Presented for your approval: A historical thesis on the various qualities and properties of gummi foodstuffs, AKA: THE GUMMI BEAR REVIEW! Of the following two articles, only one is a objective, historically accurate journalistic work. It is up to you, dear reader, to seperate fact from fiction. PART 1 (or What a Long Road for Such a Small Bear...): Of the four major candy food groups including chocolate, hard candy and nougat, the gummi represents the least understood. Originally dismissed as a subset of the taffy family, gummis are now recognized as the second most popular candy measured in gross tonnage. Chewing and bubble gums are sometimes mistakenly included in candy histories, although they are now recognized as only a candy placebo (see 'The Razzles Conundrum', FPXpress c.1983). From the mystical Far East to the Black Forest of Bavaria, I have traced gummi development and searched for the perfect bear. Other shapes, while interesting diversions, are not considered because the bear is the classic gummi unit and provides a common ground for the various gummi-meisters to ply their age old trade. The first recorded gummi was developed as a royal treat for the court of Louis XIV in eighteenth century France. The actual discoverer of modern gummi was Hans von Gomii, a confectioner's apprentice at Versailles. His subsequent fame and Dukeship nearly led to war with the Austro-Hungarian Empire who attempted to quickly claim the Gummi bear as their national candy. The French revolution put a halt to gummi research for nearly two hundred years as von Gomii was beheaded and europe soon had Napoleon forcing the bon-bon down the throat of his empire. Even Napoleon and two world wars couldn't stop the German Gummi Underground. Centered in Bavaria Germany, the DGU built mobile factories and moved about under the cover of darkness, refining their recipes. Unfortunately, the proto-gummis never gained acceptance: They were still the color and consistancy of bratwurst, stood close to six inches tall and had an aftertaste of schnapps. Prior to WWII, Hitler had captured most of the Gummi Underground and forced them into revealing their ingredients, proportions and process. His plan for a Third Reich included a race of pure, Aryian gummis to rule over candies of the world and his popularity was bolstered by promising the development of a Volksgummi for all citizens. When Hitler's plan failed, the gummi was shunned in the world market. Textbooks and encyclopedias were purged of all references to the soft candies. It was the Japanese who engaged in the next step in gummi development. With their heavy manufacturing capabilities in ruins, the Japanese turned to electronics and candy. It took several years for Japan's best engineers to break the German recipe and shrink the proto-bear down to it's present size, but something was still missing. It took until 1950 for the modern gummi's final hurdle to be cleared. That was when Karioke Haribo discovered that adding color and flavors to the gummi made them more palatable. His development almost garnered him the 1951 Nobel Peace Prize which he barely lost to Albert Schweitzer. This signaled an explosion in gummi popularity, although it was still limited to the Japanese mainland. In 1964 Tokyo held the Summer Olympics and the new gummi bear was the hit of the games. Many athletes made the gummi bear into an unofficial mascot and, with the manufacturer's blessing, left Tokyo with cases of Haribo's product. The acceptance of the bear and the gummi research being carried out in the orient profoundly embarrassed the Germans. Although most of their gummi technology was well behind that of the Japanese, they vowed to close the gummi gap. With a massive infusion of governmental assistance, Germany set about to create state of the art gummi bears in time for the Munich Olympics. Industrial robots and computer guided lasers worked around the clock as the multinational conglomerate Gummishenwerk, Gmbh. finished their masterpiece: the limited edition 'Gummis of the World' collection in the Spring of 1972. Due to the massacre at the summer games, Gummishenwerk ltd. pulled their exquisitely crafted set from the market and destroyed the original molds and forms. A complete 'Gummi of the World' set was sold by Christies to an anonymous buyer for $US 188,000 in 1989, making it the most valuable gummi product yet known. PART 2 (Comparative Gummis 101): Bahlsen: The chubby 'Brummi' bears have both excellent texture and fruit flavor. They tend toward the soft end of the spectrum and are very consistent in that department, due, I suspect, to a mysterious stabilizer in their content. Although they shun beeswax or carnauba in their recipe, they still are among the more slippery gummis. The taste is clean and distinctive between the traditional flavors (Cherry, Orange, Lime, Lemon and Pineapple). There is a slight aftertaste, but not offensively so. Bahlsen trivia: The company was founded in 1889 and quickly became one of europe's largest bakeries, famous for their holiday cookies. Their only gummi goods are worms and bears. The 'TET' logo on of all their product is an Egyptian symbol for eternal or everlasting purity. It was added in 1904 after Mr. Bahlsen's pioneering work in airtight packaging. The Bahlsen factory actually had assembly line production in place eight years prior to Henry Ford. Although the package uses the european spelling of gelatin and the company is German based, the American Bahlsen bears are manufactured domestically in Iowa. Corn syrup, sugar, gelatine, stabilizer: sorbitol syrup, citric acid, lactic acid, artificial and natural flavors, artificial colors FD+C blue No. 1, FD+C yellow No. 5 (Tartrazine), FD+C yellow No. 6, FD+C red No. 40. Black Forest The Black Forest bears are still made in their homeland, Germany. They are produced by the Wissoll Company and are imported by The Foreign Candy Company, Inc. of Iowa. The reasons for the midwest as the center of the North American gummi universe could be related to the availability of local corn syrup. The candies are well crafted, very ursine and instantly recognizable as juvenile black bears. There are even hairs visible on their coat. The consistency is uniform although the flavoring is unspectacular. An interesting addition to the Black Forest line are their gummi Chevies, trucks and Corvettes, marking a radical departure from biomorphic representation. Perhaps due to the high oil and wax content, the Wissoll bear is especially susceptible to heat deformation. The Black Forest bears are perhaps the best integrated of all the gummis, with equal representation of all flavors. Corn syrup, sugar, gelatin, citric acid, vegetable oil (coconut), artificial and natural flavors, beeswax, artificial colors (incl. FD&C yellow No. 5). Gummi Chevy/Corvette ingredients (note the slight deviations from the bear proportions): Corn syrup, sugar, gelatin, citric acid, artificial and natural flavors, beeswax, artificial colors (incl. FD&C yellow No. 5). Polished with vegetable oil (coconut) and beeswax. Haribo Haribo is a leader in gummi innovation, with hundreds of products and the world's largest producer of licorice candy. The name Haribo is from the first two letters of the founder, Hans Riegel, and his home city, Bonn. The company was founded in 1920 and produced it's first gummi bears one year later. Today they manufacture tens of millions of bears per week. Besides their German facilities, Haribo maintains factories in Denmark, France and England. Their Gold Bears, or "Gummibaerchen", are, by their own definition, "fresh 'n chewy". They are the toughest species of gummi bear known to man and the only one to list starch in their ingredients. Due to this, they don't have a very long shelf life and range in consistency from tough to downright hard. Their excellent orange seems to be least common of the five flavors. They have perhaps the best and most distinctive pineapple of all the bears. In addition to the Gold Bears, Haribo markets gummi Fruit Salad, Frogs, Snakes, Cola Bottles, Gators, Mummies, Alphabet Letters and more. Daily candy production is more than 300 tons. Corn syrup, sugar, gelatine, dextrose, citric acid, starch, artificial and natural flavors, artificial colors (incl. FD&C yellow No. 5), fractionated coconut oil, beeswax coating. Heidi Henry Heidi arrived in the United States from his native Germany in 1866 at the age of 19. A thriving young candy industry kept the Heidi factory on the move throughout lower Manhattan in the late Eighteen hundreds. Finally, in 1896, a modern fireproof, nine story plant was constructed at the corner of Spring and Hudson Streets. This is where the first automatic Otis elevator was installed in a building greater than three floors tall. The early Heidi