12 Discontinued Skittles Varieties We'll Never See Again

In an effort to be on-trend, Skittles has come up with at least 150 different ways candy fiends can taste the rainbow. But while we're sure the company would love to fill the candy aisle with nothing but variations of this fruity favorite, not every Skittles flavor can earn a permanent place on store shelves. However, that doesn't mean formerly retired Skittles variations have never made a glorious return to the market.

After swapping out the lime flavor in its staple mix with green apple for eight long, limeless years, the company finally brought the OG green skittle back to its staple candy in 2021.And the year before that, the brand relaunched its popular Skittles Smoothies variety. Although the flavors were slightly different (the original featured lemon berry, mixed berry, peach pear, and orange mango — the newer variety has a mix of raspberry, blueberry, peach guava, and just plain mango candies), the principle of the smoothie-esque taste of the treat was the same and fans were content. 

But while these stories may touch your heart and your taste buds, the reality is not every Skittles variety can get a comeback story. Here are 12 Skittles flavors you likely won't ever hold in your candy-loving hands again.

In 2011, the team behind creating new Skittles flavors took the suggestion to mix things up a little too literally. That year, the brand introduced the world to Skittles Blenders, a chewy candy that tasted like blended fruit. Wrapped in a banana-yellow package, this treat's flavors included melon berry burst, strawberry lime blast, cherry tropicolada, watermelon green apple freeze, and mango lemonade freeze.

However, despite a memorable fever-dream advertisement for the candy that showed a person dressed as a lime running down an unfortunate strawberry, fans didn't seem eager to "blend the rainbow." While the Skittles were reportedly as chewy as its packages claimed, some candy lovers felt that rather than complimenting each other the mixed flavors clashed. The result was a candy that didn't have that bright taste Skittles is known for. While Skittles never revealed why its blended variety eventually met a discontinued fate, we theorize it has something to do with fans' dislike of the product and the fact that its concept of fruit being blended together is eerily similar to Skittles' much more beloved smoothie blend.

In 2004 Skittles decided it was time to join forces with chewy candies' closest relative. And thus the aptly named Skittles Bubble Gum was born. A snack that converted the original Skittles flavors into chewy bubble gum form, this gum-candy hybrid's packaging featured a flip top for easy access. And as for the taste — well, in one commercial for the product, a boy refuses to share the treat with a girl before being carried off by a Skittles gum bubble. And, floating into the sunset via Skittles gum aside, the commercial had some truth to it. Candy fans really were obsessed with the gum's flavor. In fact, Skittles would even go on to create another bubble gum variety. Called X-treme fruit, this addition to the Skittles gum collection was meant to have a more hard-hitting flavor for candy lovers looking for a little oomph. But despite both its bubble gums' positive reviews, the two varieties were discontinued by 2010.

Why? While quality surely didn't seem to be the issue (candy lovers even reported the original gum's taste was long-lasting and you could blow perfect bubbles with it) we can only assume that in the ever-developing candy market the product's novelty wore off and people went back to buying what the company does best — regular Skittles. And so, the brand likely felt it had to cut its losses.

In the summer of 2007, Skittles decided the only thing better than going to a fair is eating Skittles flavored like everyone's favorite fair food. Carnival Flavored Skittles featured a bright yellow package decorated with a big top fence and ferris wheel and its flavor lineup included big fair fun fuel names like bubble gum, cotton candy, green slushie, candle apple, and red licorice. And Skittles fans absolutely adored this pastel-colored candy. Carnival Flavored Skittles reportedly tasted fresh, sweet, and like exact chewy candy replicas of the iconic fair eats they were patterned after. One reviewer from the far gone days of the internet on a site called Review Stream even said that the treat was likely the best-tasting candy they'd ever put in their mouth.

And several years later, Skittles fans still haven't stopped thinking about the brand's carnival mix. One TikToker even made a video pleading with the company to bring the treat back. And eBay has listings for the discontinued Skittles mix priced at as high as $225. But despite fans' love for the snack, it's very likely Carnival Flavored Skittles will never return to grocery stores. The candy was a limited edition variety, and no matter how popular the treat was, Skittles isn't in the habit of bringing back its limited-time eats.

Do you always have to remind yourself that M&M's and Skittles aren't made by the same company? Well, here's a candy that will make you even more confused. In 2007, the brand introduced Skittles Chocolate Mix. Wrapped up in a light brown package and featuring cream to dark brown colored candy, this Skittles variation's flavors included vanilla, s'mores, chocolate caramel, chocolate pudding, and brownie batter. But despite the then-new Skittle variety's similarities to its product, we don't think M&M's lost any sleep over its new competition. Because when it came to Skittles Chocolate Mix, competition was a very loose word. People absolutely hated the snack.

