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For favors that I am making for an upcoming party, I'm looking to do some old-fashioned homemade gum drops. I have found a recipe that looks do-able. It calls for candy flavoring. I've also found other recipes that call for using juice, which rather limits the flavors to the flavor of juice that I purchase.

In looking at my local stores, I cannot find anything in their online product lists indicating that they have candy flavoring, even those that carry Wilton products. I like the idea of candy flavoring for the variety, but am unsure about finding it.

Are there pros and cons to using candy flavoring for gummy candy that I should be aware of in making the decision of juice versus specific flavoring? Are their alternate ways of flavoring that I should be considering besides what I've seen in recipes so far?

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    I can't remember where I used to get it from ... but ~20 years ago, I was able to get citrus, cinnamon and anise oils ... I just can't remember if it was a craft store, supermarket, etc. That's likely what they're calling for -- but they're in very small bottles, as they're much more potent than extracts.
    – Joe
    Commented Dec 22, 2010 at 15:39
  • +1 to Joe - I was also going to suggest oils, but I wouldn't be much help as to where to find them or how much you should use. I do know that my grandmother made candies not too long ago and that is what she used and they turned out really good.
    – duchessofstokesay
    Commented Dec 22, 2010 at 15:50
  • @duchessofsotkesay - I'm not necessarily looking for where to find them so much as if I should do the work to find them versus just using grocery store juice. If you have info from your grandmother or first hand experience with the taste, that would be a helpful answer.
    – justkt
    Commented Dec 22, 2010 at 15:54
  • I didn't give an answer per say because I don't know much when it comes to candies, that is why I chose to comment. But like I said I know that the oils my grandmother used tasted good but I have never had candies with grocery store juice. Sorry I am not much of a help.
    – duchessofstokesay
    Commented Dec 22, 2010 at 17:50

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I would go for the juice if you are going for a fruit flavor. A pure ingredient like a fruit juice will always give a better flavor than pre-made flavorings. That said, when you do need a more difficult flavoring, I would recommend using oils, as has been suggested. You can find oil-based flavors in an almost infinite number of flavors:

https://www.lorannoils.com/c-6-super-strength-flavors-candy-oils.aspx

(I haven't tried these, but they have been recommended to me for use in chocolate.)

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The only place I've ever seen flavored oil for cooking is in a friend's kitchen. I got mine from the wonderful internet...

http://www.amazon.com/Wilton-1913-1029-Candy-Flavoring-Set/dp/B001205FI4/ref=sr_1_2?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1293115217&sr=1-2

Also if you were making it a batch at a time you might want to use flavored gelatin to increase the flavors power.

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    Flavored gelatin - now that is a really interesting idea.
    – justkt
    Commented Dec 23, 2010 at 14:47
  • I use this candy flavoring all the time for things like frosting for my oven baked goods.
    – Naomi Campbell
    Commented Dec 23, 2010 at 16:24
  • @justkt I also use flavored gelatin when i bake sometimes to get flavors like orange or strawberry into a cake batter.
    – boxed-dinners
    Commented Dec 23, 2010 at 16:40

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