It all began in the German town of Bonn in the year 1922. Hans Riegel, the owner of a (then) small candy business, Haribo, came up with a most excellent idea (Bellis). For some time he had been noticing the popularity of teddy bears and dancing circus bears and so doing (Haribo), he had thought long and hard about making his own “Dancing Bear” or “Tanzbär” (Hunisch). So, he came up with a recipe to make his bears actually dance! And thus, the gummi bear, the first of all gummi candies, was born (Bellis).

Since Hans invented them, he and his wife Gertrud were the only people in the world to make gummi bears at that time. To make sure that everyone (at least in Germany) could try and buy them, Hans would make a daily output of about 100 kilograms (approx. 250 lbs.) of gummi bears every day (that’s a lot!) and Gertrud would pedal around on her bike delivering and selling their tasty bears at fairs and kiosks. They were sold for only one pfennig (penny) for 2 bears (Hunisch). Within only one year, they were a huge hit throughout all of Germany!

All this time, while these Germans were enjoying feasting upon those tasty, tasty Haribo gummi bears, all us people here in the United States of America were totally missing out! Gummi bears were invented in 1922, but the very first gummi bears to be made in America weren’t made until 1981 by what is now the Jelly Belly Candy Company. Not until 1982 were gummis readily available to everyone in the United States, though a lucky few did get them before that by visiting Germany themselves (NCA).

Nowadays, though, gummi bears as well as hundreds of other shapes, colors, flavors of gummi candies are manufactured in the United States as well as in Europe and Germany. If you pay attention, you’ll be able to tell some differences between American made gummis and the European made types. American gummis tend to have a softer texture softer with stronger flavor and brighter colors as opposed to the European gummis having a “more firm, more consistent gummi which has a longer chew”(Young 52). A lot of people don’t notice the difference, but those of us with more refined tastes can choose which nationality of gummi candy we prefer. Although Germany and most of Europe has an extremely dominant brand (Haribo), the United States really doesn’t have an extremely dominant brand (Young 52). I personally favor the German brand, Haribo, the original makers of gummi bears.

Within the last 30 or so years, gummi bears have also had their time in movies and on television. In the film, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Polly Noonan, a student, says to her principal, Mr. Rooney, “Want a gummi bear? They’ve been in my pocket all day; they’re real warm and soft.” Though that is kind of gross, it is pretty cool that those gummi bears were movie stars! Also, in the 2001 film Hedwig and the Angry Inch, American gummi bears were used to represent power (“Gummi Bear”). Gummi bears also happen to be one of the only, if not the only candy that has had a cartoon based on it (NCA). Disney’s Adventures of the Gummi Bears was first aired on September 14, 1985 and lasted four whole years (Turner).

Even if you don’t love gummi bears, the very most popular kind of gummi candy, gummi worms, might just be the gummi confection for you! Trolli, another of those German candy companies, came up with and made the first gummi worm in the year 1981 (Bellis). At first, the idea of gummi worms was just a fun way to gross parents out that kids would like, but the parents started liking these scrumptious confections too, so now gummi worms are loved much by almost all (NCA). Brite Crawlers, the most favorite of all gummi worms, is about 2 inches long and is covered in sour sugar crystals (Bellis). Because of their popularity in America as well as in Germany, in 1986, they started up their own factory in Iowa (Hunisch).

Now, there are hundreds of small, large and even medium sized gummi candy manufacturers. Large companies, the most widely known type, include Black Forest, Haribo, Trolli, Sour Patch Kids and Ferrera control a lot of the packaged gummi sales in America because of brand name and good packaging. When gummis first became popular, about 10 years ago, many people thought that gummi candies were just a passing trend that would loose popularity rather quickly. Obviously, those geniused people were totally wrong, since now, gummis have grown fast and consistently enough that now they have an entire category to themselves in the candy businesses (Young 49).

All that brand stuff is only really important in the packaged candy area of gummis. For a big company to sell well and succeed, they need to sell in bulk as well as in the packaged part. A “very aggressive bulk program” says Babiarz of Candy Tech, is necessary for any business to have “phenomenal success” in gummi retailing. We all know that tons of people buy their gummis in bulk (‘cause it’s cheaper, admit it). When someone buys bulk, they don’t care about the brand name, they just care about price, a good flavor, the shape and if it’s colors are vibrant and catch their eye. One can usually buy bulk gummis as low as two or three dollars per pound as opposed to six or seven dollars per pound packaged.

“Variety is the spice of gummis,” Jason Young of Professional Candy Buyer stated in his article about gummi economics (Young 50). Sour gummis, which get their zing from fumaric acid as well as other acids, are a popular variation on plain gummis (“Gummi Bear”). Also, milk and white chocolate covered gummi bears (Koppers), vitamin-enriched gummis (for parents to trick their kids with), interactive shapes so kids can play with their food (Young 54), vegan gummis (made with pectin in place of gelatin) help to make gummis exciting for a whole new audience of gummi consumers (Pavlina)!

Molding gummis into any shape imaginable is one of their most endearing qualities and is part of what helps them continue to increase their sales yearly. Trolli recently came out with a new, innovative gummi trend. Called ‘double deposits,’ they are half normal clear gummi (usually on top), and on the bottom is a poofy, kind of foamy, opaque gummi that has a similar but different texture. Their gummi hot dogs, burgers and pizzas all use the foamy kind for the bun or crust. With their nifty individually wrapped gummi ‘meals,’ you can have a ‘balanced’ meal (Adams). Ask your mom for some of those as your lunch! Or, maybe you could eat Indiana Jones’s or Darth Vader’s gummi head which are imported from a Belgian manufacturer (Young 54).

Now, for the final mystery! What makes gummi candies gummi? GELATIN!!! Gelatin is a kind of gross-when-you-think-about-it thing. Made from animals hoofs, bones and cartilage it’s an odorless, tasteless, colorless jelly (Colombia Encyclopedia). It’s the basis for gummi candies, but its other ingredients include sugar, corn syrup, corn starch, flavoring, coloring and citric acid ("Gummi Bear"). From personal experience, I have found that without an adequate recipe they are really hard to make, so Hans Riegel must’ve been such a genius to come up with such a good product!

In factories, to mass produce gummis, all the ingredients are measured out and mixed up in big vats then cooked and put into a vacuum chamber to get rid of the extra moisture. The mixture is then separated into smaller vats where it is flavored and colored. When that’s done, the mix is squeezed into starch board molds and left to sit for 2-4 days. After that, it is packaged, delivered, sold and eaten by hungry people (Bellis).

In closing, just in case you wanted to know, the most popular flavor of gummi candy is cherry, or the red kind (NCA). But, seriously, now you know more than you ever need to about gummi bears, gummi candies in general, and a German candy maker.