Haribo- Vegan Fruitmania Berry
So before we get started, a couple of things to get out of the way – the packaging clearly indicates that these are vegan friendly, they are made with 20% fruit juice, and that these are specifically berries. To be even more specific, strawberry, blueberry, raspberry and black currant. None of those things are huge selling points to me, because I’m a certified non-vegan, and fruit juice be damned, I don’t eat these for health purposes. It will ultimately come down to taste and texture.
I feel like I’m fairly open with vegan snacks, and have generally had positive experiences with them. While I am by no means a vegan or considering it, I do find value in trying out the product to see if it’s good enough to stand on it’s own, or it’s just trying to cater to people who have to make sacrifices for the lifestyle they choose. To me the best or well executed products are the ones that don’t necessarily try to replicate the OG product perfectly, but make the best of what’s available to create something either new or different and unique enough that even non-vegans like myself would consider getting it.
Similar to a lot of other Haribo flavours, these are very fragrant and smell very fruity. They definitely go for winning over your smell as well as sight. These are quite the fun looking shapes. The flavours taste more natural than the usual Haribo flavours. By that I mean they are not quite as vibrant or strong, but they do remind me of a flavour that you find in fruit snacks that use real juice or fruits. I get sort of a fruit leather type of quality to them which is along the lines of what I expect. The flavours remind me of the “healthier” fruit snacks that I had as a kid, that leaned into using actual fruits in their products rather than just flavouring.
The texture is where things go a little south depending on what you were expecting. What I will say is that if you liked the non-chewy, fruit snack style of candy when it’s just sort of a jelly piece with no real chew and gets kind of sticky, then these are definitely your jam. I think a big part of it is because these are vegan friendly, they don’t use gelatin which gives Haribo it’s distinct, firm chewy bounce. Gummies that use vegan alternatives like pectin tend to be more dense and lack the chew, and end up sort of sticky. It’s a bit of an adjustment, but after the first few I got used to it. While I do prefer something chewier, if I was vegan I wouldn’t bemoan these at all.
Of all the flavours, I’d say the best ones are raspberry and black currant. As overall flavours go, I enjoyed each of the flavours here. Overall these as a gummy snack in general are pretty good. While not as chewy as something made with gelatin, they did a pretty good job making something still fairly tasty, and not knowing these were vegan I probably wouldn’t bat an eye at it. As far as vegan gummies go, these are honestly quite tasty and I’m impressed.
