What Makes Warheads Candy Sour?

There are sweet candy kids and then there are sour candy kids. As a lifelong sweet candy kid, I have to admit that those sour candy kids kind of scare me. Do you want to eat candy to enjoy a delicious sweet treat? Or do you prefer to have your mouth forcibly puckered by a painful, overpowering sour sensation? 

The most extreme and well-known sour candy is the Warhead. What is a Warhead candy? What is the sourest Warhead candy? What makes Warhead candy so sour? What does Warhead candy taste like? Are Warhead candies dangerous? Let’s do battle with Warheads. 

What is a Warhead candy?

Warheads are an extremely sour tart candy. They proclaim themselves to be an “extreme candy with an intense sour.” They started out in Taiwan in 1975 and made their way to the U.S. in 1993. They’re basically candies for kids who like to push things to the extreme.

They have a little mascot guy called Wally Warhead who has a messed up puckered look on his face and his head is exploding as if it was bombed by a literal warhead. 

What does Warhead candy taste like?

They taste sour, obviously. They come in a variety of flavors, all of which are vaguely perceptible under the sour bomb going off on your tongue. Warhead flavors include apple, watermelon, blue raspberry, and orange. 

Which Warhead flavor is the sourest? 

Well, it depends on who you ask. Many claim that lemon Warheads are the most sour. That makes sense. Lemons are pretty sour. Others swear that black cherry is the sourest of them all. Try them and let me know.

What makes Warhead candy so sour?

The thing that gives Warheads that sour sensation is acid. Warheads have several different kinds of acid at play. And, no, this isn’t the acid that ax murderers keep in giant tubs to dissolve their victims in. 

The first acid you can perceive when you eat a Warhead is citric acid. That’s the stuff that gives certain fruits, like lemons and limes, their tang. Then the big bad boy comes out: microencapsulated malic acid. Malic acid is the stuff that gives green apples their pucker. This acid makes that sour taste last and last and last, long after you’ve finished your Warhead. The coating of hydrogenated palm oil melts away as you suck on your Warhead, slowly releasing the malic acid to attack your tongue.

Are Warheads dangerous?

So, are these sour candies dangerous at all? Sure. You could accidentally choke on one. Or if you threw a handful of them at someone, you could maybe do some damage. The sourness of these things isn’t going to melt your guts or anything. though. So Warheads are not dangerous in that respect. 

But if you ask a dentist if Warheads are dangerous, they’ll probably say yes. Too much citric and malic acid causes dental erosion and canker sores. Warheads themselves warn you, “Eating multiple pieces within a short time period may cause a temporary irritation to sensitive tongues and mouths.” But I don’t like my dentist so I eat as many as I want.