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Home > November 20, 2023 > Gummy Candy Chemistry
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Gummy Candy Chemistry
By Jennifer Hackett
SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
Gummy bears are meant to be a chewy treat. But over time, the candies can become stale and hard. That led scientists at two universities in Turkey to test different recipes to create a gummy that stays squishy longer.
Gummy candy is made of the sugars glucose and sucrose. It also contains the thickeners starch and gelatin. They are polymers, or large molecules made up of repeating units. When the sugars and thickeners are combined, bonds form between the thickeners, trapping the sugars between them. This creates a candy that’s solid but soft.
After testing recipes with different amounts of each ingredient, the scientists found that having more glucose than sucrose widened the bonds between the thickeners and made the candy squishier. This was the biggest factor for maintaining gummies’ texture.
SWEET HISTORY
HARIBO (ALL IMAGES)
Gummy bears are arguably the most famous gummy candy. They were invented in 1922 by Hans Riegel, a German man who founded the Haribo candy company two years earlier. He had been experimenting with hard candies when he stumbled on the recipe. He thought the cute bear shape gave the candy more personality. Today 160 million Haribo gummy bears are made every day and sold in 100 countries!
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