Skittles Taste Test: Original Skittles vs. Skittles Chewies

Disclaimer: I’m not affiliated with Skittles in any way; I just like talking about food. I am a member of the Amazon Affiliate program and earn on qualifying purchases.

Skittles are a beloved classic of the colorful, artificial fruit-flavored corn syrup candy category, and while some of the varieties the company has experimented with have stuck around, like Tropical Skittles and the stupendous Sour Skittles, not every new release is destined for stardom. Case in point: Mint Skittles. Did you just physically recoil reading that? Well, it was a thing for some reason back in the early 2000s. People were seriously just sitting around with their bumbums sticking out of their ultra low-rise flared jeans, eating Mint Skittles and putting teal ketchup on their Bagel Dogs. It was a strange time for snacks and pants.

Skittles Chewies, aka Skittles without the candy shell layer on the outside, are another invention I don’t see remaining in the lineup of beloved classics. They may not be as unappealing as Mint Skittles, but I have to wonder who looked at original Skittles and thought: “You know what, these would be a lot more exciting if there was a chance I could open my bag and find a misshapen blob of rainbow taffy.”

Because that’s basically what they are: little bits of Skittle-flavored taffy. Surely one of the most appealing and functional parts of the Skittle is its candy shell, right? So you take that away and now you have…taffy. And I thought, as a planet, we were all starting to accept that taffy isn’t that great. I mean, not even Laffy Taffy likes taffy, judging by their continued insistence on the banana and grape flavors. 

The flavors of the Chewies are the same as regular Skittles: strawberry, orange, lemon, lime, and blackcurrant (confused Americans: these are available in Europe, and European Skittles have blackcurrant instead of grape (thank the lord)). The only difference I noticed was lime, which, without its shell to contain it, bursts forth with a nigh unbearable blast of Pine-Sol flavor. Lime isn’t the best Skittle, but it seems more tolerable in its original form. Actually, who even likes any of the non-strawberry flavors? Why are we eating these things at all? Are the people who pour them into their mouth with no regard for individual flavors actually doing it right?*

According to a survey the Skittles people did, people who eat them one at a time (me) “are considered detail-oriented and are more likely to hang toilet paper in the ‘over position’.” Lol, joke’s on you: I don’t hang my toilet paper at all, I just leave it sitting on the counter. However, handful eaters (my partner) are apparently fans of the ol’ Irish goodbye, which sounds like something he would do.

Looking at this survey and pondering why I eat Skittles in the first place made me realize why I think Skittles Chewies are so pointless: a big reason for eating Skittles is that they’re fun to eat, so removing the candy shell is like removing the fun. Without the shell, you just have a sticky, chewy mass of intermittently Pine-Sol flavored gunk, and that is not fun. 

Try them if you must, but you can’t go wrong with classic Skittles.

*Remember when the Internet tried to gaslight everyone into thinking all Skittles are the same flavor? What the f was that about.

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