Maybe they're not the source of a TikTok challenge, but we have a soft spot for the sort of jelly candies grandma would keep in her candy jar.
Chuckles jelly candy, in particular, is an old-fashioned fruit jelly candy that was more of a hit back in the day, but grandmas have kept all sorts of fruity goodies in that jar over time. If she doesn't have some now, consider giving her a gift box for Mother's Day and chatting about your special memories of snacking on the treats together. Let's take a closer look at these goodies.
What Jelly Candies Are There?
Jelly candy varieties include gummy fruit slices, gumdrops, gummy bears (Haribo are especially popular), and jelly beans. Some people might recall fruit juice 'gummis' in a small few oz bag as being a popular treat when they were young, as well.
Beyond Trolli, Haribo, and Brach, younger readers might recognize a different type of jelly candy. Sold by DinDon, the Tiktok jelly candy Ju-C, star of many TikTok Challenges, has skyrocketed into popularity this year after going viral. These candies are filled with a type of Jell-O, and come in multiple flavors, including strawberry, pineapple, sour apple, grape, and orange. While the reviews are hit or miss, they remain best sellers as stars of the "Hit or Miss" TikTok challenge. You can grab them here.
What's in Them?
It sort of depends on which kind of candy you're looking at! Jelly bellies are obviously going to have different ingredients than, say, fruit snacks or a handful of jelly sour candies, for example.
Let's take a look at Chuckles in particular since they're a more traditional jelly candy treat. They have five flavors: cherry, lemon, lime, orange, and licorice.
The good news is, these specific jelly candies actually have very few ingredients for a processed bulk candy treat. Ingredients include corn syrup, sugar, cornstarch, modified food starch (corn), natural and artificial flavors, Red 40, caramel color, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Yellow 5.
The Plant Power Couple claims Chuckles candies are vegan, but the nutrition information notes that the chewy candy is packaged in a facility where milk, eggs, almonds, coconut, peanuts, and soy are used to produce other products, so take from that what you will. They do seem to be gluten-free, however.
Spice drops candy, on the other hand, has flavors like anise, clove, peppermint, spearmint, cinnamon, and sassafras. The ingredients list corn syrup, modified food starch, dextrose, natural and artificial flavor, Red #40, Yellow #5, and Blue #1.
DinDon's Ju-C jelly candy is made a little differently, containing no gelatin in spite of being labeled a jelly candy. Its listed ingredients include: water, sugar, seaweed extract (carrageenan), citric acid, sodium citrate, artificial flavors, Yellow #5, Red #40, and Blue #1. Part of the challenge involves biting into the candy and hoping you don't make a huge mess, which would be hard to do if the candies were more solid like traditional gummies.
Some gummy candies are sugar-free, which can be hard to find in confections. If you'd like to make sure there's no sugar, there are recipes online to make your own various jelly candies. If you've got some pectin or gelatin, why not give it a shot?
