Gumdrops, one of America’s most beloved sweets, is a chewy, gelatin candy, most often flavored with fruit or spices. In their most traditional form, gumdrops are sugar-coated and shaped like a small dome or ‘drop.’ But they have evolved, and you can now find them with smooth coatings and in tons of fun shapes and sizes.
Debates abound as to the history of gumdrops. Some credit Percy Trusdale as the inventor of gumdrops in 1801. The term ‘gumdrop’ was first seen in an Illinois newspaper mentioning a local candy shop owner, George Julier, in the 1850s.
The National Confectioners Association lists National Gumdrop Day as one of the many candy-focused holidays we can celebrate and on which we can buy more candy while we’re at it, of course!
With the popular trend of gourmet candies hitting the market, you can now find gumdrops beyond the traditional orange, cherry, grape, and lemon flavors. Whole Foods offers rather large gumdrops (1 inch tall x 1 inch wide) in exotic flavors such as key lime, tangerine, grapefruit, and pomegranate.
The classic gumdrop paved the way for what we know today as gummy candies in general, like gummy bears and -worms, and even gummy vitamins (remember, the vitamins are not candy!).
Gumdrops, if kept in an unopened package and stored in a cool place, will last for up to 12 months. If you choose to use them for crafting, they will, of course, become hard but that’s ok, as long as you don’t try to eat them later!
Complete News Source : Nationaltoday
