Haribo’s golden bear celebrates its 100th birthday, a delightful anniversary if ever there was one. It’s already been a century of living together with these colored mini plantigrades in gelatin, a material as soft as dreams.
These sweets, called gominolas in Spain, gummies in Latin America or jelly beans in English-speaking countries, proudly embody popular confectionery.
Nothing to do with the great aristocratic airs given off by artisanal caramels and medicinal pastilles with a taste of honey, barley or rhubarb; no more than with this upstart middle class that are lollipops and other barley sugar derivatives.
The jelly candy is swallowed in no time, without leaving traces. It is part of daily life during childhood, then it becomes a guilty pleasure from the age of 10.
Haribo bears are an unchanging product, with character and an iconic image. Because they embody a piece of history, we have the right to eat them at any age, whether in their original version or in any of their contemporary variations.
Suitable for milk teeth
In 1920, German confectioner Hans Riegel opened a candy shop which he named Haribo, short for his first and last name, and for Bonn, his hometown. Hans delivered his goods by bicycle and had only one employee, his wife, Gertrud, who cooked the sugar and molasses in the back room.
The first year, the Riegel couple struggled to get by and almost gave up, but in 1922 they finally had the genius idea that would allow them to go down in history.
On the example of Fryers, a British company in the county of Lancashire which manufactured soft candies from