Do Skittles have different flavours? The definitive fact-check
Skittles have been a favourite candy for many since the 1970s. There has also been a long-standing debate about the taste of different colours of the Mars Wrigley-made candy. So, do Skittles have different flavours, or is it all just a trick of the mind?
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Different Skittles flavours have been associated with the psychology of taste, with scientists giving their expert opinions on how the brain works. The colourful and chewy candies are manufactured in rainbow colours, each representing a particular flavour that people have grown used to.
Do Skittles have different flavours?
Skittles come in different flavours. Each colour is associated with a specific fruit flavour. There have been different theories on the internet about the flavour of various types of Skittles and their associated colours. Enthusiasts have done blind tests to determine if they can differentiate taste, and many have come to contradicting conclusions.
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Scientific explanations behind Skittles taste
Scientists have done multiple experiments to determine how colour affects people's taste and flavour perception. The human brain usually associates a colour like orange with orange flavour, yellow with sour/lime flavour, and red with strawberry flavour.
Don Katz, a neuropsychologist specializing in taste at Brandeis University, told NPR in 2018 that adding food colour to drinks and candy reduces the ability of people to differentiate flavours. Candy companies usually take advantage of this sensory mystery.
The Skittles makers, being smarter than most of us, recognized that it is less expensive to make things smell and look different than it is to make them actually taste different. So, Skittles (are made with) different fragrances and different colours — but they all taste exactly the same.
Apart from colour, smell also plays a role in how the human brain perceives taste. Dr Adam Cunliffe, a nutritional scientist and associate lecturer from London South Bank University, told Cosmopolitan UK in 2018 that this occurrence has a scientific explanation behind it.
The tongue is quite a crude organ, which (detects) sweet, salt, sour, bitter and umami. The nose is a much more complex organ...When you eat something and (it tastes like) chocolate or caramel, part of that information is coming from your tongue, but more is coming from your nose. All that information (is processed) in your brain, in areas which we call the flavour centre, and it integrates what you have seen, smelt, tasted, and what you remember.
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Mars Wrigleys maintains their Skittles have different flavours
The maker of Skittles, Mars Wrigley Confectionary, refuted claims that their candies taste the same while talking to Today Food in 2018. They have maintained that their products have individual tastes and flavours.
According to the company's spokesperson, the different tastes are achieved by flavouring the candy's chewy centres and the outside shells. The original five fruity flavours dubbed the 'rainbow' were introduced in 1979, and they include:
- Red: Strawberry
- Orange: Orange
- Yellow: Lemon
- Green: Green Apple/lime
- Purple: Grape
Mars Wrigley Confectionary occasionally releases various Skittles variations and special editions. The most common ones include:
- Wild Berry: A mix of berry punch, strawberry, melon berry, wild cherry, and raspberry flavours.
- Tropical: A mix of banana berry, kiwi lime, mango tangelo, pineapple passionfruit, and strawberry starfruit flavours.
- Sour: A tangy mix of sour strawberry, sour green apple, sour lemon, sour orange, and sour grape flavours.
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Did Skittles go back to lime?
Mars Wrigley brought back lime to their Skittles flavour lineup in 2021 after an eight-year hiatus. In 2013, the candy maker changed the flavour of their green Skittles from lime to green apple. At the time, the company said it made the decision because the green apple had performed better than lime in taste tests.
While talking to Today Food in September 2021, Mars Wrigley's senior brand manager, Fernando Rodrigues, said that they decided to bring back the classic flavour in response to long-standing fan requests and social media campaigns.
There have been over 130,000 mentions from fans on social media talking about Lime, with it being the most frequent topic brought up by fans over the last eight years. Skittles has received new mentions of it every day since the flavour left, with people begging for it to come back...It is back. This time for good.
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Why is there no blue Skittle?
Blue Skittles are excluded from the company's regular assortment but have been released as limited editions. It is harder to find them in stores today due to the push to reduce the use of artificial dyes in foods.
Mars Inc. released a statement in 2016 saying it was going to phase out artificial food dyes in all its products. Natural food dyes are usually extracted from a variety of fruits and vegetables, but vibrant blue is difficult to obtain compared to other colours.
Mars Wrigley was using a blue raspberry flavour for their blue Skittles. In May 2021, Forbes reported that researchers from the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) had found a way to create a true natural blue from red cabbage. If Mars can use the newly discovered dye without altering the flavour, then blue Skittles might join the regular rainbow mix.
What is the rarest Skittles flavour?
The rarest Skittles flavour is generally considered to be blue. Unlike other rainbow Skittles colours, blue candies were introduced as a limited-edition flavour. As explained above, the blue raspberry dye that is normally used is not a naturally occurring fruit flavour.
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The answer to 'Do Skittles have different flavours?' is still contradicting but they remain a beloved treat among candy lovers. Try a blind taste to find out how well you differentiate the tastes!
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