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!
