Sour Patch Kids dominate the American sour candy market. But how do they hold up against Swedish sour candy from BUBS and Malaco? We tested sourness, flavor depth, texture, and ingredients to find the real sour champion.
America's Sour King vs Sweden's Sour Revolution
Sour Patch Kids have been America's #1 sour candy since the early 2000s. They're cheap, they're everywhere, and their "sour, sweet, gone" tagline is one of the most accurate candy descriptions ever written. Swedish sour candy — led by BUBS Sour Skulls — is the newcomer that went viral for being... better? Let's find out if the hype is justified.
Sourness: The Main Event
Sour Patch Kids
SPK's sour coating is aggressive. It hits fast, peaks within 3-5 seconds, and fades completely by 10-15 seconds. The sourness is achieved through a heavy citric acid and tartaric acid coating on each piece. It's designed to be a shock — your face contorts, your eyes water, and then it's over. The "sweet" phase kicks in and you're eating what is essentially a generic gummy bear with residual citric acid dust.
BUBS Sour Skulls
BUBS uses a crystal sour coating (malic acid and citric acid) that's less immediately aggressive than SPK but lasts longer. The sourness builds over 3-4 seconds, peaks for about 5-8 seconds, and fades gradually while the fruit flavor emerges. It's a more nuanced sour experience — you actually get to enjoy the transition from sour to sweet rather than just surviving it.
Winner on raw intensity: Sour Patch Kids. They're more immediately sour.
Winner on sour quality: BUBS. The sourness is more complex and doesn't just disappear.
Flavor: What Happens After the Sour
This is where the comparison gets embarrassing for Sour Patch Kids.
Sour Patch Kids
Once the sour coating dissolves, you're left with a gummy that tastes like... sugar. The flavors (lime, lemon, orange, red berry) are vaguely present but mostly function as food coloring justification rather than actual taste experiences. The "sweet" phase is one-dimensional: it's just sweetness without character. This is a candy that front-loads its entire personality into the first 5 seconds.
Swedish Sour Candy
BUBS Sour Skulls reveal a genuine berry flavor after the sour phase — a complex, fruity sweetness that's worth eating on its own. BUBS Watermelon tastes like actual watermelon. Even BUBS Cool Cola has an authentic cola flavor with a cooling effect. Swedish sour candy treats the sour coating as an opening act, not the whole show.
Winner: Swedish sour candy, by a significant margin. It's not even the same category of flavor quality.
Texture
Sour Patch Kids
Firm, chewy, slightly tough gelatin gummies. They have that classic "American gummy" texture — resistant to biting, kind of squeaky against your teeth, and they stick in your molars. The texture is consistent and familiar, but it's nothing special. You chew, you swallow, you reach for another one mostly because of the sour coating, not the gummy itself.
BUBS Sour Skulls
Softer, more yielding, with a satisfying "give" when you bite. The crystal sour coating adds an initial crunch that SPK doesn't have — creating a crunch→chew texture progression that's genuinely ASMR-worthy. The gummy base is made with potato starch instead of gelatin, giving it a different chew that most people describe as "smoother" or "less sticky."
Winner: BUBS. The crunch-to-chew transition elevates the eating experience.
Ingredients: The Dealbreaker
Sour Patch Kids
Sugar, invert sugar, corn syrup, modified corn starch, tartaric acid, citric acid, natural and artificial flavor, Yellow 6, Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 1. That's a roster of artificial colors that the EU requires warning labels for. These are the same dyes that parents increasingly want to avoid, and for good reason — the EU's position is based on studies linking these additives to hyperactivity in children.
BUBS Sour Skulls
Glucose syrup, sugar, water, modified potato starch, malic acid, citric acid, natural flavoring, fruit and vegetable concentrates (for color). No artificial colors. No artificial flavors. No corn syrup. Vegan. The ingredient list is shorter, cleaner, and contains nothing that requires a chemistry degree to understand.
Winner: BUBS, and it's the most clear-cut victory in this entire comparison. If ingredients matter to you — as a parent, as a health-conscious consumer, or just as someone who prefers fewer synthetic chemicals in their food — this is the reason to switch.
Price & Availability
Sour Patch Kids: $2-4 per bag at literally every store in America. Always available, always affordable.
BUBS: $8-15 per bag from Amazon or specialty retailers. Requires planning and costs 3-4x more.
Winner: Sour Patch Kids. You can't beat gas station availability and $3 pricing. The convenience factor is massive.
The Final Scorecard
Raw sourness: Sour Patch Kids
Flavor quality: Swedish sour candy
Texture: Swedish sour candy
Ingredients: Swedish sour candy
Price: Sour Patch Kids
Availability: Sour Patch Kids
Overall: Swedish sour candy wins 3-3 on categories but wins the quality argument decisively. Sour Patch Kids are the candy you grab when you're already at the store. BUBS Sour Skulls are the candy you order when you want something actually good. Once you've had Swedish sour candy, SPK starts tasting like what it is: aggressively sour sugar with artificial coloring.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Are Swedish sour candies too sour for people who like Sour Patch Kids?
No — most Swedish sour candy is comparable to or slightly less intense than SPK. The sourness is different (more gradual, longer-lasting) but not more extreme. If you can handle Sour Patch Kids, you can handle any mainstream Swedish sour candy. The extreme stuff (Malaco Super Sura) is another story. See our sour candy ranking.
Can I find Swedish sour candy at regular US stores?
Some Target locations carry BUBS products through Sockerbit. Amazon has a solid BUBS selection. But for the full range, you'll need specialty retailers. Check our where-to-buy guide.
Are Sour Patch Kids banned in Sweden?
Not banned, but they'd need different packaging. The EU requires warning labels on products containing certain artificial colors (like Red 40 and Yellow 5), stating they "may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children." Most manufacturers reformulate for the European market rather than add warning labels. The Swedish version of comparable products uses natural colorings.
Founder & Editor
Former Swedish candy & FMCG professional turned US-based founder of SwedishCrave. Built the site to fill the gap he saw when he moved stateside.
