Cocomels Original Organic Coconut Milk Caramels, 3.5 oz bag

Five organic ingredients: coconut cream, brown rice syrup, cane sugar, sea salt and a little xanthan gum. Dairy-free caramels with no flavors or colors. Sugar is 2 to 3 g a piece. Priciest per ounce here; no metals result found.

Best for Anyone after a dairy-free caramel with a short organic label who is fine paying for it.

Our rating: Fair (3.1 of 5)
Price range: Mid-range
Size: 3.5 oz bag; the maker sells 3-packs ($18.99) and 6-packs ($35.99)
Made in: Boulder, Colorado (distributor), made in the USA with domestic and international ingredients, per the pack.

approx. $19 for a 3-pack of 3.5 oz bags ($6.33 a bag)

See it on Cocomels’s site → (opens in a new tab)

We are not affiliated with Cocomels. This link goes to the maker’s own page, with no tracking code. How we're funded.

Also sold at Thrive Market ($5.29) .

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How we evaluated it

How it scores Our rating, metric by metric Fair, 3.1 of 5

Ingredients 40% of the rating 4 of 5

Five organic ingredients with no flavor, color or wax; xanthan gum and brown rice syrup (second ingredient; our category prefers cane sugar, tapioca syrup or fruit) keep it from a 5.
Sugar 15% of the rating 3 of 5

The maker says 2 g of sugar per piece, but the pack photo and Thrive Market’s current panel both show 15 g added sugar per five pieces (32 g), about 3 g a piece.
Independent testing 20% of the rating 2 of 5

We found no published metals or arsenic result for this candy, and the maker publishes none.
Trust 10% of the rating 3 of 5

No openFDA recall or Prop 65 notice names Cocomels or its maker JJ's Sweets in our searches, but the maker publishes no test results.
Value 15% of the rating 2 of 5

$6.33 a 3.5 oz bag in the maker's 3-pack, about $1.81 an ounce.

The rating, 3.1 of 5, is the weighted average of these scores. See how we rank sweets & candy and our standard.

Where to buy Stores and the prices we saw 1 store

Thrive Market (opens in a new tab) approx. $5.29. The Original 3.5 oz pouch, $5.29 against a $5.99 compare-at price on 2026-11-06; Thrive may ask for a membership at checkout. Its panel shows 15 g of added sugar per 5 pieces (32 g).

Prices as we saw them on November 6, 2026. They change often. These links carry no tracking code and earn us nothing.

What’s in it Every ingredient, in label order 5 ingredients

Organic coconut cream (organic coconut, water)
Organic brown rice syrup
Organic cane sugar
Sea salt
Xanthan gum

Who tested it What each test found, and who paid for it 1 test

Independent California Attorney General, Prop 65 notice search; openFDA food enforcement November 2026

Searches on 5 Nov 2026 for Cocomel, Cocomels and JJ's Sweets found no notice or recall. The maker publishes no contaminant results that we could find. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)

Who paid, and why it matters

Independent The tester took no money from the maker for it: a consumer group, a journalist, a university or a regulator.
Paid certification An outside lab or certifier tested or listed it, and the maker paid for that.
Maker’s own test A lab report or certificate of analysis the maker commissioned and published.

A certification is a floor, not a verdict: it checks what its program checks and nothing else. We weigh tests by someone with no stake in the result most.

What people ask Worries raised online and elsewhere, and what we found 4 questions

Is the sugar really lower than caramel?: The page says "30% less sugar than traditional caramels" and "2g sugar per piece" (maker (opens in a new tab)), but the back-of-pack image and Thrive Market’s panel show 15 g of sugar per five pieces (32 g), nearer 3 g a piece. Check the bag in your hand.
Is brown rice syrup a problem?: It can be: Dartmouth researchers (opens in a new tab) found arsenic in some organic brown rice syrups. Cocomels publishes no arsenic result, and we counted the syrup itself under ingredients. See arsenic in rice.
Does it contain coconut-oil saturated fat?: The panel we read shows 4 g of saturated fat per five pieces, which comes from the coconut. It is a treat, not a staple.
Is the Cocomels chocolate or low-sugar line the same?: No. Cocomels also sells a chocolate-covered line and a sugar-free caramel with allulose and monk fruit (Open Food Facts (opens in a new tab)). We list only the original.

Why we chose it What put it on our list 3 points

A five-item organic label with no flavor, color, wax or sugar alcohol.
Dairy-free and corn-syrup-free, per the maker.
A caramel is the one kind of candy here that is not mostly pure sugar syrup.

Trade-offs What to weigh before you buy 5 points

The most expensive per ounce in this category.
Xanthan gum is a gum, which costs a little under ingredients.
No metals or arsenic result found.
The maker’s claim of 2 g sugar per piece disagrees with the pack and Thrive Market’s panel, which show about 3 g.
Thrive Market is the one store we could open; Vitacost and Target listings we saw were multipacks or would not load.

What to know Details worth knowing first

Cocomels are caramels made from coconut cream instead of dairy, with brown rice syrup, cane sugar, salt and a little xanthan gum. Everything is organic and nothing is flavor, color or wax.

Two things hold the score back. The maker and the pack photo we read disagree on the sugar in a piece, and nobody publishes a metals or arsenic result. They are also the most expensive candy per ounce on our list.

A good pick for a few caramels, not a health food.

What we checked Each claim, and how sure we are of it 4 checks

How Cocomels Original Organic Coconut Milk Caramels, 3.5 oz bag measures up against our sweets & candy criteria
What we checked	What we found
No synthetic colors, sweeteners or titanium dioxide Verified	The five-item label has none.
Organic Maker’s claim	Certified Organic by OAI on the pack; we did not open the certifier's record.
Sugar per serving stated Maker’s claim	Maker page: 2 g per piece. Pack photo: 15 g per five pieces. They differ.
Metals result published Not verified	None found.

What the labels mean

Verified We opened an independent record that confirms it: a certifier’s listing, a regulator’s list or a lab report. It is linked under Sources.
Maker’s claim The maker says so on its own page or label. We read it but found no independent record.
Not verified We looked and could not confirm it, or the maker does not say. Treat it as unknown.

Sources Where our facts come from 6 sources

Cocomels: Original Cocomels 3.5oz. Maker’s page. Ingredients, sugar claim, 3-pack price; read 5 Nov 2026. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Thrive Market: Cocomels Coconut Cream Caramels, Original. Independent source. $5.29; nutrition panel 15 g sugars per 5 pieces (32 g); ingredients match. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Cocomels: back-of-pack image of the original caramels. Maker’s page. Nutrition panel: 15 g sugar per five pieces (32 g). Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
California Attorney General: Prop 65 notices matching Cocomel. Certifier or regulator listing. No match, 5 Nov 2026; also none for JJ's Sweets. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
openFDA food enforcement reports, recalling firm Cocomels. Certifier or regulator listing. No matches. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Jackson et al., Arsenic, organic foods, and brown rice syrup (Environ Health Perspect, 2012). Test report. PMID 22336149. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)

Alternatives Other options to compare 1 option

Torie & Howard Assorted Organic Hard Candy Cheaper, though it is hard candy.

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