# Sour watermelon slices

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**Source:** sweeties.net, online pick and mix sweet shop

## Summary

Sour watermelon slices are melon shaped gummy sweets in a sour sugar coat. Two listings for one brand show two recipes, which is why labels matter.

## Description

Sour watermelon slices are gummy sweets moulded as slices of watermelon and coated in sugar sharpened with acid. Kingsway, a sweet brand based in Loughborough, sells them, and two UK retailers list them with quite different ingredients.
Two recipes, one brand
Kingsway Sour Watermelon Slices, as listed by The Candy King. Glucose syrup, sugar, beef and pork gelatine, corn starch, glycerol, citric and malic acids, pectins, fruit, vegetable and plant concentrates from radish, lemon, safflower, tomato, pumpkin, apple, carrot and blackcurrant, flavourings, and the colours E100 and E133. The retailer describes them as gluten free.
Kingsway Sour Melon Slices, as listed by ToffeeWorld. Sugar, glucose syrup, wheat starch, water, modified maize starch, lactic, citric and malic acids with sodium malate, modified potato starch, flavourings, and black carrot, spirulina and safflower concentrates. The listing warns that they contain wheat and gluten, and it describes them as having a mild sour sugar glaze.
The product names differ slightly, and the listings do not say whether one recipe replaced the other, but the point stands: two sweets that look alike can be made in very different ways.
What that means for you
Gelatine. The first recipe uses beef and pork gelatine, so it is not suitable for vegetarians, vegans or anyone avoiding pork: see gelatine in sweets explainedWheat. The second recipe uses wheat starch, so it is not suitable for anyone who must avoid wheat or gluten: see wheat in sweetsStarch sets. The second recipe is set with starch alone: see starch jelly sweets explained
That is why it pays to check the label, or the card, every time, even for a sweet you have bought before: see how to read a sweet label
Why they are sour
Both recipes use malic and citric acid, and the second adds lactic acid and sodium malate. Malic acid is sourer than citric acid: see what is malic acid in sweets? and how are sour sweets made?
In our pick and mix
We sell SW021 by the 100 g. Recipes differ between makers, and can change over time, so the card opens up to show the full ingredients and allergens for the sour watermelon slices we actually stock.

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