9 Jolly Ranchers Flavors, Ranked Worst To Best

A little bit sweet, a little bit sour, and a lot a bit fruity, Jolly Ranchers are the ultimate hard candy. Believe it or not, Jolly Ranchers have been around since 1949, and in 1996, they were acquired by The Hershey Company, and the rest is history. Since then, there have been quite a few iterations of Jolly Ranchers outside of the classic hard candies — we're talking chewy ropes, gummy candy, and even freeze-dried Jolly Ranchers. 

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Of course, no version of the classic candy can quite compete with those classic little hard rectangles, which are oh-so fruity and sticky and jaw-breaking in the best way possible. The hard candies themselves have taken quite a journey over the years, with variations of flavors and flavor packs cropping up and then being discontinued; some notable previous flavor packs include the Fruity Bash pack, which boasted unique flavors like peach, lemon, and orange, or the Awesome Reds pack which included all-red flavors like cherry, strawberry, and watermelon.

As of the time of this article's publication, there are two Jolly Rancher flavor packs available to purchase — the classics pack, featuring cherry, watermelon, grape, blue raspberry, and green apple, and the tropical pack, featuring fruit punch, golden pineapple, lime, and mango. As a long-time Jolly Rancher fan, I've put all of these currently available flavors to the taste test to determine which ones are the best. My ranking criteria include which ones generally taste the best, which ones strike a nice balance between sweet and tart, and which ones taste a little too fake or artificial.

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Some recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer.

9. Grape

Sorry to the handful of grape Jolly Rancher fans out there, but I had no choice other than ranking this flavor dead last. Before you grab your pitchforks, I want to say that I don't absolutely hate this flavor — I'd argue that there's no objectively bad Jolly Rancher flavor out there, but alas, one of them had to come in last place. I've had the grape flavor many times before in my life and have perhaps even enjoyed the experience, but that's really only because every other flavor in the bag had run out by that point.

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The issue with the grape flavor is that it just tastes too strongly of artificial grape. I know I can't gripe on grape too much for that, considering that many of these flavors are artificial at best, but there's just something about grape in particular that tastes so egregiously fake. Also, I've noticed that the grape ones tend to get a weird texture about them; sometimes, when you peel back the wrapper, there's a layer of loose goop built up on the outside of the hard candy itself. You can still eat it, of course, but it's not particularly enjoyable, and it doesn't matter how old or fresh the candy is; there's just something about the formula that makes it form a gooey layer more than others. So, for this reason, but mostly for the crime of lackluster flavor, the grape is deemed the worst Jolly Rancher flavor in the lineup. 

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8. Lime

Despite being a lifelong Jolly Rancher fan, I'd never tried the lime flavor before, so I was pretty excited to give it a spin. I enjoy actual limes, though I've found that lime-flavored things can be a little bit hit or miss, often leaning into artificial territory more so than actual fruit-flavored territory. For what it's worth, I actually did think that the lime-flavored Jolly Rancher captured the essence of lime pretty well, but there were some retracting flavors that ultimately led me to rank this one pretty low.

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At first, the lime candy tasted very strong and acidic, two things I'd consider to be strong suits. I was impressed by the consistently lime-forward flavor that this candy had to offer, never wavering or dulling, and by the fact that it somehow managed to taste both like lime juice and zest at the same time. But here's where the bad part comes in: Once I was about halfway through the candy, I noticed that it turned from being fruity and acidic to straight-up bitter, something that is somewhat true to actual citrus, but something that's ultimately not enjoyable in candy form. This flavor lasted throughout the end of the candy, and though I enjoyed the flavors at the beginning, the overwhelmingly unpalatable bitterness definitely knocked lime down quite a bit in terms of ranking.

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7. Mango

Mango-flavored candy is a bit of a mystery to me. It certainly exists out there — as proven by the mango-flavored Jolly Rancher, for example — but very seldom does it truly taste like actual mango. In fact, it seems that candy manufacturers are a little too comfortable with slapping a mango-flavored candy with a vague tropical flavor and calling it a day, and I'm afraid that this is the case when it comes to mango Jolly Ranchers.

