Warheads Candy

Ever been involved in a challenge to eat something that was either very hot or very sour? How well did you do? When I was in primary school there was a craze where we would try to eat as many Warhead lollies as possible. These are hard candies with a very sour coating and in my day, there was also a variety with a very hot coating. The challenge was to have as many of these in your mouth as possible. If you have never had a Warhead lolly, for the first 30 seconds or so it releases an intense sour flavour overwhelming the tastebuds before a fruit flavour comes forth. I wasn’t very good at this game. I stopped at three.

As stated in the video, these days the available flavours of sour Warheads are, Lemon, Green Apple, Watermelon, Black Cherry, and Blue Raspberry.

Although the video did not go into detail of the ingredients of Warheads, the list can be found quite easily:

INGREDIENTS:
Corn Syrup, Sugar, Microencapsulated Malic Acid (Malic Acid Hydrogenated Palm Oil), Citric Acid, Gum Acacia, Deproteinized
Soybean Oil (Processing Aid), Ascorbic Acid, Artificial Flavors, Carnuaba Wax, Corn Starch; May Contain Blue 1, Red 40, and /
or Yellow 5.

The strong flavour of Warheads come mainly from malic acid found on the coating of the hard candy. This acid was first isolated in 1785 by Carl Wilhelm Scheele from apple juice. Two years later, Antoine Lavoisier suggested the name acide malique, a derivation of the Latin word for apple, mālum. Malic acid is the source of sour flavours in food. In green apples, it is responsible for the sourness and it provides a tart taste to wine. Apart from being used as a flavour in Warheads, malic acid is also used in salt and vinegar flavoured potato chips. Malic acid may be listed as an ingredient or denoted by the E number, E296.

In response to children eating numerous Warheads at once, there is now a warning label on the packets:

WARNING: Choking hazard, small parts, not for children under 3 years of age. Consuming large quantities within a brief period may cause temporary irritation to sensitive tongues. Avoid contact with eyes.

These days, I keep to having one Warhead at a time.

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