Tiny, crunchy and sour, Nerds are have been a staple of childhood since Wonka introduced them in the 1980s. Nerds are what's called panned candy, made by taking little crystals of sugar and then tumbling them with successive layers of sour and sweet flavored coatings, finished off with a coat of color. Unlike most panned candy, Nerds are not panned until they're a uniform size and shape: Nerds vary in size (from sesame seed to pea) and retain a rough, irregular shape, thickly glazed to create a unique crunchiness.