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Before I delve into the negatives, I want to highlight the fact that mango Jolly Ranchers aren't horrible. There's something almost refreshing about the lightness of the flavor, and unlike so many other Jolly Ranchers that are a bit sour or tart, mango was pretty sweet through and through. That said, this candy just didn't taste like mango, and I wouldn't even say that it tasted like fake or artificial mango, either. It pretty much just tasted vaguely tropical, which is to say it was fruity with perhaps a hint or undertone of mango. Also, the flavor of this one became a bit perfumey as time went on, almost a bit floral or even soapy. I didn't absolutely hate mango, but there was nothing about the flavor that made me feel confident I'd return to it ever again.

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6. Green apple

Green apple Jolly Ranchers are part of the classics pack, and as such, the flavor is considered to be both iconic and beloved amongst candy enthusiasts. I'm certainly not here to yuck anyone's yum when it comes to green apple, but rather bring up the case that perhaps this flavor isn't as great as we've made it out to be. 

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Let's at least start with the pros: Green apple Jolly Ranchers are a little bit sweet, more so sour, and they do have a nice, crisp Granny Smith apple flavor to them. I appreciate that green apple tastes a little more "real" than some other flavors (ahem, grape), but this realness only goes so far when the flavor as a whole is a bit lackluster. Sure, there are sweet, sour, and fruity notes to be found in this candy, but I've always skipped green apple because I know that it's not going to pack a worthwhile punch. It's almost like the candy scientists held back when concocting the formula for this flavor, scared that something too flavorful or too sour would scare away potential customers. But I think they could've honed in on this flavor a bit more, making it even more sour and, ultimately, more apple-forward. So, while I don't hate the green apple flavor by any means, it's not one that I seek out when I'm digging through the classics pack. 

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5. Watermelon

Did you know that watermelon is the most popular Jolly Rancher flavor out there? It's true, confirmed by The Hershey Company itself, and I, for one, am not surprised by this tidbit of information. Watermelon does seem like the quintessential Jolly Rancher, representing a flavor neutral enough to appeal to the masses yet specific enough to really satisfy those who just love watermelon-flavored candy. Though it may be controversial, I don't think watermelon is the best Jolly Rancher flavor out there — in fact, I don't even think it's second, third, or fourth best.

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Yes, I am ranking watermelon in fifth place, but that doesn't mean I think this flavor is trash. I actually do enjoy watermelon, and I don't have many gripes about the flavor, either. Perhaps my biggest complaint is that the candy tastes like fake watermelon rather than real watermelon, but as far as artificial fruit flavors are concerned, watermelon does it better than so many others (again, looking at you, grape). I do wish there was a little more complexity to watermelon, since it's sweet and perhaps refreshing, but it gets a bit boring after a while. I think watermelon is a fine flavor, but there are just a handful of flavors out there that are even better.

4. Golden pineapple

There have been two pineapple Jolly Rancher flavors in recent history — plain pineapple, which was part of Jolly Rancher's ill-fated Fruity Bash pack, and golden pineapple, which is part of the Tropical Pack. I couldn't tell you the flavor difference between the two, and the only discernible difference seemed to be in appearance, with the regular pineapple being clearish-white in color and golden pineapple being, well, golden. If golden pineapple was a really disappointing flavor, then perhaps I'd be sad that I never got to try regular pineapple; but, luckily, that's not the case, as golden pineapple is a pretty solid flavor all around.

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I really appreciate how much the golden pineapple Jolly Rancher actually tastes like pineapple. Maybe it doesn't taste like fresh pineapple, per se, but it does taste like the canned stuff, or like pineapple juice, which is a win in my book. There's a certain subtlety to this flavor that I also really enjoyed — it's got that light, sweet, and vaguely tropical pineapple flavor, but it doesn't feel like you're being hit over the head with it. This little hard candy has some serious flavor balance, with just the right amount of sweetness backed up by subtle notes of sourness. If you don't like pineapple, obviously, you're not going to like this one. But if you love pineapple or even just feel ambivalent about it, there's a good chance you'll enjoy golden pineapple just as much as I do.

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3. Fruit punch

Fruit punch is a bit of an oddball Jolly Rancher flavor, because what is it, exactly? Unlike most other Jolly Rancher flavors that represent single fruits, fruit punch doesn't necessarily point us in any specific direction, considering there are so many variations of fruit punch out there, be they store-bought, homemade, non-alcoholic, or boozy. So I wasn't exactly sure what to expect going into fruit punch, but based on the fact that it broke into the top three on this list, it's safe to say that it's a delightful flavor.

