2000s Candy – A Decade Of Extreme Flavors and Tastes

The 2000s were a time when everything was over-the-top, including candy. From sour gummies to giant lollipops to unusual flavors like bacon, pickles, and wasabi, the candy industry was all about excess. It was a decade of acidic candies, enormous lollipops, and gummy bears. 

Yes, extra is still definitely what we want when it comes to sweets. In this article, we will explore some of the most popular 2000s candy that reigned in the confectionery industry. 

Names of 2000s Candy

1. Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans
2. Dulce de Leche Caramel M&M’s
3. Hershey’s Kisses Special Dark
4. Candy Corn
5. Cinnamon Flavored Tic Tacs
6. Pretzel Stix
7. Scooby Doo Fruit Snacks
8. Planters Cheese Balls
9. 3D Doritos

Most Popular Sweet 2000s Candy

1. Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans

One of the most well-liked 2000s candy in the wizarding community is Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans. They are identical to Muggle jelly beans, with the exception that they come in every flavor imaginable. Additionally, it is impossible to determine a bean’s flavor without eating it, however, you may make an educated judgment based on its color. 

Bertie Bott accidentally produced Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans in the middle of the 20th century. He intended to create delightful candies from food, but unintentionally created one that tasted like a soiled sock. He recognized the potential for sales, and it actually worked perfectly fine. 

Common flavors of this 2000s candy include tripe, liver, and spinach, as well as more mundane ones like chocolate, peppermint, and marmalade. Believe it or not, there are also tastes like grass, farm soil, vomit, earwax, paper, and bogeys that aren’t actually meals.

2. Dulce de Leche Caramel M&M’s

Marketers were fully aware of the significance of the expanding Hispanic population in the United States by the late 1990s and early 2000s. By using historically Hispanic flavors in their goods, the confectionery industry started dabbling in this market. The Mango with Chili Fun Dip flavor, which Wonka created but never released, was previously reported. 

Five areas with sizable Hispanic populations received Dulce de Leche M&Ms in July 2001, and therefore, it became an iconic 2000s candy for those areas. It was released in Los Angeles, San Diego, Miami, Florida, McAllen-Brownsville, Texas, and San Antonio. The Hispanic population never took to the flavor since they preferred the current M&M varieties, and by early 2003, it had been withdrawn in most places.

The Hypnosis commercial was made to promote the product and is most likely only seen in the locations mentioned above where it was marketed. Once again, later on, M&M’s produced the distinctive Caramel M&M’s in 2017, which, unlike the Dulce de Leche Caramel M&M’s, was successful. 

3. Hershey’s Kisses Special Dark

The Hershey Company produces the chocolate bar known as Hershey’s Special Dark, which became a popular 2000s candy. Similar to a regular Hershey’s bar, Special Dark has more cocoa butter, chocolate liquor, and cocoa solids (45%) than milk chocolate and is created with a dark (or semi-sweet) kind of chocolate. Early in the 1970s, the Special Dark bar replaced the almost identical Hershey’s Semi-Sweet bar in the company’s product line.

There are several different sizes of Hershey’s Special Dark available. Hershey’s Kisses, chocolate syrup, chocolate chips, baking chocolate, cocoa, and Hershey’s Nuggets are all available in Special Dark varieties.

Hershey’s Special Dark is a part of the classic Hershey’s Miniatures line that was initially marketed in 1939 under the name Semi-Sweet. Hershey’s started offering Hershey’s Special Dark Miniatures in 2006, which include the plain Special Dark bar in addition to dark bars with peanuts and crisped rice.

4. Candy Corn

For more than a century, Candy Corn has been around. The candy was allegedly created in the 1880s by George Renninger, a worker at the Wunderle Candy Company. Candy corn production at the Goelitz Candy Company (now Jelly Belly Candy Company) started around the turn of the century and continues to this day.

The tri-color pattern of candy corn, which originally originated in an agrarian civilization like that of the United States, was regarded as revolutionary. Candy corn was only produced seasonally due to the lack of mechanized technology, with production likely beginning in late August and lasting through the fall. It is a Halloween tradition that hasn’t changed in more than a century.

In the early 1900s, making candy corn required the cooperation of several men. Large kettles were used to boil sugar, corn syrup, and other ingredients into a slurry. 45 pounds of heated candy were placed into runners, which are buckets, together with fondant and marshmallows for a smooth texture and bite. 

