My first encounter with gummy bears occurred in junior high when a widespread gambling craze swept the school. My friends Rob and Steve and I would save our lunch money by eating only Haribo Gummi Gold Bears that we bought at the nearby convenience store so we could gamble away our quarters. Ah, youth is wasted on the young. I only lasted a few weeks on this Vegas-inspired program as I began to feel weak from lack of nutritious food. I would soon resume the scheduled spaghetti and mystery meat regimen of public school dining options. Does anyone remember Potato Turbate?
As usual, I digress.
Gummy bears originated in 1920 by confectionery producer Hans Rigel of Bonn, Germany, and he named his company HARIBO, a creative acronym using the first two letters of Hans, Rigel, and Bonn. To me, Haribo always sounded vaguely Asian, but through the magic of “Internet Research” I’ve been schooled.
On first glance, these Black Forest Swirly Gummy Bears – made by 101-year-old candy company Ferrara Pan – reminded me of those creepy Grateful Dead dancing bears, the swirly patterns reminiscent of the ubiquitous Dead Head tie-dyed t-shirts, a few of which I own.
I like the texture of these psychedelic Ursa Minors which are softer than the Haribo variety. The flavors, however, are a bit odd – did I detect a hint of peyote? Of course not!
The Outrageous Orange gummy featured a tart citrus flavor right off the bat, but devolved into something cloying and artificial with a petroleum-laced aftertaste. Next, the Swirly Cherry Blast gummy tasted exactly like a cherry LifeSaver. The Tropical Twist bear was by far the oddest with a distinct musky flavor. I couldn’t for the life of me distinguish the fruit origin. Blueberry? Algae? I was at a loss to describe it.
I tried to like these cute, “far out” bears, but the cheapo flavors kept me at bay. The package says these are “made with real fruit juice,” as they do contain apple juice concentrate.
Still, the swirly patterns are fun to look at.
Buy Black Forest Swirly Gummy Bears Online:
- at Amazon.com
- at Candy Direct
The Black Forest gummi bears are my all time favorites. I’ve never tried any flavor other than the regular ones, but those do taste of actual fruit juice. And they don’t taste like chemicals, like the haribo ones. The Black Forest ones are soooo good. I always get them at Walgreen’s.
January 22nd, 2009 at 5:53 pmi much prefer the haribo version, and have only sampled the metallic bears, but not the swirls… i am sure you could suggest algae, musk, and some other flavors to archie mcphee and they could center the flavors around what actual bears smell like. salmon anyone?
January 22nd, 2009 at 6:11 pmI try them and didn’t like the taste. Prefer the other gummy bears more.
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:16 pmWow, I didn’t know that the company Haribo was the pioneer of gummy candies, specifically gummy bears. And I have to agree the name Haribo sounds a little Asian to me; it sounds like Filipino LOL.
January 23rd, 2009 at 8:17 amGive me Gummi Life Savers any day and I’ll be happy. I enjoy the Gummi Bear shapes nonetheless.
January 24th, 2009 at 12:40 amI had these a few years ago. I liked them because they were soft.
January 24th, 2009 at 9:58 pmYes, texture was fine. Maybe these should be reserved for when I have a cold and can’t taste anything.
January 25th, 2009 at 6:16 pmI like eating 3 diferent flavors at a time then the flavors
May 22nd, 2010 at 7:26 ammix and it tast REALLY good yummy :P
I want to eat like the wole pack I like gummybears
May 22nd, 2010 at 7:30 amyum yum
I love these gummi bears. I left them out in my car and they melted and they taste really good when they are all melted together lol. god I sound like a fatty but for real they are good like that. They are really soft and fruity. I’ve always been loyal to Haribo but I was having a gummi attack and I was in WaWa and those are the only good brand of gummies they had. Now I really want some so I googled them and stumbled upon this website and saw some people hatin on these. Try them melted they are to die for lol. or maybe i am just crazy.
June 23rd, 2011 at 10:55 pm