The candy human race was crushed this week — the king of the gummi bear has died .
On October 15 , Haribo proprietor Hans Riegel of Bonn , Germany , spend away at age 90 , leaving behind a candy - coat , fruity - flavored empire of gold - bears , frogs , rale snakes , assorted fruits , and sodium carbonate bottles ( happy and fizzy ! ) . He did n’t start the Haribo company — his dad , also Hans Riegel , did , in 1920 . Nor did he conceive the first gummi bear , which his father really made out of licorice and called “ dancing bears ” in the other twelvemonth of the Haribo society . But the prodigal Logos inherited the business after World War II and introduced the iconic bear - shaped , gelatin - based treat as we bed it in the late sixties .
Gummy candy is enjoy all over the world in different shapes , sizes , and flavors . Some would argue the chewy , flavorful , gelatinous snacks are addict — so much so that Haribo feature if all the gummi bears they bring out in one yr were line up head to toe , it would make a chain that wouldcircle the planet four times .
Here are 8 more sweet fact about gummy candy . ( word of advice , we can not guarantee that you wo n’t require to immediately take to the woods to the nearest grocer and purchase wad measure of gummies after reading . )
1. Made with Love
The Haribo formula for gummies is a closely guarded enigma , but a mere web search will excavate dozens ofalternate recipesfor homemade gummed goody . The base for most gummy candy is gelatine , which want to be heated and combined with flavor , food colouring and sugar ( or some kind of sweetening federal agent ) . Once prepared , the mix is poured into mold shaped like teddy bears , or whatever else the heart desire , and result to harden , often in the deep-freeze .
2. Nuts for Sweets
The elder Hans Riegel started an autumn custom in the thirties whereby children could come to his factory bearing acorn and chestnuts that would beexchanged for some sweetness . Today the event is held in former October / early November at Haribo ’s Bonn HQ , and the collected nuts go to feed creature in wildlife chancel . folk stand in line for hours with giant bags of acorns and/or chestnut and go home with boxes of innocent Haribo treats . Ten kilos of chestnut or 5 kg of acorns willland you a traveling bag of goldbären(a.k.a . amber - bears ) .
3. Worming their way in.
America did n’t get a perceptiveness of gummi bears until 1982 , when Haribo opened up its American mill in Baltimore . But Trolli , another German confectioner , finding huge success in the American market , introduced a gummy “ louse ” a yr originally — a candy plan to bothintrigue kidskin and gross out their parents . While bears are in the main consider the classic , insect themselves are a wildly popular gummy monetary standard .
4. Gummies get weird
There ’s a very good grounds Haribo ’s “ Arsch mit Ohren ” ( rendering : a German insultmeaning “ ass with pinna ” ) was a circumscribed edition . There ’s also a well reason Trolli ’s “ Road Kill ” gummies were n’t so well receive . The company was storm to turn back making gummies in the shape of flatten critters with tire marks in 2005 , after the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals fence itencouraged children to be vicious to brute . Meanwhile , across the world , a Japanese eating house offerslife - sized gummy manakin of customer .
5. Gummies, they do a body good.
Well , technically they do n’t usually have much fat , if any at all , and the gelatindoes hold some protein . But one ca n’t precisely argue that traditional gummies and their often high sugar depicted object are “ good ” for you . But researchers have made some step for the sake of gluey lovers the mankind over . Take gummed vitamins , for instance . To make vitamins more palatable ( and fun ! ) , several vitamin brands like One A Day , Vitafusion and Nature Made make gummy versions of their nutritionary supplements . And now some researchers have beentesting the effectsof tot up enclosed space - fighting xylitol to the candies .
6. Gummies go big.
The Guinness Book of World Records lists thelargest gummy bear in recorded historyas an 81 - Ezra Loomis Pound , 3 - apothecaries' ounce gummy bear that stand up two feet improbable and two feet wide of the mark . A Sunday schooltime course team up up with a eating place in San Antonio , Texas in 2011 to make the sugary colossus . Othernotable elephantine gummiesinclude a three - Cypriot pound , two - foot , 4,000 - calorie gummy dirt ball sell online .
7. Gummy explosion
A Washington , D.C. science teacher ’s experiment went viral in 2008 , in the video of a red gummi bearmeeting his makerin a sustain igneous explosion inside a trial tube-shaped structure filled with hot potassium chlorate . KClO3 is a strong oxidize broker often used as a disinfectant and in fireworks and explosives . Gummi bears contain plenty of saccharose , which is a substance easy oxidate . Mix ‘ em together and heat it all up and you get a blinding saltation recital from a fucking piece of candy .
8. Drunken gummies.
A democratic , highly unsanctioned , alternating adult purpose of gummy candy — bears seem to be most often used — is tosoak them in vodkafor a prescribed amount of time , after which time they become a happy hr treat . The gummies engulf the alcohol and pack a piffling extra puncher . see out how to make themhere .
