Word for "excessively sweet" with negative connotation

Which word can describe a product or dish which is so sweet that it is almost impossible to eat or to enjoy it? For example "this jam is ___ , i can't even eat it".

I found "sugary" and "honeyed" (linked in the "sugary" entry) but I think they are rather postive than negative.


Solution 1:

cloying

Excessively sweet, rich, or sentimental, especially to a disgusting or sickening degree.

Lexico

...as in "This jam is cloyingly sweet."

The word can also be used to describe perfumes, overly-sentimental movies, etc.

The usage goes back to at least the Elizabethan times

We sicken to shun sickness when we purge,
Even so, being full of your ne'er cloying sweetness,
To bitter sauces did I frame my feeding...

William Shakespeare

Solution 2:

Although other senses get in the way, one near-literal sense of saccharine fits:

saccharine [adjective]

2: overly or sickishly sweet

  • [a] saccharine flavor

[Merriam-Webster]

The default use of the adjective is the metaphorical sense, putting on a pretence of friendliness. The sickly-sweet flavour sense would probably be mainly found in literature, and not in a predicative usage.

"This dessert is/tastes saccharine" isn't idiomatic.

Solution 3:

sickly-sweet

Excessively or unpleasantly sweet.