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It is indeed hard to pinpoint exactly what a fruit punch Jolly Rancher tastes like, but I can say that fruit punch does feel like an incredibly accurate descriptor. The closest product comparison I can think of is classic red Hawaiian Punch, so if you can think back to your childhood and remember guzzling down glassfuls of the sugary red concoction at birthday parties, then you can imagine what a fruit punch Jolly Rancher tastes like.

There's no denying that this flavor of Jolly Rancher leans entirely on the sweet side, but I found the fruit punch flavor to be really delicious and true to its namesake. I also enjoyed the sheer potency of the flavor — from the second you pop the Jolly Rancher in your mouth to the final seconds before it completely melts away, the fruit punch flavor is sweet, strong, and super tasty. 

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2. Blue raspberry

Much like fruit punch, blue raspberry is another somewhat odd flavor, not just in the world of Jolly Ranchers but in the world of candy in general. As most of us know, blue raspberry isn't a real fruit, though the name might imply some sort of cross between two real fruits, blueberries and raspberries. Indeed, the origin of blue raspberry flavor is an odd one, but ultimately, it's one that was created in a lab rather than in nature, and it's very popular in the world of candy, Icees, slurpees, and beyond.

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Fortunately, we don't have to pinpoint exactly what blue raspberry is to know that it tastes pretty good, especially in the context of Jolly Ranchers. One of the strongest flavors in the lineup and, in my humble opinion, one of the most quintessential Jolly Ranchers out there, blue raspberry is downright tasty. It's a little bit sweet and a little bit sour, though it also boasts a decent level of tartness, too. Does it taste like raspberries, blueberries, or any fruit in particular? I wouldn't say so, but it does have a distinct fruitiness to it that makes it feel very welcome in the Jolly Rancher lineup. Perfectly balancing sweet and sour flavor profiles, blue raspberry is such a solid flavor and is incredibly deserving of the second-place slot on this list.

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1. Cherry

It's been a long journey to get to the number one slot on this list, and it wasn't always easy, considering how stacked a flavor lineup Jolly Rancher has. Despite the fierce competition, there's a clear winner when it comes to the best Jolly Rancher flavor, and that's none other than cherry. 

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There's just something about cherry that's so delightful, so fruity, so sour, so mouth-puckeringly tart that it's impossible to beat. Cherry is one of those candy flavors that tastes good even when it doesn't necessarily taste like real cherries, but I'd say that this Jolly Rancher actually manages to strike a unique balance between artificial cherry flavor and real cherry flavor. At first, the candy tastes pretty sweet with slight notes of tartness, and the flavor only gets more intense the more it melts in your mouth. Some moments I feel that a cherry Jolly Rancher almost tastes like a cherry compote or cherry pie filling, with the perfect balance of sweetness and tartness that really is incredibly delicious. 

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Striking the perfect flavor balance between fruitiness, sweetness, and tartness, cherry feels like the ultimate Jolly Rancher flavor. I really like that this flavor leans into tartness a little more than it does sourness, making for a unique taste that truly is unlike anything else in Jolly Rancher's lineup.

Methodology

Attempting to rank any food item is going to be pretty subjective, but ranking candy is an especially personal process since we all have different preferences and find different flavors more or less appealing. Naturally, my ranking reflects my own taste buds, favoring those flavors that I simply enjoy more than others, like cherry, as opposed to a flavor that I'm less wild about, like grape. That said, I still tried to approach the ranking with an open mind and pay attention to other factors, like which flavors struck a better balance overall or whether any of them had a particularly unsavory flavor (like the bitterness of the lime flavor).

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I also made sure not to necessarily favor any flavors that were more sweet or sour. I do tend to enjoy Jolly Ranchers that strike that perfect balance between sweet and sour, but that doesn't mean those that are mostly just sweet — like golden pineapple and fruit punch — don't deserve recognition for their flavors, too. Lastly, I did tend to favor those that had really strong flavors as opposed to those that were a little weak, like favoring cherry or blue raspberry over the more subtle watermelon. The exception was golden pineapple, which ranked pretty high despite having a pretty mild flavor profile, but I feel that the delightfully sweet and mellow flavor profile made up for any subtlety. 

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