Wine gums were invented by Charles Gordon Maynard and after some difficulty persuading his strict Methodist father that they do not contain any actual alcohol, were introduced to the market by the family’s London based confectionery company. When I was a kid, these were my favourite confection.
Other companies soon copied them – the Maynard family had never trademarked the name! I favoured those by Basset’s another English company. Both companies ended up in the hands of Mondelez International, (originally Kraft Foods) who merged the two into Maynards Bassets.
I hadn’t thought of them for many years until recently I saw some on my on-line shopping app when looking for something totally unrelated. Although the merged company still produces the wine gums, they don’t seem to export, at least not to China. What I saw were manufactured in The Netherlands, but by a German company with a distinctly British sounding name - Cavendish & Harvey.
They offer two types.
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These are what I would call regular wine gums and similar to what I remember.
Regular Wine Gums
Then we have these
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These are 'sour wine gums' and yes, they ARE sour. VERY. Yet I like these best. Never had them before.
Sour Wine Gums
The fine sugar dusting does little to alleviate the sourness.
Anyway, these are my new addiction. It'll wear off when my teeth fall out!
