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Pink and white mice
Small, sweet and shaped like mice, pink and white mice look as if they might be white chocolate. The recipes tell a different story. Here is what goes into them, why there is flour in them, and the allergy points worth knowing.
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Pink and white mice are small mouse shaped sweets in pink and white, made from a candy flavoured to taste of chocolate. They look as if they could be white chocolate, but the recipes here contain no cocoa at all.
What is in them
Kingsway Pink and White Mice, as listed by The Candy King. Sugar, palm oil, whey powder from milk, wheat flour with added calcium, iron, niacin and thiamin, soya lecithin as an emulsifier, natural flavourings, and carmine as a natural colour. The retailer also lists a tuck shop version with the same ingredients, coloured with cochineal.
Pink and White Mice, as listed by Sweets and Candy. Sugar, palm fat, whey powder from cows' milk, wheat flour with added calcium, iron, niacin and thiamin, soya and rapeseed lecithins, natural flavourings, and carmine. The retailer describes them as strawberry and cream chocolate flavoured candy.
Chocolate flavour, not chocolate
Neither recipe lists cocoa butter or any other cocoa ingredient: the fat is palm. In England, the Cocoa and Chocolate Products Regulations 2003 reserve the name white chocolate for products with at least 20 per cent cocoa butter and 14 per cent dry milk solids. That is why The Candy King describes these mice as chocolate flavour candy: see how is chocolate made?
White mice are made the same way, without the carmine, and they are not white chocolate either: see white chocolate mice
Why there is flour in a sweet
The wheat flour is marked with added calcium, iron, niacin and thiamin. Those are there because of the flour, not the sweet: in England and Scotland, the Bread and Flour Regulations 1998 require most wheat flour, other than wholemeal, to have calcium carbonate, iron, thiamin and nicotinic acid, also called niacin, added to it.
Where the pink comes from
The pink comes from carmine, also called cochineal, a red colour made from insects. It is not suitable for vegans, and anyone who avoids insect ingredients should leave these mice out: see what is carmine?
Allergy points
- Milk. Both recipes contain whey powder from milk: see milk in sweets
- Wheat. Both contain wheat flour, so they are not suitable for anyone with coeliac disease or a wheat allergy: see wheat in sweets
- Soya. Both contain soya lecithin: see soya in sweets
- Nuts. Sweets and Candy says its sweets are packed where peanuts and nuts are handled: see pick and mix and allergies
Not a foam sweet
Unlike foam shrimps and foam bananas, the recipes here contain no gelatine. Pink and white mice are a candy made with fat, milk powder and flour: see what are foam sweets made of?
In our pick and mix
We sell 
Pink and White Mice by the 100 g. Recipes differ between makers, so the card opens up to show the full ingredients and allergens for the pink and white mice we actually stock.
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Questions and answers
What are pink and white mice made of?
Kingsway's, as listed by one UK retailer: sugar, palm oil, whey powder from milk, wheat flour with added calcium, iron, niacin and thiamin, soya lecithin, natural flavourings and carmine.
Are pink and white mice chocolate?
Not in the recipes here. One retailer describes them as chocolate flavour candy, and neither ingredients list includes cocoa butter or any other cocoa ingredient. In England, white chocolate must contain at least 20 per cent cocoa butter.
Are pink and white mice vegetarian?
They contain no gelatine, but they are coloured with carmine, which is made from insects, and neither listing here marks them as vegetarian. They contain milk, so they are not vegan.
Are pink and white mice gluten free?
No. Both recipes here contain wheat flour.
Sources
- Pink and white mice, Kingsway and tuck shop versions, product listing, The Candy King
- Pink and white mice 1kg, product listing, Sweets and Candy
- The Cocoa and Chocolate Products (England) Regulations 2003, Schedule 1, legislation.gov.uk
- The Bread and Flour Regulations 1998, regulation 4 and Schedule 1, legislation.gov.uk
- Carmine, Wikipedia
Keep reading
- Sweet by sweetWhite chocolate miceThe white mice in the three UK listings here are white chocolate flavour candy, not chocolate. They have no cocoa butter, and contain milk and wheat.
- How it is madeHow is chocolate made?Cocoa beans are fermented, dried, roasted and shelled; the nibs are ground to liquor, mixed with sugar and often milk, then conched smooth and tempered.
- Questions people askWhat is carmine?Carmine, E120, is a deep red colour made from cochineal insects that live on cactus. It colours sweets, drinks and lipstick. Why vegans avoid it.
- Diet, allergens and labelsMilk in sweetsMilk is one of the 14 allergens. It turns up in chocolate, fudge, toffee, caramel and butterscotch, sometimes as milk powder or whey. How to spot it on a label.
- Diet, allergens and labelsWheat in sweetsWheat turns up in liquorice, wafer bars and malted centres, while wheat glucose syrup is exempt from gluten labelling. How to spot wheat and gluten.
- Diet, allergens and labelsSoya in sweetsSoya can appear in sweets as soya lecithin, E322, an emulsifier used in chocolate. Soya is one of the 14 allergens, though some soya ingredients are exempt.