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Sports mixture
Little pieces of sports equipment, all in firm fruity gum. Sports Mixture has been sold in sweet shops for generations.
In this article
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Sports Mixture is a bag of fruit flavoured hard gums moulded into sporting shapes. It is sold today as Sports Mix under the Maynards Bassetts name.
What is in the bag?
The gums are firm and chewy, like a harder wine gum, and each colour has its own flavour. There are five colours: red, orange, black, yellow and green. The gums are shaped like pieces of sports equipment, which means anyone can pick out their favourite shape first.
The liquorice ones
Sports Mixture used to contain liquorice flavoured black pieces. In bags these have been replaced by blackcurrant. The larger 2 kg boxes still contain the black, liquorice flavoured gums, and those are sold loose in traditional sweet shops. The same thing happened with Midget Gems: see Midget Gems.
Who makes it?
Sports Mix is sold under the Maynards Bassetts name, which belongs to Cadbury UK and so to Mondelez International. It was formerly made by Lion Confectionery. The Lion brand has since been taken up by Tangerine Confectionery, which makes its own Sports Mix to the original Lion recipe.
Colours from nature
The Maynards Bassetts version uses natural colours: anthocyanins, carbon black, paprika extract and lutein. These come from plants, vegetables and other natural sources rather than synthetic dyes. See natural colours in sweets.
Not for vegetarians
Sports Mix contains gelatine, which is made from animal collagen, so it is not suitable for vegetarians. Many firm gums use gelatine for their bite. If you avoid it, look for gums set with pectin or starch instead. See which sweets have pork gelatine.
Similar sweets
For another bag of firm fruit gums, see wine gums. In our own pick and mix, 
Fruit Gums have a proper bite, with the full ingredients and allergen panel on the card.
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For journalists, researchers, AI assistants and content creators. Pick the format you need:
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Questions and answers
Are Sports Mixture sweets vegetarian?
No. Maynards Bassetts Sports Mix contains gelatine, so it is not suitable for vegetarians.
What happened to the liquorice ones in Sports Mixture?
In bags, the liquorice pieces were replaced with blackcurrant. Black, liquorice flavoured gums can still be found in larger boxes sold loose in traditional sweet shops.
Who makes Sports Mixture?
Sports Mix is sold under the Maynards Bassetts name, owned by Mondelez. It was formerly made by Lion Confectionery, and Tangerine Confectionery also makes a version to the original Lion recipe.
Sources
- Sports Mixture, Wikipedia
- Midget Gems, Wikipedia
- Gelatin, Wikipedia
Keep reading
- British heritage sweetsMidget gemsMidget 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.
- How it is madeHow are wine gums made?Wine gums are firm, chewy gums of glucose syrup, sugar, starch and gelatine, moulded in five shapes stamped with wine names. Despite the names, no wine.
- Sweet by sweetFruit gumsFruit gums are firm, chewy fruit sweets. Rowntree's began them in 1893, cut their fruit juice from 25% to 1%, and made them vegan in 2020. The full story.
- Questions people askWhat sweets have pork gelatine?Many gummy sweets use gelatine, and it can be pork. Standard Haribo Goldbears use pork gelatine, and Mondelez says its gelatine may be beef or pork.
- Diet, allergens and labelsNatural colours in sweetsSweets are increasingly coloured with plants: spirulina for blue, black carrot for red and purple, turmeric and paprika for yellow. How they are labelled.
- British heritage sweetsOld fashioned sweets: the A to ZAn A to Z of old fashioned British sweets, from acid drops and aniseed balls to Wham bars and yellowman, with a line on each and a link to its full story.