The Quick 10: Unusual Flavors of 10 Familiar Candies

Here's something you may not know about me: I'm a sucker for limited-edition candy. Most of the time I can pass through checkout lines with ease, not even batting an eyelash at the rows of M&Ms and Kit-Kats. As soon as you stamp "Limited Edition" on the wrapper and give it a quirky flavor, though, I'm like a three-year-old with a serious sugar jones. I'm not above throwing tantrums, people.

You can imagine, then, that Halloween is a wonderful and dangerous time for me (as if I needed another reason to adore Halloween). Today's post is inspired by not one, but two limited-edition, Halloween-inspired Dots I spied on the shelves at the grocery store this weekend. Read on for those and eight more limited-edition candies with flavors a little left of center.

3. Strawberried Peanut Butter M&Ms. I haven't had these, but maybe you have "“ they were a promotion for Transformers: Rise of the Fallen and I believe they are still in stores. Candy Addict wasn't terribly impressed with them, but other reviewers and commenters have raved, comparing the taste to a PB&J or even strawberry milk, in one instance.

4. Reese's Peanut Butter and Banana Crème. Peanut Butter and Banana"¦ hmm. If that rings a bell, it might be your Elvis Alarm going off: the King loved fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches. What better way to celebrate the Man From Memphis' 30th deathiversary by commemorating his love of junk food in a handy little bite-sized form? I'm not going to lie; they were pretty good. And although they were terrible for you, you can take heart in the fact that Elvis sometimes liked the additions of honey and bacon on his PB&Bs, so by only adding the banana, Hershey was really being fairly health-conscious. Or something.

5. You may have noticed that Hershey's Kisses has really been experimenting the last few years, but none of the flavors are really that outrageous: Hot Cocoa, Mint Truffle, Cherry Cordial, Coconut. No big deal. But if you look a little deeper into the Kiss Repertoire "“ the Asian market "“ you'll find Green Tea Kisses. Green tea-flavored items are also called "matcha" and they're not uncommon in Asia and Europe.

6. Kit Kat has also hopped on the Matcha bandwagon, but there's an even-stranger flavor lurking around in certain markets: Red Bean Kit Kats. Yep. Cybele over at CandyBlog reviewed it (and Kit Kat Fruit Parfait as well) and said it wasn't too bad "“ kind of earthy, like beets or kidney beans "“ and that the pumpkin-flavored Kit Kats were much worse. I'm going to take her word on that one, I think.

9. Twix Java wasn't in stores long, and when it the limited quantity ran out it left a void in the sweet tooths of many angry candy and caffeine addicts"¦ including, fittingly, Candy Addict. Similarly, the loss of Twix Cookies-n-Cream in the "˜90s sparked some die-hard fans to create petitions to bring the creation back "“ the one I linked to is only one of many!

10. At first glance, Skittles hasn't gone too far outside of the box (or the bag, as it were). Skittles Smoothies, Skittles Tropical, Skittles Wild Berry "“ they're all vaguely fruity flavors. But then there's Skittles Liquorice and Skittles Unlimited. Skittles Liquorice, as you can probably tell by the spelling, is a European sensation that gives the candies various anise tastes, including black liquorice, mint, spice and vanilla. Canada's Skittles Unlimited "“ released at the same time as the U.S.'s Carnival Skittles "“ included fairy floss, jam doughnut, toffee apple and popcorn. Oh, and if you completely loathe the very idea of Chocolate Skittles (S'mores, Brownie and pudding flavors, among others), you're not alone: Cracked.com has a very funny post about what an evil mixture they are.

I know I've probably just barely scratched the surface of all of the limited edition and strangely-flavored candies out there, so if I missed your favorite, share it in the comments! And if anyone has had some of those really strange Kit Kat flavors, give us your review.

Stacy Conradt is on Twitter.