Extremely Sour Candies Like Warheads, Toxic Waste, And Sour Skittles Can Chemically Burn Gums And Cheeks.

It’s National Sour Candy Day this July 18, and our taste buds are already tingling in anticipation! Move over, sweet candy, and let the sour take over in honor of this day. These fun, zesty bite-sized candies come in all shapes, sizes, and flavors, and we can’t wait to taste them all! From chewy twists and ropes to small hard candies, each one delivers on its promise to create a walloping big punch of sourness inside our mouths.

• 19th Century: Candy has a Bad Reputation.  Mass-produced candy is looked upon with trepidation by most consumers, and candy makers don’t want to risk experimenting with tastes for fear of losing credibility
• 1950a: Candy + Halloween. Candy makers create ad campaigns that forever link candy to Halloween.
• 1954: Sour Candy is here. The Atomic Fireball leaves a tart taste, and the sour candy market slowly erupts.
• 1962: Sour Candy Comes into the Spotlight. Lemonhead candy — which utilizes citric acid to mimic the sour flavor — is introduced and it is a hit.
• 1970s – When Canadian candy conglomerate Jaret International created Sour Patch Kids, they originally intended to capitalize on the popularity of UFOs. The candy was called Mars Men and sold reasonably well. When Jaret exported the product to the United States in 1985, they discovered Americans were not as enthused about aliens, and were preoccupied with the Cabbage Patch Kids, prompting the name change.
• 1975 – Warheads were invented in Taiwan and first imported to the United States in the early 1980s. They are known for their intense sour flavor, which fades after about 30 seconds. They’re marketed as “extreme” candy and the name comes from the idea that the sour taste is like a real warhead exploding in one’s mouth.
• 1993: The Sour Candy Craze Explodes. Peter De Yager — founder of the Foreign Candy Co. — brings Warheads to U.S. shores from Thailand, a move that has had a huge impact on the sour candy market.
• 2014 – The original Sour Patch flavors were lemon, lime, orange, and cherry. It wasn’t until 2014 that the blue raspberry joined the regular lineup
• 2015 – The American Licorice Company establishes National Sour Candy Day.
• In the past 20 years, candies marketed to children have increasingly been of a “fruity” or “sour” variety.
• Extremely sour candies like Warheads, Toxic Waste, and Sour Skittles can chemically burn gums and cheeks.
• Each acid attack lasts about 20 minutes.
• Holding the acid in your mouth by prolonged candy sucking or chewing continues the acid attack
• Sour candies like Lemon Drops are used by patients undergoing chemo and radiation therapy since they help promote salivation. Many cancer medications also cause severe changes in taste, which sucking on Lemon Drops can help regulate.
• Pregnant women should keep some Lemonheads or other sour foods near their nightstand, as this helps curb morning sickness.
• The most common types of sour candies fall into one of three general categories:
  • Sour gummies
  • Sour hard candy
  • Sour jellies
• Many sour candies incorporate naturally sour ingredients into their main body. Others contain mostly sweet ingredients but are dusted with acid-infused granulated sugar to make them taste tart (think Sour Patch Kids).
• While most sour candies are based on naturally tart fruit flavors – e.g., lemon, lime, raspberry, strawberry, or green apple – the super sour taste we know and love comes from a few organic acids. Each has its own unique flavor profile and level of tartness.
• One of the most common ingredients in sour candy is citric acid. It occurs naturally in citrus fruits like lemons and grapefruits, and can also be found in smaller amounts in berries and some vegetables.
• Citric acid is an antioxidant essential for energy production and even the prevention of kidney stones.
• There is a type of sour candy — Sour Flush Candy Toilets — where the candy is a toilet plunger, and you dip it into a plastic ‘toilet’ full of sour sugar.
• Sour Patch Kids contain tartaric and citric acids, which are chock full of protons that our tongues register as sour. The protons actually increase when the acids are mixed with a liquid like saliva.

Ranking the sourest candies – #1 equals the sourest candy

1. Barnett’s Mega Sours
   These hard candies are famously known as the sourest in the world. They feature a super-acid shell that tests tastebuds with a 30-second challenge.
   Discover them at Candycopia.
2. Toxic Waste Hazardously Sour Candy
   These sweets come in a drum-shaped container. Their packaging warns you to hold on for 60 seconds to be declared a sour “hero”.
   Available on Candy Funhouse. 
3. Mr Simms Black Death
   Targeted at adults, these very tart coal-black lemon drops pack a powerful flavor punch.
   View them on Candycopia. 
4. Warheads Extreme Sour
   Known globally, this is an iconic American/Taiwanese super-tart hard candy. It quickly moves from eye-watering to sweet.
   Find them at iWholesale Candy. 
5. Nobel Super Lemon Candy
   This Japanese import melts away its sour powder shell to reveal a sweet and tart lemon core.
   Buy it on Dainobu NYC. 
6.  Toxic Waste Slime Licker
   This is a roll-on sour liquid candy that allows you to directly apply intensely sour gel to your tongue.
   Shop for it on Candycopia.
7. Cry Baby Extra Sour Bubble Gum
   These teardrop-shaped pressed candies provide a serious jolt of tartness before turning into chewing gum.
   Check out Sweat Services. 
8. Sour Patch Kids Extreme
   An extra-tangy version of the classic gummy, heavily coated in sour sugar.
   Compare on Fox 5 DC. 
9. Sour Skittles
   A fruity and chewable candy coated in a thick, mouth-puckering layer of sour sugar.
   Order on Walgreens. 
10. Sour Flush
    A candy plunger that you lick and dip into a container of wildly tart powder.
    Grab some on Candycopia.

Sources: 

• National Day Calendar
• Power of Sour
• Food Beast
• Candy Club
• Wide Open Eats
• Mental Floss
• Old Time Candy
• Delishably 
• National Today