The humble gummi bear was the first of gummi candy ever to be produced
in 1922 by a German man called Hans Riegel, a candy maker from Bonn.
Hans originally called his creation the "��dancing bear"�� and launched
his confectionary company "��Haribo"��, an acronym for Hans Riegel Bonn.
The gummi bear was popular by the end of its first year of production
and the sweet is still sold in Germany today under the popular name
Gummibar (rubber bear) or Gummibarchen (little rubber bear).
A gummi bear is a small gelatin-based sweet which is roughly 2
centimetres long, bear shaped and comes in a 5 different flavours:
orange (orange), strawberry (green), raspberry (red), pineapple
(no-colour) and lemon (yellow). There have been other companies who have
copied the gummi bear and introduced other flavours and colours,
however these have never found their way into Haribo"��s production.
The gummi bear has been so popular it has lead to a range of other gummi
animals being introduced into confectionary including worms, penguins,
frogs, snakes, sharks, hippos, lobsters, octopuses and even Smurfs and
spiders.
The original gummi bear is made from a compound of sugar, glucose syrup,
starch, flavouring, food colouring, citric acid, and gelatin. There are
some gummi bears that have been produced to be suitable for vegetarians
containing pectin or starch instead of gelatin. Gummi bears made with
either bovine or porcine gelatine are unsuitable for vegetarians and
also do not conform to kashrut or halal diets.
The gummi bear manufacturing process is a long and interesting procedure
which begins with manufacturing artists doing a character sketch and
then carving it into tiny plaster moulds. The moulds are then duplicated
using machinery with the duplicates running through a starch powder
machine to produce a set of starch powder mould pans.
The ingredients are poured into large boilers and heated together,
constantly being stirred by large mixing paddles. Colours and
flavourings are added to the mixture to give the gummi sweets their
distinct look and taste. Nozzles are used to squeeze the mixture on to
the previously prepared starch boards where it is left for three to five
days to set. Beeswax is then added to make the candy shiny and less
sticky. The gummi candy is finally moved to a packaging machine and is
ready to ship.
The gummi bear has gone from strength to strength over the years with
Disney even creating a cartoon show in 1985, "��The Adventures of the
Gummi Bears,"�� based on the German candy. This children"��s adventure
cartoon lasted for 65 episodes where the show followed a family of gummi
bears on many fun and educational journeys.
Today gummi bears are one of the most popular sweets produced and are
sold to children and adults alike all over the world. The gummi bear is
the sweet that launched gelatine based confectionary and with Haribo and
copycat companies looking to add new flavours and sizes all the time to
keep them interesting, the gummi bear will be the sweet of choice for
generations to come.