If you’re itching to get your hands on some Sour Patch Kids sweets, you’re definitely not alone! These original American sweets are super popular with a super sour coating and a sweet candy centre.
These chewy candies shaped like little people are a classic, but are Sour Patch Kids vegan?
What Makes Sweets Vegan Friendly?
Vegan sweets are made by using plant-based alternatives to gelatine, like agar agar, carrageenan and vega gel. Not forgetting lots and lots of fruits, sugars and syrups to make them delicious of course!
It might surprise you to know that many retro brands are vegan-friendly, but how can you tell? The big recurring ingredient in non-vegan sweets is gelatine, which does what is says and ‘gels’ during the making of sweets and candies, acting as a gelling agent. This gives the sweets a longer shelf life too.
Gelatine contains very unfriendly vegan ingredients taken from pigs and cows, but what other ingredients should you avoid when looking for vegan candies.
- Dairy – This is commonly found in chocolate, but look out for other names such as milk fat, whey, or casein on the list of ingredients.
- Shellac - Also known as ‘confectioner's glaze,’ it is made from the excretions of certain insects to give a glossy look to sweets.
- Carmine – Typically found in bright red products, it’s a pigment made by crushing the shell of a female cochineal insect.
- Bone Char– This is the bones from cattle and is used to process sugar, while also giving it that bright white appearance.
- Eggs – Another obvious one but keep an eye out on packets and sweet wrappers.
Fortunately, today there are now widely available alternatives to replace gelatine and the above ingredients in the form of plant-based options.
Why are Sour Patch Kids vegan?
Sour Patch Kids are free of gelatine and any other non-vegan ingredients. Here’s exactly what is in them:-
So, whether it’s Easter, Halloween, Christmas or just a day of the week with the letter ‘Y” in, we can enjoy Sour Patch Kids, with the knowledge they are vegan-friendly.
6 Fun Facts About Sour Patch Kids
- Sour Patch Kids were originally created under the name of Mars Men in the early 1970s. They were shaped as Martians to capitalise on the space theme which was popular at that time. In 1985 they were renamed and morphed into Sour Patch Kids, rumour has it because of the then popularity of the Cabbage Patch Kids.
- There’s been many different varieties through the years, such as Sour Patch Kids Extreme, which comes with an extra dusting of sour coating.
- Sour Patch Kids are known as Very Bad Kids in France.
- In 2011, there was a video game based on Sour Patch Kids called World Gone Sour.
- Sour Patch Kids was originally offered in four flavours and colours; lime (green), lemon (yellow), peach (orange) and cherry (red). In 2013, blue raspberry (blue) was added.
- Finally, just when you thought sweets don’t get any better; there was Sour Patch Kids Tricksters, which was a mix of Sour Patch Kids where the colours didn't match the flavours. A blue one could taste like a red one, or an orange one might taste like a blue one – mind blowing!
The Sour Patch Kids slogan is, "Sour. Sweet. Gone." because first they’re sour, then sweet, then they’re gone! If you need a reminder, take a look at some of these funny Sour Patch Kids TV ads here.
Everyone has their favourite Sour Patch Kids flavour, here at Candy Mail, we love juicy Watermelon but what’s yours? As well as the classic Sour Patch Kids, we have so several different varieties and flavours to choose from too, including Watermelon, Tropical and Extreme!
What are you waiting for? Buy Sour Patch Kids sweets today.