If you’re an 80’s kid, you know about Nerds. For me, they were and are one of my all time favorite candies. Their particular combination of crunch, sweetness & exactly the right kind and amount of sour was unprecedented at the time & is still great now. Generally, I only ever saw the watermelon/cherry box and the grape/strawberry but those were more than enough for me.

Not much has changed for Nerds in the 36 years they’ve been around. In fact…nothing has. They’re exactly the same as they always were. In a world of changing recipes (we’re looking RIGHT at you Butterfingers & Reeses Cups), it’s nice to have something important and nostalgic just…stay the same.

The one thing that does change with Nerds (aside from making a few Nerds branded varieties of candies like Nerds Ropes, etc) are the flavors. Never abandoning the old school classics, they’ve managed to add some additional super solid flavors over the years. I don’t think I’ve ever disliked any of them.

And that brings me to these.

Playing on the mystique of the Luchadores of Mexico, they really nailed the art and style in the packaging.  Also, just to be clear, these are the small Halloween-sized boxes, not the big boys. I couldn’t find these anywhere.  Ever. Until our friends at CandyNation got in touch. Of course they could get them: THEY HAVE EVERYTHING! I was off & running.

Let’s start with the Guava (left).

The first mouthful I shoveled was slow to start opening up, flavor-wise. But when it did, man was it lovely. I absolutely adore guava and most things guava flavored, so this was an easy slam dunk. I will say that it’s not quite as intense flavor-wise as I’d like, but everything else about it is on point, so that’s fine.

The mango Chile…heyoooo. I wasn’t expecting the Chile to have such a kick, but it did. I am a HUGE spicy food fan, so read into that what you will, but I was impressed with the heat level. People who don’t like spice probably won’t buy these, but just be warned, it’s not a faint low-level heat.

The mango flavor is predictably yummy. It gets overshadowed just a bit by the heat, but is still there and wonderful.

As for my nostalgic candy memories, since Wacky Wafers were somewhat deflated for me recently, Nerds by default shot up to the #2 slot, RIGHT below Haribo Happy Cola. Which…I had no idea was Haribo OR called Happy Cola back in the day, I just knew they were beautiful and I needed them in my life.

The point here is that nostalgia, especially for candy, is a good thing. It’s cheap, it’s generally easy to find, and it makes people happy. This is why we do what we do here at Candy Gurus.

For sure, I’d say both of these Nerds flavors deserve to be sold in normal sized boxes. I’d absolutely buy them on the regular. For now though, your best bet is to go to the source, CandyNation.com. Hit the link below, and then come back at me and tell me what you think of them.