowledged there was a “gross-out” factor.

“We have learned from consumers that we don’t want to have something where they eat a few pieces of candy and then they toss it because there’s some things that they don’t want to repeat,” Duffy said. “We want it to be a delicious flavor journey.”

Brach’s recently introduced Easter Brunch-flavored jelly beans, and they hit that mark, she said. The candy beans mimicked the flavors of blueberry maple pancakes, chocolate doughnuts, caramel cold brew, cinnamon rolls, berry smoothies and mimosa co*cktails.

Shannon Weiner, senior director of insights and analytics at Ferrara, said the company closely tracks social media to see what flavors are trending. People are increasingly looking for dessert and dairy-flavored candies, she said. They’re also seeking more international flavors like Tajin, a brand of chile-lime spice from Mexico that recently did a collaboration with Pop Tarts.

Lang thinks the more time people spend in restaurants or trying out new foods, the more they seek out unusual flavors.

“We are variety-seeking animals. We constantly are seeking something new and different; it’s in our wiring,” he said. “We like to experiment.”

Sour Patch Kids Oreos? Peeps Pepsi? What's behind the weird flavors popping up on store shelves (2024)

FAQs

What's behind the weird flavors popping up on store shelves? ›

While it's tempting to pass them off as social media stunts, experts say there's more to the story. Food companies are responding to the changing and expanding tastes of consumers while also trying to keep brands relevant and distinct to win space on crowded store shelves.

What flavour is the black sour patch kid? ›

Product Description. It's ok to feel a little sour about Valentine's Day. SOUR PATCH KIDS Sour Hearts are a SOUR THEN SWEET take on Valentines Day candy. This soft & chewy candy comes in a black raspberry flavor for a festive and fruity snack that's SOUR.

What are the flavors of the Sour Patch? ›

In their original guise, Sour Patch Kids offered lemon, lime, cherry and orange. However, new additions have been added over the years, including Blue Raspberry, and the many US spin-offs mean there are hundreds of flavours to explore within the Sour Patch Kids range.

What is the green sour patch kid flavor? ›

Lime flavored soft candies that are SOUR. SWEET.

Why is the flavor industry so secretive? ›

Food and flavor companies leverage a legal loophole that allows anyone, including companies themselves or industry-paid experts, to declare that a substance is “generally recognized as safe,” or GRAS, and in effect, bypass U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for new food chemicals (we call this the “GRAS ...

What is causing empty shelves? ›

Previously, people blamed COVID-19 panic buyers for emptying store shelves because they stripped stores clean of essentials like toilet paper and water bottles. However, the current empty shelf crisis comes from suppliers that can't keep up with demand due to lower production, shipping delays and labor shortages.

What was the mystery Sour Patch flavor? ›

The clues have been solved and the flavor is BANANA CREAM PIE!

What is black death sour candy? ›

Invented by British confectionary company Mr Simms Sweet Shop, Black Death sweets are capturing the interest of candy consumers worldwide. Thanks to the power of social media, the bite-sized black balls have quickly garnered a reputation for their unprecedented sourness.

What is the sourest flavor of sour patch kid? ›

Sour Patch Kids Extreme, which contains lactic acid in addition to the tartaric and citric acids, is considered the sourest variation in the Sour Patch line of candies. The slogans "Sour Then Sweet" and "Sour.

What were the original Sour Patch Kids flavors? ›

Frank Galatolie is credited as the creator of the Sour Patch Kids in the 1970s while Galatolie was working as a confectioner at Jaret International in Ontario, California. The original candy flavors included lime, lemon, orange and raspberry.

What flavor is blue sour patch kid? ›

The nationwide winning color, blue SOUR PATCH KIDS candy, is a wholly delicious, sweet treat that's SOUR. SWEET. GONE. Each bag contains sour candies with a delicious blue raspberry flavor to satisfy your taste buds.

Are Sour Patch Kids actually different flavors? ›

Kids - The original line of Kids, Lime (green), Lemon (yellow), Orange (Orange), and Redberry or Cherry (red). In 2014, a new blue colored, berry flavored kid was added to the original line.

What flavor are the Zombie Sour Patch Kids? ›

A typical bag of Sour Patch Kids has red, blue, orange, green, and yellow candies (aka cherry, blue raspberry, orange, lime, and lemon flavors, respectively). The Zombies pack is a mix of just two flavors — purple and orange — that are grape and orange flavors.

What Flavour are black Sour Patch Kids? ›

Spread a little mischievous holiday cheer with SOUR PATCH KIDS Coal Black Raspberry Soft & Chewy Holiday Candy. This Christmas coal candy is a fun stocking stuffer for those on your naughty and nice list, this sour candy has intense black raspberry flavor for a blast to your taste buds that's SOUR.

What is the white sour patch kid flavor? ›

SOUR PATCH KIDS Pineapple Soft & Chewy Candy packs all the classic flavor into a mischief-filled soft candy. This Just White bulk candy bag gives you your favorite SOUR PATCH KIDS pineapple flavor all by itself.

What are masking flavors? ›

Masking flavors keep off-notes from ruining taste experiences. Flavor masking agents from Virginia Dare take the bitter and the bite out of challenging ingredients like plant proteins and high-intensity sweeteners.

How do flavorists come up with new flavors? ›

Flavorists create artificial flavors by examining the chemical composition of the natural substance they're looking to recreate. Once the molecular structure is defined, flavorists draw on a range of compounds that matches the flavor profile of the natural flavor.

What is building flavors? ›

Building flavor isn't entirely about adding more ingredients to the dish. It's about understanding how ingredients work together and what different cooking techniques will do to your food. At its base, cooking can be defined as heating a food.

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Neely Ledner

Last Updated:

Views: 5789

Rating: 4.1 / 5 (42 voted)

Reviews: 89% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Neely Ledner

Birthday: 1998-06-09

Address: 443 Barrows Terrace, New Jodyberg, CO 57462-5329

Phone: +2433516856029

Job: Central Legal Facilitator

Hobby: Backpacking, Jogging, Magic, Driving, Macrame, Embroidery, Foraging

Introduction: My name is Neely Ledner, I am a bright, determined, beautiful, adventurous, adventurous, spotless, calm person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.