I brought these Sweet Peach Gourmet Sweets back from the UK on a recent visit. In the spirit of full disclosure, I’ve tried the Eton Mess Candy Kittens before and I wasn’t all that impressed. But as these were in a nice, tiny bag… I figured I’d give them another try. Did they do any better this time around?
Well… that’s hard to say really. Let me try to explain why.
Firstly, yes. These are Vegan suitable sweets, made with natural colours and flavours. But they’re still sweets at the end of the day. Which means sugar. Lots of sugar. Don’t be thinking they’re in any way, shape or form ‘healthy’. They’re not. There’s just 5% juice in these sweets in addition to “flavourings” (though these must be naturally derived).
When I opened the bag, there’s a gentle peach aroma and I thought: “Hmmm, okay. This could be good.” And then things got weird.
There’s a slightly sour tang to the coating sugar which I wasn’t expecting. Note: They’re called “Sweet Peach”. Then things got weirder still…
The first flavour that came through was peach and I felt they had a toned down ‘peachyness’ compared to something like a Trolli or Haribo peach product. And that’s good, that’s pretty much what I’d expected. But then some combination of flavours kept telling my brain “pear drops” and occasionally I felt like I was eating a chewy version of a pineapple cube. The slight sourness of the coating sugar only accentuated that ‘pear drop’ sensation.
When I started reading through the ingredients list, I understood a bit better what was going on. The 5% juice content is made up of grape, pear, pineapple and peach.
As a sweet on their own, with no label telling me what they were called – I’d say these were flavoured like old fashioned boiled sweets from the 80’s. As a “Sweet Peach” flavour, that’s just bonkers. Confused, at best.
They’re sweet but slightly sour, they’re gummy peaches and pear drops and pineapple cubes. They’re not bad, but they’re not as advertised really. Oh: And if you know what shape that’s supposed to be on the ‘cat face’ shape, let me know? I can’t figure it out. Poor cat looks like it’s been splatted.
As for the texture? Well they’re decently chewy but soft enough that I don’t feel like my teeth are being pulled out. They’re chewy in the way that an occasional bit gets stuck in my teeth. They’re probably the closest to a gelatin based sweet in terms of texture that I’ve tried, so from that aspect they’re doing pretty well.
Interestingly, I remember it was the texture of the Eton Mess Candy Kittens that I disliked the first time around… so it’d be interesting to go back and see if my opinion on that has changed, or if the texture in this product is a little different. Though I can’t find these on the Candy Kittens website, I bought my little pack of Sweet Peach sweets at Sainsbury’s.
Overall, it was a confusing product in terms of flavour. However, as a sweet on it’s own merit it isn’t bad and were I vegan and lacking choice on the UK market, I’d be tempted to make a repeat purchase. As it is, I’m not and I don’t think I will.
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