5. Cinnamon Flavored Tic Tacs

You can probably get mint or tropical-flavored Tic Tacs anytime. But cinnamon Tic Tacs were formerly available and were among the most popular 2000s candy. It was simple to find at any grocery or drug store. Each box had two simple opening methods, and each mint had a blast of spicy cinnamon aroma.

While many people are enjoying the new Tic Tac Tropical Adventure, many Tic Tac aficionados have been wishing for the spicier taste to come back to the market. Tic Tac Cinnamon a popular 2000s candy, has recently returned after it was delisted in 2007. The four-pack 2.9-oz canisters of the cinnamon-flavored mints are under $12 and are available on Amazon. 

Salty and Savory 2000s Candy

6. Pretzel Stix

The yellow box of pretzel stix will always be a fond memory for everyone who was a child in the 2000s. It was the ideal 2000s candy for eating at school, after school, and even during lengthy car drives.

Pretzels and other snack items have been produced for 125 years by the family-run Pennsylvania company The Bachman Company. The business has its main office in Reading, Pennsylvania, and up until 2012, it had two production plants there, one in Hyde Park and one in Ephrata.

The brand has been manufacturing Pretzel Stix since 1884. Pretzels that become their pretzel stix are first chopped to the ideal size from 90-foot-long pretzels. A unique facility, the Heritage Center, is where bakers commit themselves to the traditional technique of manufacturing actual, not “stamped,” pretzels. Keep in mind that these premium pretzels benefit from the distinctive Bachman flavor. 

7. Scooby Doo Fruit Snacks

Welch’s Fruit Snacks are certainly readily available in any store, but in the past, fruit snacks were sometimes shaped like characters from your favorite television program. Fruit snacks were available for every show you could think of.

Scooby Snacks, a fictitious snack item featured in Scooby-Doo, is also known as Scooby Snax. It is one of the most widely consumed 2000s candy. In the show, Fred, Daphne, and Velma frequently use them as bribes to persuade Scooby-Doo and Shaggy to take part in risky or frightful plans, such as serving as a monster’s bait. When Shaggy and Scooby first object, one of the other characters will eventually persuade them by asking, “Would you do it for a Scooby Snack?”

The fictitious Scooby Snacks resemble biscuits and are packaged like cereal boxes, generally in shades that go well with the Mystery Machine. Additionally, the trademark “Scooby Snacks” has been licensed for use on real-world goods, such as dog treats and snack foods.

8. Planters Cheese Balls

The crispy, cheesy balls that all kids and teenagers lust for are Planters Cheese Balls. All of your childhood sleepovers and parties were most likely held in the same location where you ate. By purchasing a comparable brand of Cheetos at your neighborhood grocery, you may relive the experience and feel nostalgic.

Cans of that 2000s candy contain a genuinely lovely object. They are a food that has colors that are more vivid than any you have ever seen, to start with. The president’s skin tone resembles Dracula’s because of the orange color of these little angels. The color bounces off the interior of the metal can in a myriad of different directions, delivering a message to your brain that says, “Eat me.”

In July 2018, Cheez Balls were momentarily brought back after being initially withdrawn in 2006. Under their brand name, Planters Cheez Balls are produced by Kraft Foods and were originally introduced in 1981. 

9. 3D Doritos

The last on our list of salty and savory 2000s candy is 3D Doritos. The 3D Doritos brand was introduced in the 1990s and then discontinued in the US in the middle of the 2000s. Jalapeno Cheddar, Nacho Cheese, and Zesty Ranch were among the flavors. The product was probably developed because Doritos had previously diversified into so many different flavor options that they could have felt they had run out of flavor inspiration.

The original product had ridges and was puffy. This resembled a fluffy, ridged potato chip that had been dusted with Doritos flavoring. Although it wasn’t a very original idea, Doritos was already setting the standard for flavor combinations, and this was meant to be a fresh iteration of the brand’s already well-known items.

Even after being removed from store shelves in the US, 3D Doritos continued to be a popular snack in Mexico. There was a queso taste that was widely available and was the most well-liked in Mexico. During the years that PepsiCo did not offer these chips for sale, a few bags of them were also sold on eBay.

Bottom Line

Favorite music, TV shows, and recollections of family trips are just a few of the things that could come to mind when you think back to your youth. But there’s something about favorite munchies that can, in a single bite, capture a period and ignite a wave of nostalgia. In this article, we looked at some of the most popular and well-liked 2000s candy.