If you grew up on the West Coast, you probably remember Red Vines from your childhood. They’re licorice-like strands of candy (Red Vines calls them “twists”) that you may have munched on as a special treat or eaten at the movies.

Growing up on the East Coast, I was always more of a Twizzlers guy. But when Red Vines recently sent me a massive tub of their signature red candies, I started snacking on them. Like many people, I had trouble immediately telling what flavor Red Vines are supposed to be.

It turns out that Red Vines are flavored to mimic a blend of different berries.

That’s interesting since the package doesn’t make Red Vines’ flavor all that obvious. Although “berries” is the short answer, there’s a lot more to the Red Vines flavor picture.

What Red Vines Taste Like

Again, the Red Vines package doesn’t say explicitly what Red Vines are supposed to taste like. It just describes them as “Original Red.” Though your four-year-old might beg to differ, “red” is in fact, a flavor, not a color.

To get a sense of Red Vines’ actual flavor, our best bet is to turn to their manufacturer, American Licorice. The company has been around a long time; it was originally launched in 1914.

The first thing American Licorice made was black licorice twists. They still make these under the Red Vines name, and they’re still quite tasty. The candies are flavored with actual extract of the licorice plant, which gives them an intense flavor that some people love, and others aren’t wild about.

To expand their product range, American Licorice started making raspberry-flavored versions of their licorice twists around 1950. People called them “red licorice”, since they looked a lot like the company’s original licorice candies.

Those raspberry twists eventually morphed into Red Vines. They’ve remained popular and almost certainly outsell American Licorice’s black licorice candies.

Originally, then, the “Original Red” name for Red Vines was likely intended to differentiate them from American Licorice’s black licorice candies. They originally had a raspberry flavor.

Red Vines’ Flavor Today

Today, though, the flavor of Red Vines’ seems to have changed a bit. According to American Licorice, although they evolved from Raspberry Vines, their flavor is no longer solely based on raspberries.

Instead, American Licorice now says that “the Red Vines® flavor is a delicious fruit blend of different berries.” The flavor probably includes raspberries, but it’s now broader than that.

It’s also worth noting that you won’t find Red Vines’ flavor in nature — according to the product’s ingredient list, Red Vines use artificial flavoring. That’s pretty typical for candies. It means the company probably has a proprietary flavor blend that’s hard to duplicate for their competitors.

If we look at the ingredient list for a related product, though, we can learn a bit more. Red Vines’ Made Simple twists use natural berry flavoring. Again, that’s an indication of what American Licorice wants Red Vines to taste like.

In short, then, the simple answer is: Red Vines are supposed to taste like berries.

The Philosophical Answer

That said, when many people taste Red Vines, they tend to wax rhapsodical about the candy’s flavor instead of jumping to something as simple as “berries.”

My first impression upon eating a Red Vine was: “this tastes like childhood.” The candy’s simple, classic flavor is a throwback to an earlier time when it was fine to make a candy that wasn’t keto, organic, all-natural, and all that.

Red Vines takes a similar philosophical stance when describing their product, too. Although they admit that, really, Red Vines taste like berries, they also throw in that “For some, the taste of Red Vines® candy reminds them of the nostalgic candy of their childhood, and trips to the local candy shop” and that the candies taste like “heaven.”

So there you go. The strictly accurate answer is “berries.” The longer one is “nostalgia, and a bygone era from my childhood when life was simple and so was candy.” No wonder so many people love to scarf down these little red twists.

Craving Red Vines now? You can get them in huge quantities on Amazon.

• These giant containers are what Red Vines sent to me to try out. They’re great to take to the break room at work, your place of worship, etc.
• If you like OG licorice, grab a similar tub, but opt for their Black Licorice flavor. This one goes all the way back to 1914.
• For a fancier Red Vine, check out the Made Simple version.

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