Sugar Savvy

I explicitly remember my very first gummi bear.  I was in fourth grade and my friend Jennifer and I had been given permission to walk downtown– my first real taste of freedom.  We went to the library, had slices of pizza and then stopped at the new chocolate shop in town.  I thought it was fancy because everything was sold by the pound and they had exotic things like truffles and dark chocolate.  They also had a big jar of gummi bears which I had heard about but had never tasted.  Jen and I pooled our money together and bought a quarter pound.  I bit into the first one expecting it to be soft like a gum drop, and was surprised at its chewy toughness.  I also expected there to be in-your-face flavor like a jelly bean, but instead it was lighter, more citrusy.  I hated them.  I was so disappointed.  It wasn’t until years later that I tried them again and came to develop a particular love for the green and clear ones.

Now that I’m older, I have to look for any redeeming quality possible in my candy choices.  Hence, I pick dark chocolate for its antioxidants, and bars with nuts for the added protein boost.  (Oh, who am I kidding?  I just love all candy.)  But I was intrigued by a bag of SunRidge Farms Organic Sunny Bears that I got this week.  They’re shaped like the traditional gummi bear, but covered in sugar, like Sour Patch Kids.  There are only four colors:  red, pink, orange and yellow and they’re much softer than a traditional gummi bear.  The flavor is different, too.  More juicy and tart.  And being organic, well, they’re a healthier treat than the usual corn syrup and artificially flavored bears.