Spicy candy is going to be big this year

EEIn the past year, America’s confectioners collectively got the hots for spicy candy.

Jolly Rancher Hotties hit stores last summer. They were followed by Sour Patch Kids Fire and Starburst Sweet Heat in the fall, and then Skittles Sweet Heat last week. All of them add a little tonguetingliness to your typical candy flavors — and some Guy Fieri-esque flames to the packaging. The names followed suit — a prerequisite for making spicy candy, it seems, is giving every flavor a totally rad spicy name. It is not just watermelon — it is “Angry Watermelon” or “Fiery Watermelon.” Orange, it seems, is always “flamin’.”

It used to be that spicy sweets meant Red Hots, or Atomic Fireballs — two candies that clobbered you over the head with the taste of cinnamon. But spicy candy is getting more, well, sophisticated. These candies incorporate flavors of cayenne, habanero and Sriracha, in the case of the Jolly Ranchers. And they have a mix of flavors — sour, spicy, sweet — that change and build through every chew.

Flavors: Berry Blaze, Tropical Flame, Angry Watermelon and Apple Fever.

Despite that very aggressive-sounding warning on the bag, these were the mildest of the bunch. The spice comes later, but it is a barely perceptible tingle, followed by the familiar flavor of Sour Patch Kids.

Flavors: Lemon Spark, Flamin’ Orange, Fiery Watermelon, Sizzlin’ Strawberry and Blazin’ Mango.

The heat is pretty immediate with these candies, but it is mild and burns off quickly. Mildly addictive.

Flavors: Fiery Watermelon, Flamin’ Orange, Pipin’ Pineapple and Strawberry Mango (what, they just ran out of hot names?)

For the first few seconds, it tastes like a regular Starburst — but when the heat kicks in, it is much spicier than the previous candies. It spreads throughout your whole mouth, too — not just the back of your tongue. Except for a little flame on the wrapper, these look a lot like the regular-flavored ones.

Flavors: Watermelon Cayenne, Blue Raspberry Sriracha, Cherry Habanero and Green Apple Ginger.

We were pleased that these were named after actual spices, and had a hypothesis that it meant they would be better than the rest (even though Sriracha feels very 2013). And, for some flavors, at least, we were right — the cherry candies were the spiciest of all the candies, and the heat continued to build.