Candy Kittens vegan gummy candy review

In the summer of 2018, I stumbled on a bag of Blueberry Bliss Candy Kittens at a convenience store in London. The cute name and good graphic design caught my attention, and when I saw the words, “vegan recipe” on the bag, I had to get them.

Updated September 24, 2021
Published October 3, 2018

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Even better than the Candy Kittens packaging was the taste – tingly textured sour sugar on the outside, sweet and chewy on the inside – my partner and I devoured them quickly on a train ride.

We enjoyed them so much that when we got back home, we ordered all the vegan flavors and I was able to try them in a less frenzied manner.

Is Candy Kittens a vegan company?

Candy Kittens is not an entirely vegan company but over the past few years it has updated most of its gummy candy recipes to be vegan. There are currently five vegan gummy candy flavors: Peach Fizz, Tropical Mango, Wild Strawberry, Sour Watermelon, and Blueberry Bliss.

Eton Mess is the only non-vegan flavor. I so appreciate that the Candy Kittens website says outright, “Our Eton Mess recipe is currently coated in beeswax, so it is not vegan but is suitable for vegetarians.”

I cannot stand it when non-vegan companies hedge with language like, “This product contains beeswax which some people may not consider vegan.” Here’s more about why honey and beeswax are not vegan, by definition.

Besides being a vegetarian company, Candy Kittens does not use any palm oil,

Review of Candy Kittens Taste

Of the four vegan Candy Kittens flavors I’ve tried, Peach Fizz is my favorite. It reminds me of the sour gummy peaches you find in bulk bins or the ones made by Haribo.

But the Candy Kittens Peach Fizz tastes more like a real peach than the others. This makes sense since this Candy Kittens flavor contains 6% peach juice from concentrate. Meanwhile, Haribo contains “artificial and natural flavors” – no indication of real peach.

I had this thought when eating Peach Fizz: The combination of the sour sugar’s rough texture and the intense peach flavor really invokes the sensation of touching one’s tongue to a peach’s fuzz while inhaling the aroma of the fresh fruit.

The other vegan flavors also contain real fruit juice concentrates. Blueberry Bliss has 10% blueberry juice from concentrate, Sour Watermelon has 10% watermelon juice from concentrate, and Wild Strawberry has 6% strawberry juice from concentrate.

My partner’s favorite flavor is Blueberry Bliss. They’re all really solid flavors with a nice chew, it just depends on your flavor preference. We have not yet tried the newest Candy Kittens flavor, Tropical Mango.

Buying Candy Kittens

You can find vegan Candy Kittens on the official Candy Kitten website and some of the flavors on Amazon.

More about Candy Kittens

Candy Kittens was founded by Jaime Laing, a longtime cast member of British reality TV show, “Made in Chelsea.” Laing is also the great great grandson of Alexander Grant, inventor of the Digestive Biscuit. I had never heard of that TV show or a digestive biscuit until researching Candy Kittens this week.

Anyway, celebrities aside, I highly recommend Candy Kittens. They also just started taking pre-orders for a vegan gummy advent calendar. BUT, before you go eating a whole bag at once, please read my rant about added sugar and check the nutrition information for how many to eat. And, if you’re a fan of vegan gummy candy in general, check out my often updated list of vegan gummy bears.