Wine Gums

[liuzhou]

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.

 

 

These are what I would call regular wine gums and similar to what I remember.

 

Regular Wine Gums

 

Then we have these

 

 

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!

 

 

Edited January 1 by liuzhou (log)

[JeanneCake]

where did the name come from?  are they soft/squishy or firmer (toward caramel)?  Chewy?

[liuzhou]

55 minutes ago, JeanneCake said:

where did the name come from?  are they soft/squishy or firmer (toward caramel)?  Chewy?

 

Those produced by the original British companies had the names of various wines formed on top of them - port, champagne, claret, sherry etc. They were marketed as 'wine substitutes' as part of the Temperance Movement, although that may have been in deference to old man Bassett's extreme beliefs.  They may still do; I don't know.

 

Those I have bought here have no words on them, despite words being shown on the packaging illustration.

 

The texture is semi-firm and chewy like a thick jelly or gum.

 

 

Edited 10 hours ago by liuzhou (log)

[Tropicalsenior]

1 hour ago, liuzhou said:

The texture is semi-firm and chewy like a thick jelly or gum.

They sound to me like wine flavored gummy bears.

[liuzhou]

8 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

They sound to me like wine flavored gummy bears.

 

 

Same texture but there's no real wine flavour.

[Tropicalsenior]

That might be an interesting project. I've made wine flavored sherbet and I've made strawberry flavored gummy bears. Now if I can just figure out a way to combine the two. I've got it made.

Edited 8 hours ago by Tropicalsenior (log)

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, Tropicalsenior said:

They sound to me like wine flavored gummy bears.

 

Yes, the texture is the same, but they aren't wine flavoured.

[liuzhou]

25 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

That might be an interesting project. I've made wine flavored sherbet and I've made strawberry flavored gummy bears.

 

Interesting indeed. I believe some small producers in Europe have made wine flavoured types, but they are not common.