![]() So began the now decades-long debate over which was the superior Gold-Bear: German or American? (Not to mention the many debates over the merits of Gold-Bears versus Black Forest, Heide, Jelly Belly, and the countless other competitors who would crop up over the years.) Many insist to this day that the German version is better, with more "real fruit" taste, a chewier consistency, and one extra type of bear (apple! The rest are raspberry, orange, lemon, pineapple, and strawberry, in case you were wondering). at the helm as CEO, focusing on sales and marketing (the slogan “Kids and grown-ups love it so, the happy world of Haribo!” was his brainchild). By the time Paul and Hans were released, there were only about 30 employees working at the company.īut the sons didn’t let that discourage them from rebuilding their late father’s empire: Within five years time, Haribo had 1,000 workers in its employ, with Paul overseeing production and Hans Jr. and Paul, were taken as prisoners of the Allied forces. However, also as one might expect, Haribo took quite a hit during the war: Hans Riegel died in 1945, and his two sons, Hans Jr. As one might expect, the Tanzbären ("dancing bears") were an instant hit with local tots by the start of World War II, the future candy superpower had over 400 employees producing ten tons of candy each day. However, starch-based Jujubes and pectin-based Chuckles lacked the precisely satisfying chewy texture of Riegel’s sweet creatures, and none of these candies offered the same brand of zoo-animal whimsy. Gelatin-based chews originating in Great Britain in 1909, wine gums (which contain no alcohol, despite their name), like generic gumdrops, Jujubes (1920) and Chuckles (1921), predate Riegel’s dancing bears. “So technically gummy candies are also cousins of jams and jellies.”Īs for what was happening on the gummy-candy timeline, when Riegel went into business, “one of the more popular pre-gummy-bear gummies at the time would have been wine gums,” Kimmerle says. “Cooking sugar along with fruit has long been a way to preserve or store summer’s harvest,” Kimmerle says. (" There, there–eat your bag of Gold-Bears and you’ll feel much better.") Yes, it’s a rabid and ever-expanding fan base in fact, according to Haribo, if you laid all the Gold-Bears produced in a year head to toe, they would form a jiggly, tooth-decaying ring around the earth four times.Īnd to think it all started with a poor German factory worker, a bag of sugar, and a dream. ![]() Indeed, “gummies” (for lack of a better all-encompassing term defining the vast array of available adaptations on the original bear) surely have one of the most devoted followings of any candy in history to know a gummy lover is to recognize both the gleam of greedy, fiendish glee that will appear in his or her eyes whenever some new form of gummy is discovered ( "Oh my god, this store has gummy Smurfs!") and the inner peace that can only be gained from a generous portion of an old favorite. ![]() ![]() Sure, chocolate bars (and the many variations thereof) remain the top-selling treats across the globe, but how many cocoa-based snacks inspired a hit animated TV series in the 1980s (Disney’s The Adventures of the Gummi Bears), a song with over 45 million hits on YouTube ( The Gummy Bear Song), and played a pivotal role in the plot of an award-winning Broadway musical about a transgender East German rock singer ( Hedwig and the Angry Inch)? Whether you call them "gummy" or "gummi," whether you prefer bears or worms, whether your loyalty lies with Haribo or Black Forest, there’s no denying that the gelatinous, rainbow-colored candies most of us first came to know and love simply as “gummy bears” are one of the world’s most popular confections.
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