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 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.

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 .

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.

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.

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.

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.