It is no secret that we LOVE experimenting with flavors. Each season, Sweet Kee's introduces seasonal candy flavors on www.sweetkees.com, along with our core candy flavors. And if you've encountered us at a live event you know that we routinely have up to 15 flavors available at any given time. So how do we decide which flavors make the cut?
We are always exploring new flavors, leaning into popular and proven seasonal delights, such as cherry lemonade in Summer or maple in Fall, as well as interesting and unique flavors that you don't typically find within the candy landscape, such as lychee, pickle, or key lime. We also have a wine & cocktail infusion kit line, so we're especially fond of trying wine & cocktail-inspired flavors. It should come as no surprise that we have a wine & cocktail-inspired collection, which includes flavors such as strawberry margarita, pina colada, and champagne (note: these are all liquor-free!).
Once we test a flavor, if we're happy with the results, we add it to our flavor lineup at live events to gauge in real-time how our customers respond to the flavor. You may be surprised to find that customers loved the novelty of our dill pickle-flavored lollipop in live event testing - a flavor we originally made for the Rosendale Pickle Festival, and decided to test at other events. If the customer response is exceptionally strong, you may just find that flavor posted on our website as part of our core collections! However, occasionally we reserve strong-selling flavors as limited-time-only offerings. An example might be a popular flavor that contains food dyes.
At Sweet Kee's, we seek to limit food dyes in our candies - especially those of the FD&C variety, instead opting for the natural translucency that results from a dye-free candy. This not only results in beautiful candies, but it also aligns with our goal of eliminating unnecessary ingredients in our products, where possible. All of our core flavors - with the exception of watermelon - are FD&C dye-free. Watermelon is the exception because after eliminating the flavor temporarily, customers insisted that we bring it back! We use plant-based dyes occasionally for seasonal and limited-time only flavors, such as our Blueberry Lemonade lollipop offered at the Ellenville Blueberry Festival. We also use naturally colored confetti sprinkles, natural edible roses, and tajin seasoning as dye-free lollipop add-in options.
So by now you're probably wondering what new flavors are in store for Sweet Kee's??? Well, keep checking back! Seasonally, you can expect additions such as cranberry orange during the fall season and chocolate peppermint during the holiday season, with tropical flavors introduced during warm weather months, and a valentine-inspired flavor in February (for 2025, this was our chocolate cherry lollipop). However, in addition to these proven gems, we regularly add new flavors. New for 2025 is Citrus Blossom - a delightful blend of citrus flavors (think orange, lemon & lime), that is quickly becoming a favorite. If you see a flavor that you really like, we advise ordering soon, as seasonal flavors are only offered for a limited time, and core flavors are subject to change!
For the latest and greatest Sweet Kee's flavor offerings, visit us at www.sweetkees.com.