{
    "id": 1070488,
    "title": "Midget gems",
    "slug": "midget-gems",
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    "url": "https://sweeties.net/wiki/midget-gems/",
    "modified": "2026-09-26T13:03:03+01:00",
    "excerpt": "Midget Gems are small, firm fruit gums loved in the north of England. In 2022 Marks and Spencer, Tesco and Maynards Bassetts renamed them Mini Gems.",
    "content_text": "Midget Gems are small, firm, chewy sweets, similar to wine gums but much harder. They come in a mix of colours and fruit flavours, and for decades they were one of the most popular sweets in the north of England.\nWhat are they made of?\nMidget Gems are made from sugar, glucose syrup, corn starch and other starches, animal gelatine, and a range of colours and flavourings. The gelatine gives them their firm bite, but it also means traditional Midget Gems are not suitable for vegetarians. See which sweets have pork gelatine.\nA northern favourite\nMidget Gems were one of the best selling brands of the Lion Confectionery Company, and a big part of their appeal was that they were sold loose from a jar or barrel, which kept them cheap. In 1995 Lion joined forces with Maynard's, then part of Cadbury Trebor Bassett, to sell them across the country. They were so popular that Liverpool Football Club once sold its own branded tubs.\nThe liquorice question\nWhen the sweets were rebranded under the Maynard's name, the black Midget Gems in bags were changed from liquorice to blackcurrant, though the loose ones sold from jars stayed liquorice. Some newer bags have since brought the liquorice back.\nThe name change\nIn January 2022, Marks and Spencer announced that it would change the name of its sweets to Mini Gems. The move followed a campaign by Dr Erin Pritchard, an academic at Liverpool Hope University who has dwarfism and regards the word midget as offensive to people with her condition. Reaction on social media was mixed: some welcomed the change, others saw it as unnecessary. Tesco and Maynards Bassetts followed later that year.\nIt was not the first time a sweet's name was changed because of changing attitudes, and it will not be the last. See sweets that changed their names.\nMany makers\nMidget Gems, or Mini Gems, are made by many companies and supermarkets. In 2007 one maker, Glisten Confectionery, announced it was removing all artificial colours and flavourings from its version. If you like a firm fruity gum, try our SW004, and read about the wider family in wine gums.",
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