There are plenty of American foods and drinks that are making their way over to the UK and Europe, some with great success, others not so much. But without doubt the most successful transatlantic traveller has been American sweets, especially of the hard candy variety.

While the UK has a booming confectionary industry of its own, it does fall short in the hard candy department, so it’s little wonder that American candy is accepted so widely and with open arms. The range of types and flavours available is mind boggling. Let’s take a look at a few that are really selling well to the UK consumer market.

One of the most popular hard candies are Jolly Ranchers. These hard candies come in a bag containing a wide range of different flavours, including apple, blue raspberry, grape, cherry and even watermelon!

Jolly Ranchers also come in lollipops, increasing the size and appeal of the range. Again, the flavours are wonderfully diverse; apple, watermelon, cherry and pink lemonade!

Alongside Jolly Ranchers there are a host of other hard candies becoming more and more readily available in the UK. Wonka Nerds, Life Savers and Skittles are all American treats you can buy in the UK and Europe.

Skittles most people will have heard of as they have been manufactured and marketed in the UK for quite a few years. However, the American, original version offers the consumer something different – namely, flavours!

Skittles from the States come in Tropical, Wild Berry, Sour and mysterious Crazy Cores flavours. You won’t find those in the UK version, that’s for sure.

Wonka Nerds is a massive range in itself, but its foundation is tiny, tangy bits of hard candy in an even greater range of flavours than Skittles or Jolly Ranchers. These are just a taste of those flavours, there are many, many more!

Wild Cherry
Watermelon
Grape
Strawberry
Wild Berry
Lemonade
Sour

Wonka Nerds are generally packaged two flavours together in a kaleidoscope of colour and flavour combinations. The Wonka range includes other candies too, so if you’re after a one stop shop for American sweets, start there!

Life Savers are a little different, though they are firmly part of the hard candy range of sweets. They are very much like the Polo sweet in the UK in that they are round mints with a hole in the middle. However, the Americans have taken it to a whole new level with their colours and range of flavours. As well as the traditionally minty flavours such as Wint O Green, Spear O Mint and Pep O Mint there are Wild Cherry, Tropical, Watermelon, Pineapple, Raspberry, Orange and even, rather bizarrely, Butter Rum!

It’s clear the US is well ahead of the game when it comes to hard candy, not through the type of sweet so much as the sheer number of flavours they choose to make them in. It’s no wonder that the UK, Europe and other countries around the world are so keen to adopt them.

Author Bio: Ben Greenwood is writing on behalf of American Soda, importers of American sweets to the UK, including Jolly Ranchers and Wonka Nerds.

Category: Food and Drinks
Keywords: jolly ranchers, wonka nerds, life savers, skittles