The biggest hang-up some fans had with the candy was that it had a chewy consistency. The thing is, while chewiness is in line with Skittles' candy texture model, many chocolate lovers thought the treats were going to be authentic chocolate, not just chocolate-flavored Skittles. And even then, fake chocolate or not, the taste of this candy was apparently very lackluster. Dessert lovers reported that each Skittle tasted like a dulled-down and chewier version of the chocolate treats they were named for. So while it seems that Skittles originally intended for the Chocolate Mix to become a part of its permanent lineup, the dubious candy variety was eventually put out of its misery by being discontinued .

In 2020 Skittles decided to do something a little unprecedented. The brand dipped its original rainbow mix in yogurt. A representative from Skittles told Fast Company this decision was brought on by the fact creamy snacks were all the rage that year. And so, Skittles answered this food trend by releasing Skittles Dips. Featuring a package showcasing the OG Skittles candies going for a yogurt bath, the actual treats themselves looked slightly lighter (and to the company's credit, silkier) than regular Skittles. But candy fans didn't seem to be as excited about the prospect of a bunch of silky smoothie Skittles as the brand hoped.

For one thing, Skittles Dips tasted more like they were dipped in sweet chocolate than tart yogurt. Some yogurt lovers even reported the yogurt dip made these Skittles taste more sugary than the original. Others noted that the topping tasted artificial and the texture of the treat was crumbly. In fact, there were complaints that if you opened a Skittles Dips bag you'd likely find the candy clustered and stuck together due to its yogurt layer. Needless to say, Skittles Dips were axed from the company's candy lineup by 2023.

It seems the manufacturers of the rainbow candy are real sticklers for releasing a special candy for the summer. And in 2019, the company decided that Freezie pops were the next summer snack staple it'd transform into a bag of Skittles. Freeze Pop Skittles sported a light blue package and included blue, raspberry, lemon, grape, orange, and strawberry flavored candy — echoing the flavors of the lemon-lime, berry punch, grape, strawberry, orange, and tropical punch freezie pops often found sold by brands like Fla-vor-ice.

This summerlicious Skittles flavor was also a bit of an elusive dessert as it was only sold at the Dollar General. However, fans who did get their hands on the Freeze Pop Skittles mix were pretty underwhelmed by the snack's taste. The treat's flavors reportedly didn't at all resemble the ice pops they were inspired by. So maybe it was for the best that this snack, being a limited edition, was destined for a short life. 

However, the following year, Skittles released a much more successful flip on the Skittles Freeze Pop concept. Called Skittles Freezer Pops, these Skittles-inspired popsicles offer consumers lemon, orange, strawberry, green apple, and grape frozen treats flavored after the candies in the original Skittles mix. Luckily (or perhaps, conveniently) for Skittles, because this snack is tasty enough to still be on the market today, if you search for Freeze Pop Skittles online the brand's special edition blunder is generally overshadowed by these fan-approved popsicles.

Did you enjoy the feeling of Pop Rocks on your tongue as a kid? Well, Skittles tried to recreate that euphoric experience of candy sizzling in your mouth in 2010. Called Skittles Fizzl'd Fruits, this candy featured a dark blue package adorned with sizzling little Skittles. The treat was essentially a bag of Wild Berry Skittles (which flavors are berry punch, melon berry, raspberry, strawberry, and wild cherry). According to candy fans, Skittles Fizzl'd Fruits really did fizzle as you ate them. However, they were far from as pleasurable to hold in your mouth as Pop Rocks.

Thanks to its chemical-like aftertaste, many candy fans felt that the treat tasted more like medicine than dessert. If that wasn't bad enough, this Skittles variety was also allegedly salty tasting. Oh, but hold on, those aren't the only reasons consumers were tossing Skittles Fizzl'd Fruits in the trash. The foam the treat produced also allegedly had a very slimy consistency and some fans even attested in reviews of the product that its coating tasted like vomit. All that to say that the world's general feelings about Skittles Fizzl'd Fruits can be summed up in one word: Ew. As one would expect, in an act of public service, the company eventually took this Skittles off store shelves for good.

Okay, get out your detective hat for this next one. That is to say, if you thought you saw some type of Skittles product proclaiming it was a pack of mints back in the day, your mind isn't playing tricks on you. Apparently, there was once not just one, but two different types of Skittle mint varieties. According to a post from Candy Blog, the first peppermint-esque version of this candy was called Skittles Mints. This iteration of minty Skittles allegedly appeared around 2002 in a container with a pop-top lid. However, several years later in 2006 another minty tasting version of the candy known as Skittles Fresh Mints made its way onto store shelves.

