It’s no secret that I’m a huge IKEA fan. I was converted by the good, simple designs,  affordable prices, readily hackable products,  and family friendly stores that can feel like a day trip adventure more than a shopping center.

On our last bi-monthly visit to the local store, I noticed bulk candy in the grocery section for the first time. Most of the items looked a little different and interesting, so I took one for the internet team and bought a few pieces of almost every variety so I could taste test. It was a hard job, but somebody needed to do it. Here’s the inside scoop on IKEA bulk candy, piece by piece. 

The Gummies

1. Cola Bottle: A classic cola-licious gummy with a slightly firmer bite than typical. Two thumbs up for throwback candy lovers.

2. Sweet Lips: Sweet berry flavored gummy with the same chewy-more-than-gummy texture. I can think of a bunch of fun ways to use these for decorating cupcakes or for Valentines Day.

3. Mini Fried Eggs: These citrus flavored gummies were some of my absolute favorite in the bag! They’re small, have great flavor, and a great gummy texture. Plus, they’re totally adorable.

4. Race Car: Really cute little shape, but with a super waxy texture and flavor. I might buy this one for the novelty sometime, but not to eat myself.

5. Fruit Snake: Good flavor, really cute, and really big. This one is definitely fun, but I think a kid might start feeling sick after eating the whole thing.

6. Jelly Mice: I love these for the fun shape, and good gummy texture. The sweet sort of generic gummy flavor is good too, and I think between all colors it was the same.

7. Berry Bites: these have the texture and favor similar to jujubees, and I’m a fan.

8. Scandy Fish: similar to Swedish Fish, renamed for trademark reasons I’d guess. Still as good though.

9. Green Frogs: Another cute candy that totally delivers on texture and shape, and has a good gummy flavor, not totally stand-out but good enough to enjoy.

The Sugars and Sours

1. Rainbow Roll: A super sour, fruity roll up. Great flavor and real sour sugar. Cutest stripes, too.

2. Sour Raspberry: Medium sour gummy, with a sweet raspberry gummy center.

3. Fizzy Rolls: This one tastes like bubble gum, and isn’t as sour as the Rainbow Roll. I preferred the other, but these colors are fun and could be cute for a baby shower.

4. Sugar Coated Strawberry: Sweet sugared strawberry. As yummy as it is adorable.

5. Sour Tongues: Really sour striped gummies. I didn’t notice a difference between colors, and they were all good.

6. Swedish Skull: The same good sour gummy, just in a different shape and multiple colors. I think the colors had slightly different flavors, but with the sour sugar it was hard to notice. All good. All perfect movie treats in my opinion.

The Rambos

This whole category was so foreign to me and turned out to be some of my favorites! The majority have a nougat-textures center wrapped with a firm gummy outer layer in a different flavor for a fun mix of textures and flavors. These I’ll go back for often.

1. Rambo Twist: rather than a center of nougat and outer layer of jelly, the twist has small strips of each combined into one layered piece. It tastes like strawberries and cream, and is a great, festive treat.

2. Rambo Cola: This cola jelly and citrus nougat flavored Rambo was my very favorite one. It’s got a sour sugar coating that adds to the flavors and keeps it from being overly sweet. Such a good one.

3. Lemon Rubarb Rambo: I was so excited about this because of the name, and it was good, but not as different and exciting tasting as I expected.

4. Sweet + Salty Licorice: I’m not a great judge here, because black licorice is not my favorite. I can say the nougat was delicious so I imagine if you are a black licorice fan, you’ll like this one.

5. Rambo Crunchy Strawberry: this one goes a step further and includes crunchy candy pieces inside the nougat wrapped in gummy. Mind blown. It’s really fun to eat, too. Kind of sweet for me, but with an addictive crunch.

The Chocolates

I’m a chocoholic, and this section has some fun pieces. All the chocolate is milk, and tastes high quality. The fillings are interesting and different in some good ways.

1. Corn Crisp: like a chocolate coated Kix. So good.

2. Chocolate Marshmallow Banana: Just as it sounds, with maybe a slightly more subtle banana flavor than I expected. Fluffy marshmallow filling with just a touch of chocolate shell.

3. Chocolate Heart Truffle: Delicious, liquid caramel fills these little heart truffles. They’re really really good.

4. Milk Chocolate Disk: Good milk chocolate, and that’s all.

5. Rum Sprinkles: These and the heart truffle tie for my favorite of the chocolates. They have a nice rum flavor with a soft chocolate bite. I could take or leave the sprinkles, but they’re cute.

6. Brownie Fudge: Like a good piece of chocolate fudge. Simple chocolate flavor, with a texture that leaves bite marks. Good and dense.

7. Raspberry Licorice Fudge: This had more of a caramel raspberry flavor to me than a licorice taste, and I liked it.

8. Chocolate Vanilla Toffee: Really good little soft toffee bites. Sort of have the feeling of Milk Duds, but better.

#SocialCandy
These great candies are all in the same bin, but deserve their own category because they’re so awesome. The gummy is a great, firm texture with a good bite.The flavors are some of the best in the store, and the designs crack me up. They’d make such fun gifts or treats for friends.

The Others

1. Orange Rocks: Surprising texture to these sweet orange balls. They’re hard candy, not the bon bon chew I expected. Good orange flavor, but hard.

2. Forest Berries: Little tiny nubs of berry flavor. Not quite gummy, more like drops of nougat covered in a candy coating. Not too sweet and pretty colors. Not special enough to be my favorite, but fun for little tiny things.

3. Licorice Octo-Salt: Oh gosh. I barely put this one in my mouth before I had to spit it out and felt like I was foaming. It is absolutely terrible. Literally crusted with salt and who knows what else in the candy to give it such a bitter flavor. I’ll buy more to give to people as a joke and film their reaction. It was that bad.

4. Vanilla Mallow: A basic homemade tasting mallow. Firmer texture and better flavor than the grocery store variety.

5. Mini Banana Caramels: I had such high hopes for this one because I love banana and caramel. Unfortunately it’s a rather tasteless bit of nougat.

Hazelnut CaramelDoesn’t a hazelnut caramel sound so good? It’s not. It’s just okay. Bummer.

The Halloween MixThere is a bunch of these year-round IKEA bulk candy that seems perfect for Halloween! Here are my picks to put together for a spooky grab bag:

Black Licorice Wheels (which I didn’t taste, not being a licorice fan, but the color and style is spot on), Gummy Snakes, Mice, and Frogs, Sweet Lips topped with cut-off corners of the Vanilla Mallow to make vampire teeth, Sour Skulls, Orange Rocks, and Licorice Octo-Salt to give our as tricks, not treats!

There you have it! The Ikea Bulk Candy play-by-play. Its always fun to try something new, and I’m already craving some more mini fried eggs and rambo colas. The actual candy may be different store to store, so let me know if you find something else fun at yours!