{
    "id": 1071131,
    "title": "Floral gums",
    "slug": "floral-gums",
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    "url": "https://sweeties.net/wiki/floral-gums/",
    "modified": "2026-09-26T12:05:42+01:00",
    "excerpt": "Floral gums are firm, chewy gums flavoured with flowers, sold under the Squirrel name. What is in them, where the colours come from, and the diet points.",
    "content_text": "Floral gums are firm, chewy gum sweets flavoured with flowers. The UK retailer Sweets and Candy sells them under the Squirrel name, describes them as small, chewy gum sweets with unique botanical and floral flavours, and notes that they are sometimes referred to as soap sweets.\nWho makes them\nWikipedia's article on Valeo Foods UK, the Leeds sweet maker formerly known as Tangerine Confectionery, lists Squirrel among its brands, with two products under the name: Cherry Lips and Floral gums. For the other one, see Cherry Lips\nWhat is in them\nSquirrel Floral Gums, as listed by Sweets and Candy. Modified potato starch, glucose syrup, sugar, beef gelatine, lactic acid, sunflower oil, the colours anthocyanins, carmines, curcumin and paprika extract, flavourings, carnauba wax as a glazing agent, and plant concentrates of safflower and spirulina.\nIngredients on a UK label are listed in descending order of weight, so this recipe contains more modified potato starch than sugar: see how to read a sweet label and what is modified starch in sweets? The retailer's nutrition panel gives 81.9 g of carbohydrate per 100 g, of which 41.1 g is sugars.\nThe carnauba wax is a glaze on the outside: see what is carnauba wax on sweets?\nWhere the colours come from\nThe listing names four colours and two colouring concentrates:\nAnthocyanins, E163, are plant pigments that can look red, pink, purple, blue or black, depending on acidity. The name comes from the Ancient Greek words for flower and dark blue.Carmine, E120, is a bright red pigment. It is also called cochineal when it is extracted from the cochineal insect: see what is carmine?Curcumin, E100, is the bright yellow pigment of turmeric, a member of the ginger family.Paprika extract, E160c, is an oil soluble extract of pepper fruits, used to colour and flavour food.Safflower and spirulina are listed as plant concentrates. Spirulina is the dried biomass of cyanobacteria, also called blue green algae: see what is spirulina doing in my sweets?\nFor more on colours like these, see natural colours in sweets\nDiet and allergy points\nGelatine. The recipe contains beef gelatine, so these floral gums are not suitable for vegetarians or vegans: see gelatine in sweets explained and beef gelatine and pork gelatineCarmine. One of the colours is made from an insect, the cochineal.Packing. The retailer says its sweets are packed in an environment that handles wheat, gluten, soya, milk, peanuts and nuts, so anyone with one of those allergies should check before buying.\nA flowery taste\nFloral gums are not the only flower flavoured sweet on sale in Britain. Parma Violets, made by Swizzels since 1946, are described in Wikipedia's article on the company as having an almost scenty taste: see Parma Violets\nIn our pick and mix\nWe do not sell floral gums, but we do sell SW032 and SW004. Each card opens up to show the full ingredients and allergens for the sweets we actually stock.",
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