Unlike its former iteration, Skittles Fresh Mints came in a green foil plastic bag. The candy inside featured the flavors white, green, aqua, turquoise, and light green. Which, we're sure you realize, was also the treats' color palette. The mints were allegedly chewy with a strong flavor. And a lot of people seemed to have really liked them. In fact, some fans on Reddit have even asked about how and where they can buy the now-discontinued Skittles Fresh Mints. We can only guess that Skittles decided to cut this snack from its lineup after it found its mints simply couldn't compete in a saturated market with big and established players like Tic Tacs.

Okay, we know what you're thinking. Considering how badly Freeze Pop Skittles flopped, Skittles Ice Cream couldn't have gone any better – right? Making its debut when everyone was getting ready for summer in April of 2017, Skittles Ice Cream came wrapped up in a cream package proudly displaying a picture of an ice cream cone. The treats' flavors included caramel ripple, chocolate, orange vanilla swirl, and strawberry. And unlike the much-loathed Skittles Chocolate Mix that came before it and the less-than-adored Freeze Pops Skittles that would come after it, candy fans only had good things to say about these ice cream inspired Skittles.

The caramel ripple reportedly tasted just like its namesake, orange vanilla swirl resembled the creamsicle pops that fueled our childhood pool days, strawberry had a silky ice-cream consistency, vanilla tasted sugar-sweet, and even chocolate received favorable reviews. However, while the Skittles Ice Cream variety was popular, it was another limited edition treat and so didn't last long in stores. Oh, and just in case you were curious, this baby is so rare that the closest you can get to buying and trying ice cream-flavored Skittles is an eBay listing of a pack of Smoothie Skittles with a limited edition ice cream candy hiding inside its usual flavors — you'll have to pay $500 to bring home this orange vanilla ice cream Skittles.

Riddle me this: What's a candy that's flavors don't match its colors? The answer, candy lovers, is Skittles Riddles. Created in 2012, Skittles Riddles was likely riding off the growing popularity of the renowned guess the flavor game BeanBoozled, which was on its way to reaching its peak sales by the following year. In fact, Skittles even less-than-subtly advertised that Skittles Riddles would surely be a hit at parties. The snack likely trying to steal BeanBoozled's thunder came in a light blue bag and featured apple, strawberry, punch, watermelon, and raspberry skittles dressed in another flavor's coat. According to some fans, Skittles Riddles mis-matched colors were likely randomized, meaning almost every color and flavor candy combination in any given bag were different.

As a limited edition snack that featured mostly already debuted flavors, Skittles Riddles' didn't make the permanent candy aisle cut. However, the candy likely inspired similar later special editions from the brand that used the same flavor-color switcharoo concept like Skittles Imposters and the NFL-sponsored Skittles Trick Plays.

After years of battling it out with Starburst for the title of the USA's favorite non-chocolate chewy candy, in 2017 Skittles offered it's rival an olive branch and the two created a duo of treats together. Sweet Heat Skittles and Sweet Heat Starburst were made with a sugary taste but would still somehow also set candy lovers' taste buds on fire. The two desserts both featured fiery watermelon and flamin' orange flavors. However, the Starburst variation offered consumers strawberry mango and pippin' pineapple treats and the Skittles version (which is what we're here for) allowed candy lovers the chance to try candies that tasted like blazin' mango, sizzlin' strawberry, and lemon spark.

Like true twins, the brands' treats came in the same dark, fire-studded bags and received the same lukewarm reviews. Some fans noted that the two desserts had a cough-drop taste and that neither candy was as sweet as their names' claimed. However, Skittles' take on the sweet heat combo in particular was put under a lot of unfriendly fire. According to Yahoo, candy lovers across social media were calling Skittles Sweet Heat the brand's worst-ever flavor. The words "repulsive," "garbage," and "gross" were used to describe the Skittles variety. One user even begged the company to discontinue it and, hey, this social media comment did eventually get their wish. Both Skittles and Starburst Sweet Heat were discontinued and we don't think many people were sad to see them go.

Before Skittles started telling everyone to taste the rainbow in 1994, it introduced a variety to its more semi-permanent, permanent lineup that has become a figure of Skittles history controversy. We are talking about the notorious green-packaged Skittles Tart N' Tangy that some snoops on the internet allege were born in 1989 and died in 1992. Given this candy's name and look, you, like many people, may be wondering, are Sour Skittles, which debuted in 2000, the same treat with different branding? However, while many fans do in fact theorize, that Tart N' Tangy was replaced by Sour Skittles, they claim the two treats are very different.

According to one user on an online forum called In the 80s, while Sour Skittles get their mouth-crunching taste from a dust of sour flavor, Tart N' Tangy's formula was apparently different. In fact, a commenter on Reddit alleged that the aforementioned candy may have had a semi-sweet taste. Because according to the user, Skittles Sweet and Sours have a similar flavor to the throwback treat. However, while it may have been popular in the past and many OG Skittles lovers still long for its taste, it's very unlikely that Tart N' Tangy will ever return to reclaim the throne from Sour Skittles.