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What are foam sweets made of?
Foam shrimps and foam bananas are light, squashy and mostly air. They are close cousins of the marshmallow. Here is what goes into them, and why many are not vegetarian.
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Foam sweets are the soft, squashy sweets of the pick and mix counter: foam shrimps and foam bananas among them. They are light because they are mostly air, and they are made in much the same way as marshmallow.
A family of aerated sweets
Marshmallow is an aerated sweet. It is a foam, a liquid with gas bubbles spread all through it, and a marshmallow is about 50 per cent air. It is made from four basic things: sugar, water, air and a whipping agent, usually a protein. The two proteins most commonly used are albumen, from egg whites, and gelatine. The protein holds the bubbles in place so the gas cannot escape before the sweet sets.
Foam sweets work in the same way. A sugar and glucose syrup is whipped with a protein, often gelatine, until it is full of air, then flavoured, coloured and shaped.
What is in them
Recipes vary from maker to maker. Two retailers' published ingredients lists for foam shrimps show how:
- One lists sugar, glucose syrup, pork gelatine, citric acid, flavouring and beetroot red colour, with a warning that the sweets may contain traces of nuts and peanuts.
- Another lists sugar, glucose syrup, water, pork gelatine, sorbitol, flavouring, carmine as a colour, vegetable oils, and beeswax and carnauba wax as glazing agents.
- A third, Barratt's as listed by The Candy King, uses beef gelatine instead, with dextrose, cornflour and beetroot red: see foam shrimps
So foam sweets can contain several animal ingredients: gelatine, from pig in the first two listings and from cattle in Barratt's, carmine, a red colour made from insects, and beeswax: see what sweets have pork gelatine?, what is carmine? and what is beeswax on sweets?
How marshmallows are shaped
Marshmallows used to be shaped by hand. In the late 19th century, sweet makers began using the starch mogul system, pressing shapes into trays of starch and filling the hollows with the whipped mixture to set.
Vegetarian and vegan foam sweets
Foam sweets made with gelatine are not vegetarian or vegan, and those with pork gelatine are not halal or kosher. The pack or the ingredients information is the only reliable guide: see what sweets are gelatine free?
We sell 
Foam Bananas and 
Foam Shrimps by the 100 g. Recipes differ between makers, so each card opens up to show the full ingredients and allergens for the foam sweets we actually stock. Pink and white mice are not foam sweets at all: see pink and white mice
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Questions and answers
What are foam shrimps made of?
Recipes vary by maker, but they are made from sugar and glucose syrup whipped with a gelling agent, often gelatine, plus flavouring and colour. Two retailers' listings for foam shrimps name pork gelatine, and one also lists carmine, E120, and beeswax.
Are foam sweets vegetarian?
Not if they contain gelatine. Two of the three published listings we found for foam shrimps name pork gelatine, and Barratt's names beef gelatine. That also makes them unsuitable for halal or kosher diets unless certified. Check the label for gelatine.
Why are foam sweets so light?
Because they are full of air. Like marshmallow, which is about half air, foam sweets are made by whipping a hot sugar syrup with a protein such as gelatine, which traps the bubbles and holds them in place as the sweet sets.
Sources
- Marshmallow, Wikipedia
- Foam shrimps, Berrymans Sweets
- Foam shrimps, Sweets Direct
- Foam shrimps, Barratt, product listing, The Candy King
- Starch mogul, Wikipedia
- Gelatin, Wikipedia
Keep reading
- Questions people askWhat is gelatine made from?Gelatine is made from collagen from animal skin, bones and connective tissue, mostly pigs and cattle. Why it matters for vegetarians, Muslims and Jews.
- 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.
- 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.
- Questions people askWhat is beeswax on sweets?Beeswax, E901, is the wax honey bees build their comb with. A thin coat gives sweets a shine and keeps moisture in. It is not vegan and cannot be digested.
- Questions people askWhat sweets are gelatine free?Boiled sweets, rock and sherbet rarely need gelatine, and some chewy sweets have dropped it, from Fruit Pastilles to Percy Pigs. How to check.
- Questions people askWhat does may contain mean on sweets?A may contain warning means traces of an allergen could have got in by accident. It is voluntary, and not the same as the allergens in the ingredients.