11 Popular Candy Brands You Should Know

If you've never tried Reese Pieces—but you love chocolate and peanut butter—we have to ask what you've been doing with your life. Made famous by the movie E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial and a really horrible marketing decision from the folks at M&M's, Reese's Pieces just might be Hershey's (and America's) best-kept secret from the rest of the world.

This delicious snack is one of the newer candy brands on our list. It features yummy milk chocolate and dark chocolate with a creamy hazelnut filling between crispy wafers. If you love chocolate, you must try Kinder Bueno.

Atomic Fireballs are the original super-intense cinnamon jawbreaker candy. These flaming hot and spicy sweet candies feature capsaicin, which is a naturally-occurring compound that makes jalapenos and chilis spicy. Each candy has around 3500 Scoville Heat units, but they are cinnamony sweet at the same time!

Sometimes you want sweet, sometimes you want sour. Sour Patch Kids are a soft and chewy candy that starts off sour before turning sweet. You may have seen their funny commercials. But if you haven't tried this candy, we recommend the original flavor. They also have strawberry, watermelon, blue raspberry, and a ton of others to choose from.

If you are looking for a gluten-free treat and are feeling a little nutty, try a delicious Payday candy bar. Made with salty peanuts and a chewy caramel filling, each bar contains 220 calories.

Paydays are available in a variety of sizes and forms to suit any level of appetite.

The most popular treat from Charms Company (later acquired by Tootsie Roll Company), Blow Pops were introduced in the 1970s. They are such a part of American culture that they've been referenced in everything from movies to songs. If you haven't tried a Blow Pop—which is a delicious sucker with bubble gum inside—then you are definitely missing out.

The Blow Pop's sister product, the Tootsie Pop, is also just as delicious. Instead of finding gum at the center, you get a yummy Tootsie Roll. They are so good, we may or may not have a box of them hidden in the office. How many licks does it take to get to the center? Well, that's entirely up to you. But, we've heard rumors you can make it happen in just three licks.

You've probably seen Sno-Caps at the movie theater because they are amazing when dumped into a bucket of buttery popcorn. They are just as delicious on their own, as Sno-Caps are small pieces of semi-sweet chocolate candy covered with white nonpareils.

What the heck are nonpareils? Great question. Known as "hundreds and thousands" outside of North America, nonpareils are a decorative confectionery of tiny white balls made with sugar and starch.

Baby Ruth is a classic candy bar that is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2021. Created by the Curtiss Candy Company in Chicago, Baby Ruths are chocolate-covered candy bars with peanuts, caramel, and nougat.

The history behind this candy bar is actually quite interesting. Curtiss Candy Company named their Baby Ruth candy bar after Ruth Cleveland, eldest daughter of President Grover Cleveland. But baseball superstar Babe Ruth disagreed. He thought they were using his name to make money, and opened his own candy company to compete.

When he tried to register his "Ruth's Home Run Candy" with the patent office, the Curtiss Candy Company sued him for copyright infringement. A patent court ruled in favor of Curtiss, saying that Ruth was trying to cash in his nickname and profit from the name similarity of the popular candy bar.

Laffy Taffy is a fun kind of candy that is "sweet and stretchy, tangy and chewy, in lip-smacking fruity flavor combinations." This treat is available in different flavors, like grape, strawberry, banana, cherry, and watermelon. In addition to the full-size taffy, there's also a fun size, a rope style, and Mike and Ike-size "Laff Bites."

The Laffy Taffy name comes from the texture of the taffy and the jokes printed on the outside of each wrapper. Kids usually send in the jokes, and they receive credit on the packaging. You'll find pun-based jokes like "What is Labor Day? – That's when mommies have their babies." Or, you'll get silly questions and answers, like "What do you call a cow with no legs? Ground Beef."

Original SweeTARTS are pretty fantastic. But, the Giant Chewy SweeTARTS will take things to the next level. This iconic brand has been around since the early 1960s, and their candy is known for its unique flavor combinations of delightfully sweet and delicately tart.

These huge disks of flavor are too big to eat with just one bite. You can break them apart and share them for the perfect sweet, tart, and chewy candy experience. Or, you can keep them all to yourself.

Some of these brands might be familiar, others may be completely new to you. But either way, all of these delicious treats are popular candy brands you should know. You should definitely give them all a try!

Further Reading

1. 15 Popular Chocolate Brands You Should Know
2. 17 Popular Candies That Got Surprisingly Less Unhealthy
3. 15 Popular Ice Cream Brands For Ice Cream Lovers