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Cola bottles
Brown, glossy and shaped like a cola bottle, these gummy sweets are made by more than one company, to more than one recipe. Here is what goes into them, where the colour comes from, and the diet and allergy points worth knowing.
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Cola bottles are gummy sweets flavoured to taste like cola and shaped like a bottle. Haribo sells them as Happy Cola, one of its key brands, and other makers sell their own: see how are cola bottle sweets made?
Two recipes
The UK retailer The Candy King gives two sets of ingredients on its cola bottles page, one for Kingsway's and one for Haribo's.
Kingsway cola bottles. Glucose syrup, sugar, water, beef gelatine, citric acid, palm oil, carnauba wax as a glazing agent, flavouring, E331 as an acidity regulator, and the colours E102, E129, E133 and E132.
Haribo cola bottles. Glucose syrup, sugar, gelatine, dextrose, citric acid, caramelised sugar syrup, sunflower oil, flavouring, and beeswax as a glazing agent. The retailer lists the same ingredients for Haribo Giant Cola.
Where the brown comes from
The two recipes get their colour in different ways.
- Kingsway's lists four added colours: tartrazine (E102), allura red (E129), brilliant blue (E133) and indigo carmine (E132), a blue made from indigo.
- Haribo's lists no added colours at all. It does list caramelised sugar syrup, and caramelisation is the browning of sugar by heat: see how is caramel made?
Tartrazine and allura red are two of the six colours that must carry the warning may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children, and the Kingsway listing shows it: see the Southampton six colours
A label about GM
Sweets and Candy lists a cola bottle recipe much like Kingsway's, and marks its glucose syrup as containing genetically modified ingredients. The Food Standards Agency says all GM foods, including glucose syrups from a GM source, have to be labelled as GM, so a note like this is what the rules require when glucose syrup comes from a GM source.
Diet and allergy points
- Gelatine. Both recipes contain gelatine, so neither is suitable for vegetarians or vegans. Kingsway's is beef gelatine; Haribo's listing does not say which animal it comes from: see gelatine in sweets explained
- Glazes. Carnauba wax comes from the leaves of a palm tree, and beeswax is made by bees: see what is carnauba wax on sweets? and what is beeswax on sweets?
- Palm oil. Kingsway's recipe contains palm oil, and Haribo's uses sunflower oil: see palm oil in sweets
- Caffeine. Neither recipe lists caffeine.
- Gluten. The Candy King shows a gluten free symbol on its cola bottles, while Sweets and Candy says its sweets are packed where wheat and gluten are handled: see pick and mix and allergies
For the sour, sugar coated kind, see fizzy cola bottles
In our pick and mix
We sell 
Cola Bottles by the 100 g. Recipes differ between makers, so the card opens up to show the full ingredients and allergens for the cola bottles we actually stock.
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Questions and answers
What are cola bottles made of?
Kingsway's, as listed by one UK retailer: glucose syrup, sugar, water, beef gelatine, citric acid, palm oil, carnauba wax, flavouring, an acidity regulator and four colours. Haribo's: glucose syrup, sugar, gelatine, dextrose, citric acid, caramelised sugar syrup, sunflower oil, flavouring and beeswax.
Are cola bottles vegetarian?
Not the recipes here. Both are made with gelatine, which comes from animals. Vegan cola bottles are made with other gelling agents, so check the label.
Do cola bottles contain caffeine?
Neither recipe here lists caffeine. Cola drinks contain caffeine, but these sweets are only flavoured to taste like cola.
Why do some cola bottles carry a warning about children?
Kingsway's recipe uses tartrazine, E102, and allura red, E129, two of the six colours that must carry the warning may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.
Sources
- Cola bottles, product listing with Kingsway and Haribo ingredients, The Candy King
- Haribo giant cola, tub 720g, product listing, The Candy King
- Cola bottles 1kg, product listing, Sweets and Candy
- Genetically modified foods, Food Standards Agency, GOV.UK, 9 January 2018
- Haribo, Wikipedia
- Indigo carmine, Wikipedia
- Caffeine, Wikipedia
Keep reading
- How it is madeHow are cola bottle sweets made?Cola bottles are cola flavoured gummies cast in bottle shaped hollows in trays of starch, set, then glazed or, for fizzy ones, tumbled in sour sugar.
- Sweet by sweetFizzy cola bottlesFizzy cola bottles are cola gummies in a sour sugar coat. Three UK recipes compared: a vegan one made with wheat starch, a halal one and a standard one.
- Diet, allergens and labelsThe Southampton six coloursThe Southampton six are E102, E104, E110, E122, E124 and E129, synthetic colours that carry a warning about children. Each one explained.
- Diet, allergens and labelsGelatine in sweets explainedGelatine gives gummies and marshmallows their texture, and it melts below body temperature, which shapes how they feel in the mouth. Who avoids it.
- Questions people askWhat is beeswax on sweets?Beeswax, E901, is the wax honey bees build their comb with. A thin coat gives sweets a shine and keeps moisture in. It is not vegan and cannot be digested.
- Questions people askWhat is carnauba wax on sweets?Carnauba wax, E903, comes from the leaves of a Brazilian palm. It makes sweets shine and stops them sticking. How it is made, and the labour scandal behind it.