Sour Patch Kids Apple Harvest Review: We Have Mixed Feelings About This Fall-Themed Candy

There's always a reason to eat Sour Patch Kids, and thanks to the brand's keen eye on the calendar, there's now almost always a season for them too. Sour Patch Kids Zombies are quite the scream during Halloween, Ornaments and Coal make for great stocking stuffers come Christmastime, and nothing says "I love you" like a box of Sour Patch Kids Hearts. Over the summer, it released Sour Patch Kids Lemonade Fest, and the brand has now moved away from the beaches and onto the farms for fall fun with Sour Patch Kids Apple Harvest.

While pumpkins and their spice would have been an obvious move for autumn flavoring, Sour Patch Kids didn't bother going there and instead were inspired by other parts of the farm's labors of its fruits. It picked "Apple Harvest" as the theme, hoping candy lovers will rake it in. Jenna Carls, senior brand manager of candy for Mondelēz International had a little pun in a press release, saying "We're helping consumers turn over a new leaf this fall with our seasonal introduction of Sour Patch Kids Apple Harvest candy." She added that the "product captures autumn's essence in a soft, chewy candy that delivers the ultimate sour-then-sweet combination our fans know and love."

So, does this Apple Harvest edition fall too far from the Sour Patch Kids tree, or are they ripe for the reaping? We were given a sample to try, so we tore open a pouch and bobbed for these apple candies to find out. Here for you is our chew and review...

While apples come in over 7,500 varieties around the world, Sour Patch Kids Apple Harvest has a more focused core with just three flavors: Cranberry Apple, Apple Cider, and Caramel Apple. The bag shows the candies in the shape of apples, including a tiny stem, but in reality, the pieces look like deformed Gum Drops, and interestingly enough, have the consistency of them too. The Apple Harvest candies are thicker and chewier than standard-issue Sour Patch Kids, and in a shocking, disappointing twist, not remotely sour. And while the "skin" of the apple candies are certainly covered in sugar, they don't fall off the bone, and all over the place, like they normally do with Sour Patch Kids.

Out of the three flavors, the ruby red Cranberry Apple is the best of the Harvest. Although we held out hope that it was going to taste like Ocean Spray's long lost line of delicious Fruit Waves hard candy, instead it was more akin to eating Red Hots candy, if they were squishy and devoid of a strong cinnamon spice. The amber orange Apple Cider has an interesting acidic makeup, as if vinegar was poured onto an orange jellied fruit slice candy.  Hmmmm... The Granny Smith-hued Caramel Apple flavor is the most curious one out of the lot. While Caramel Apple is a common flavor for autumn treats, and this one does indeed lean heavily on the caramel, the creamy flavor seems out of place in the world of fruity Sour Patch Kids.

Sour Patch Kids Apple Harvest candies are made of sugar, invert sugar, corn syrup, and modified corn starch. They contain less than 2% of citric acid, tartaric acid, natural and artificial flavor, and the food colors yellow 5, red 40, and blue 1. They also include an unspecified bioengineered food ingredient.

A serving size is nine pieces, and there are nine servings per bag. Each serving has 120 calories, zero grams of fat and protein, 25 milligrams of sodium, and 29 grams of carbohydrates, with 25 of those being total sugars. 

The Apple Harvest edition of Sour Patch Kids is now available for a limited time only, through October. They come in 10-ounce pouches with a suggested retail price of $3.

Bags can be purchased at nationwide retailers, grocery stores, and candy shops like Walmart, Kroger, Michael's, and Amazon. While many other flavors of Sour Patch Kids are available for ordering online, the Apple Harvest one currently is not.

Like "good" Will Hunting once famously asked, "how do you like them apples?" Well, the answer to that question in relation to Sour Patch Kids Apple Harvest isn't as simple as "yes" or "no." It's more like maybe so...???

The Cranberry Apple pieces are certainly worthy of a munch here, and while the other two flavors were inspired choices and reek of autumn, they somehow seem like a distraction. There's no denying how great the taste of caramel is, but this isn't something that probably belongs in the Patch alongside the Kids. Perhaps better flavor choices would have been sour apple, pear, or if pumpkin was a non-starter, maybe sweet potato or something maple-y, and in the shape of a leaf?

Fall is certainly in the air with this limited-run edition, but fans of Sour Patch Kids may find the Apple Harvest bag a bit of a stretch. Without any "sour" in the actual candies, this crop could cause buyers to yield, but not in the good harvest sense.