Bon Bons Candy: Cherry, Blue Raspberry, and Strawberry Reviewed Side by Side

Bon Bons are one of those candies that seem simple on the surface — small, round, fruit-flavored — but have a devoted following that goes back generations. The format is as old as confectionery itself: a chewy candy center with a hard shell and an intense fruit flavor. What makes the Sweet Palace lineup of Bon Bons worth paying attention to is the quality of the flavoring in each variety. Cherry, Blue Raspberry, and Strawberry all take slightly different approaches, and understanding the differences will help you pick the right one (or all three).

Cherry: The Classic That Earns Its Reputation

Cherry is the foundational Bon Bons flavor, and the standard against which the others should be measured. The best cherry candies get their flavor from a combination of natural and artificial compounds that mimic the sweet-tart profile of Bing or Maraschino cherries rather than the more nuanced flavor of fresh fruit. Sweet Palace's Bon Bons Cherry does this well: it's bright, it's sweet without being cloying, and it has just enough tartness to feel like it's doing more than one thing. The shell-to-center ratio is well-balanced — you get a satisfying snap before the chewy interior takes over.

Real cherry is famously difficult to replicate in candy form. The flavor of natural cherries comes largely from benzaldehyde (also found in almonds), which is why good cherry candy often has a slightly almond-adjacent note. The Bon Bons Cherry has this quality in spades.

Blue Raspberry: Bold, Bright, and Unapologetically Artificial

Blue Raspberry as a flavor doesn't exist in nature — there is no blue raspberry. The flavor was developed in the 1950s using a combination of artificial compounds designed to evoke the tartness of red raspberries while differentiating products from the already-crowded cherry and strawberry categories. The signature bright blue color became a signal: this one is going to be loud, sour-leaning, and maximum candy.

The Bon Bons Blue Raspberry leans fully into this identity. It's more intensely tart than the cherry version, with a forward sweetness that comes second. The color bleed on your tongue is part of the experience. At $5.99 per bag at Sweet Palace, it's the most visually dramatic of the three and the one most likely to delight kids who want candy to look like candy.

Strawberry: The Subtle Middle Ground

Strawberry is the most delicate of the three flavors and requires the most careful balance to execute well. Overdo the sweetness and it tastes artificial; underdo it and it tastes bland. The Bon Bons Strawberry hits the mark: it's softer and more floral than either Cherry or Blue Raspberry, with a genuine berry note that makes it feel slightly more sophisticated. This is the version that adults who don't usually reach for candy tend to like best. All three are priced at $5.99 at Sweet Palace. If you can only choose one, the Strawberry is the safest choice for a mixed crowd; the Blue Raspberry is the most fun.