Fizzy and Sour Sweets: The Science of the Tingle and the Sweets That Do It Best

There are two kinds of people at a pick and mix counter. The ones who fill the bag with soft, sensible things, and the ones who go straight for the tub that glitters.

This one's for the second lot. The people who pull the face, say "ooh, that's sharp", and go back in for another before they've finished the first. Here's what is going on when a sweet fizzes, the difference between fizzy and sour, and the sweets that do each one best. There are more than 60 in our Fizzy range.

What makes a sweet fizz?

It starts with the coat. That sparkly dusting is sugar mixed with fruit acids, usually citric and malic, and the tingle begins the second it meets the moisture on your tongue.

Sherbet, and some fizzy coats, add bicarbonate of soda as well. Acid meets bicarb, gives off carbon dioxide, the same gas that puts the bubbles in a fizzy drink, and you get a real fizz. The kind you can hear if you listen.

It's also why a fizzy cola bottle left out on the side goes quiet. The air gets to the coat before you do.

Fizzy or sour: what's the difference?

They get lumped together, but they're different thrills.

• Fizzy is a tingle. A sugar and acid coat on a soft, sweet chew. It's friendly. Cola bottles, bubblegum bottles, twin cherries.
• Sour is a challenge. More acid, less mercy, and a face you can't control. The sweetness turns up late, as a reward for holding on.

Most people start at fizzy and work their way up. Some never come back.

The fizzy hall of fame

• Fizzy Cola Bottles. The first thing most people reach for in a pick and mix. Chewy, sharp, sweet, and never bettered.
• Fizzy Bubblegum Bottles. The pink and blue one that has been on every counter for decades. Sweeter than cola, with the same fizzy coat.
• Fizzy Blue Raspberries. Bluer than any fruit has a right to be. Blue tongue guaranteed.
• Fizzy Twin Cherries. Two cherries, one stalk, and a sugar coat with a tang. Made with vegan ingredients.
• Sour Dummies. The retro shape in a tangy fizzy coat, the way the sweet shop always did them.
• Tongue Painters. Tangy gummies that dye your tongue a different colour depending on which one you eat. Half sweet, half party trick.

Want the lot in one bag? Fizzy Shockwave is ten fizzy favourites, every one with the sour sugar coat. It's the mix we'd hand to a teenager, a sour fan, or anyone who likes their sweets to bite back.

The sour ladder

Ready to climb? Here's the way up, one rung at a time.

1. Tingle: Fizzy Shockwave. All fizz, no fear.
2. Sharp: Sour Shockwave. Melon slices, sour apples and fizzy dummies, made with vegan ingredients and noticeably less polite. Its neon twin, Radioactive, sits on the same rung.
3. No way back: Sour Apocalypse. Our sourest mix by a distance. Ten of the sharpest sweets we stock, led by the Toxic Waste range, for people who think sour sweets have gone soft.

And if you'd like to make a night of it, Sour Sentence is four pouches of sour with nothing sweet to hide behind. Sharing is optional. Filming your friends is not.

Fizz from further afield

• Swedish: Northern Lights is ten Swedish sweets that pop, fizz and tingle. There's more in our guide to Swedish candy.
• American: Stars & Sours is America's sharp side: sour Mike and Ike, Jelly Belly Sours, Lemonheads and tangy Nerds, with one sweet one to recover.
• Freeze dried: Sucker Punch is twelve sour sweets, freeze dried so the crunch lands before the sour does.

How to build a fizzy bag that works

All fizz and no rest wears a tongue out. The best fizzy bags have a rhythm:

• Two parts fizzy for the tingle. Bottles, cherries, blue raspberries.
• One part sour for the jolt. Sour apples, or a few Toxic Waste if you're feeling brave.
• One part soft and sweet for the recovery. Giant strawberries, foam bananas, a milk bottle.

Keeping the fizz

Fizzy sweets have one enemy, and it's the air. Once a pouch is open, the coat starts drawing in moisture and the tingle fades. Reseal it properly and keep it somewhere cool and dry, away from the kettle and the window.

A note for parents, and the brave

Sour sweets really are sour, and the extreme ones are best kept for older children and adults. Many of our sweets aren't suitable for children under three because of the choking risk. Every product page lists the ingredients, allergens and warnings in full.

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