By HRS Food · Reviewed
Liquorice Allsorts Types: A Visual Guide to the Sweets
Liquorice Allsorts is an assortment rather than one uniform sweet. The easiest way to recognise the types is by their structure: layered sandwiches, coconut rolls with a dark centre, beaded jelly buttons and plain liquorice pieces. Use this visual guide to put a description to the shape you remember.
HRS sells Maynards Bassetts Allsorts in sealed 110g bags and a separate case of ten bags. The illustrations below show common shapes; they do not promise the exact pieces, colours, numbers or proportions in a particular bag.
View Maynards Bassetts Allsorts →Liquorice Allsorts types at a glance
These are illustrative images, not photographs of an opened retail bag. The labels describe visible shapes and colours. Assortments and recipes differ between brands and packs.
Layered sandwiches
Look for a small block with black liquorice layers between pale or coloured layers. Pink, white, orange and brown versions can look different while sharing the same layered shape. These are visual descriptions, not official flavour names.
Coconut rolls
A coloured, textured outer ring surrounds a black liquorice centre. Pink and yellow are familiar visual examples. The round cross-section makes these easy to distinguish from the flat layered sandwiches.
Blue jelly buttons
Recognise the blue, beaded surface and rounded button shape. The tiny beads distinguish it from a coconut roll, which has a visible black centre. Colour alone does not identify a recipe, a flavour or dietary suitability.
Pink jelly buttons
The pink counterpart has the same beaded, rounded appearance. If the blue and pink sweets are the ones you are looking for, jelly buttons is a useful description. Check the brand when comparing separately sold sweets with an Allsorts mixture.
Plain black liquorice pieces
These have a plain dark exterior rather than a coloured coating, a layered cross-section or sugar beads. Their shape and size can vary between assortments. They are a different visual style from the colourful coconut pieces.
Other layered colours
A different colour combination does not automatically mean a different named sweet. Identify the structure first: layers, a ring around a centre, or a beaded jelly surface. Use the pack for the actual assortment description.
What are the blue and pink sweets in Liquorice Allsorts?
The beaded blue and pink pieces are usually described as jelly buttons. Look for the small sugar beads across the outside, rather than a coloured coconut ring around a black centre. That visual distinction is more useful than searching for every pink sweet in the mixture.
The ingredient list on a bag describes the assortment as a whole. It does not necessarily tell you the precise recipe of each separate shape. A pink piece is not automatically strawberry-flavoured, and a blue piece is not automatically a particular fruit flavour. We use colour to help identify the shape, not to assign unverified flavours.
HRS’s current Allsorts offer is a mixed bag. It is not a bag containing only blue buttons, pink buttons or another selected type. If one particular piece matters to you, check the exact product description rather than assuming a mixture guarantees it.
What are Liquorice Allsorts made of?
The HRS declaration for the reviewed Maynards Bassetts 110g bags includes sugar, molasses, glucose syrup, wheat flour, desiccated coconut, gelatine and liquorice extract, alongside other ingredients. Read the complete product information for the full list and allergens. This is not a recipe for every brand of Allsorts.
Cadbury Gifts’ 130g Maynards Bassetts reference listing also declares wheat flour, sulphites and gelatine. That is a different pack size from the HRS 110g bags; its pack weight and nutrition should not be substituted for the HRS offer.
Are Liquorice Allsorts vegan or gluten free?
The reviewed HRS Maynards Bassetts ingredient list contains gelatine and wheat flour. On that declaration, these bags are not suitable for a vegan or vegetarian diet and should not be chosen for a gluten-free diet. The declared sulphites also matter to anyone who needs to avoid them.
Another manufacturer’s specifically labelled vegan or gluten-free Allsorts would be a different product. Do not transfer its suitability statement to these bags. Check the current pack before eating or serving.
Removing a particular shape from a mixed bag does not establish that the remaining sweets are suitable for someone with an allergy or intolerance. Use the declaration for the complete product and ask for help if the information needed is missing.
One 110g bag or a case of ten?
Smaller quantities
The HRS smaller-pack page offers a choice of quantities of sealed 110g retail bags. Choosing two bags gives 220g of sweets in two separate bags. Read the selected quantity and live price before adding them to your basket.
Choose a smaller quantity →The full case
The separate case contains ten sealed 110g bags, totalling 1.1kg. It is not one 1.1kg bag of loose sweets. Compare the current price per bag and delivery charge with the smaller quantities.
View the ten-bag case →A retail-bag picture identifies the product and printed pack size. The written offer and selected quantity determine how many bags you receive. These pantry products do not include gift wrapping; check the separate gift range if gift presentation is important.
More questions about Allsorts
Does every piece taste of liquorice?
Allsorts combines different types and textures, and the reviewed ingredients include both coconut and liquorice extract. The whole-bag declaration does not establish the flavouring in each individual piece. Choose plain black liquorice if that is the specific style you want, and check its own product details.
Is licorice Allsorts a different sweet?
Liquorice is the usual British spelling and licorice is common in American English. The spelling alone does not identify a different recipe. The brand, ingredients and pack format are the useful comparison points.
Are Allsorts the same as liquorice gums?
They are different sweet styles. Allsorts is a mixture of shapes; Lion Liquorice Gums are firm-textured gum sweets. For a comparison with soft liquorice, Flyers and boiled sweets, read our guide to liquorice sweet types.
Can I rely on an old photograph?
Packaging, pack weights and recipes can change. Read the current HRS listing and the label on the bag supplied. A remembered 130g bag or a picture of a larger carton does not change the contents of the listed 110g offer.
Sources and how we checked
Researched by HRS Food using manufacturer information and our product declarations, reviewed 17 October 2026. This is a buying and identification guide, not a tasting test. Recipes and packaging can change; use the exact product page and current pack for food information.