reputation was ensured by their medal winning almond paste. In 1962, the entire facility was moved to a more modern headquarters in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The Heidi bears are distinctive for several reasons. The most obvious is shape of bear: tiny lower bodies and slender, furry necks. There are very few green bears per package and the orange is very close in shade and taste to the yellow and all three have a heavy citrus flavor. The red, however, is a full bodied cherry, one of the world's best flavored gummis. This, by the way, is only true of the newer "made with fruit juice" variety. Corn syrup, sugar, gelatin, fruit juice, citric acid, natural and artificial natural flavors, artificial colors (FD&C yellow no. 5, red no. 40, FD&C blue no.1), polished with vegetable oil and carnauba wax. Hershey's The American giant Hershey's entry into the gummi market gets off to an exceptionally poor start with their 'Tropical Amazing Fruit' and "Amazing Fruit" bears. They have attempted to duplicate the successful Trolli recipe, with a new emphasis on natural flavoring, to appease mothers no doubt. To that end, they have eschewed the traditional bear flavors and have included grape, strawberry and apple; The Tropical bears offer watermelon. Unfortunately, the flavoring is indistinct and has an unpleasant aftertaste. Also, the well dressed bears, wearing little bow ties, are very soft and rubbery. They are still in a test marketing phase and will hopefully improve with time. Corn syrup, sugar, gelatin, fruit juice concentrates (contains pineapple, orange, grape, apple, and watermelon), citric acid, natural and artificial natural flavors, mineral oil, sodium citrate, natural and artificial coloring (includes FD&C yellow #5, yellow #6, blue #1, and red #40), and carnauba wax. Katjes Katjes, meaning small cat or kitten in Dutch, was founded in 1952 by Klaus Fassin. His father was a loquorice maker in Holland and Klaus' first products were small, black liquorice cats. Now his hometown of Embrica on the Rhine River is home to two modern plants dedicated to liquorice and gummi production. The Katjes liquorice line, although extensive, is not exported to the United States. While liquorice is still the staple of the Katjes line, they started gummi production in the 1970s. Perhaps better known that their bears are the Sun Slice line of fruit gum candies. The bears are flavored similar to the Sun Slices and are made with the juices of orange, lemon, peach and watermelon. Although theirs is an aquired taste, their consistent quality is a testament to their hot pressure process of mixing and forming gummi. Corn syrup, sugar, gelatine, maltodextrin, citric acid, beeswax, natural und (sp) artificial flavors, artificial colors and fd+c yellow no. 5 Trolli The Trolli bear was sold for some time in bulk to the finer candy stores and has only recently been marketed under their own name in small, .75oz packages. The 5gr Trolli is easily recognized for its bulging button eyes and small size: It is the smallest gummi in captivity. Although the workmanship is lackluster, with many deformed and encephalitic bears per package, the color and flavor are rich and full bodied. Although the bears tend to the rubbery end of the spectrum, the consistency is well within accepted gummi standards. The only minus for the Trolli bear is the overrepresentation of the cherry/red bear. Mederer is the first foreign gummi maker to open a factory in America when they opened their plant in Creston, Iowa in 1986. They offer three sizes of bears in addition to gummi alligators, dinosaurs, cola bottles, fruits and hearts. Corn syrup, sugar, gelatin, fruit juice, citric acid, lactic acid, artificial and natural flavors, colors added (including FD&C yellow # 5, yellow # 6, red # 40 and blue # 1), fractionated vegetable oils, carnauba wax. Lesser Bears: K&B Distributers: "Gummy Bears", from Ozone Park with Tartrazine. Tom's Gummi Bears: A rare breed from Georgia. Summit Foods Inc.'s P.J.(tm)'s Gummi Bears. Made with fruit juices, found primarily in movie theaters. Sweet Thanks International Gummi Bears. 1-800 number for comments! Vernell's Gummy Bears: Distinctive primarily for the spelling of Gummy and the ingredient White Mineral Oil. I remain constantly on alert for new gummi products and innovations. If I have overlooked anything, please be sure to let me know!