Gummy Candy

Colorful, chewy, sweet, gelatin-based gummy candies were invented by Hans Riegel during the early 1920s in Germany. It is the gelatin that gives gummies their elasticity. Riegel, the owner of the German candy company Haribo, produced gummy bears, which were widely sold in Germany before World War II. Gummy candies were imported into the United States during the 1960s. The Brock Candy Company and the Goelitz Candy Company both claim to have been the first American company to produce gummy candy about 1980. In 1982, Haribo began marketing gummy bears in the United States. Their fanciful shapes appealed to adults as well as children. Gummy bears became an instant classic in the United States in the 1980s. Trolli, another German candy manufacturer, introduced gummy worms in lurid colors in 1990s, and they were also a big hit.