Haribo Gummy Bears,

apparently are one of the top-selling candies in the world,

photograph Stan Horaczek, with the various flavors in its roster, it actually takes a lot of time and effort to add a new flavor that the masses will love, Popular Science details on the process behind the famed gummies flavors:

Anointing a new flavor to the Haribo lineup, however, takes some confection-making perfection. The company’s food scientists test each recipe exhaustively for aroma, texture, and regional preferences. The last step is key to ensuring a gummy will succeed across multiple markets. For example, Triffler says, Americans and Germans don’t always agree on what a “lemon” candy should taste like, making it tricky to develop a single yellow piece for a mix that suits everyone’s tongues. The company even had to change up Riegel’s famous recipe when introducing Goldbears stateside in the 1980s.

Haribo is quite tight-lipped about what makes their gummies such a culinary delight. But outside of the candy industry, food scientists are upfront about the challenges of crafting gummies. “Most gummy confections contain 5 to 10 percent fruit juice and the rest is sugar water,” says Yael Vodovotz, a food-innovation scientist at Ohio State University, “There are non-synthetic flavors and dyes, but they’re really still mostly chemicals.” when thinking about gummy bears I immediately think of Homer,

and the candy show where he finds a prized gummy Venus de Milo,

in the Homer Badman episode, great fun!