*disclaimer: every time you see anything about gummy worms you can always assume it is trolliz sour brite gummy worms. There is only one sour gummy in my life and in this post.
Well fellow curious beings, this story starts a little sadder. It begins at the beginning of this reclamation of….. the Trolliz Sour Gummy Worm. The first time I truly remember Trolliz gummy worm representing shame was the first UTI I got in college. That morning of my sophmore year I called my mother and told her while balling into the phone “What’s wrong with me!?!?!?” She responded with “did you have unprotected sex?” Talk about mortifying for my poor midwestern child heart. But after…
One Zocdoc appt. booked
A visit to the doctors office in japantown where I fainted in the arms of two japanese american men that were 5’4 or shorter, and accidentally dropped my body on the carpet 3 times.
The sweet doctor chatting with me while I cried and drank an orange juice to improve blood sugar.
A prescription sent to the closest Walgreens for antibiotics for a UTI
Equaled me arriving at the Walgreens and alongside my antibiotics, deciding to buy Trolliz Sour Gummy worms. I felt that day was ROUGH. My guilt over this mysterious painful thing after sex, my mom thinking I had an STD, me thinking I had an STD, fainting, figuring out it was just a UTI, feeling the UTI still had to somewhat be my fault, all overwhelmed my naive heart. But I felt Trolliz Gummy Worms were a great comfort.
Then fast forward through way too many UTI’s, visits to kidney doctors and OBGYNs, Trolliz Gummy Worms continued to be there. It became a joke that Trolliz Gummy Worms were part of my treatment of UTI. Until then it MORPHED!
The pandemic hit. It was March and shelter in place was days away, friend E and I were at Walgreens getting the essentials; condoms, bath bombs, and GUMMY WORMS. I then knew Trolliz Gummy Worms had pivoted to no longer be a shame food, but a comfort food.
Every once awhile, when I’d walk to Walgreens in search of toilet paper, I would buy some Trolliz Gummys. But then Trolliz morphed ONCE AGAIN.
This time friend J and I took a little fieldtrip to Target, because that is one of my favorite friday night activities. We bought random things in the beauty section, looked at PJs and robes, and we each bought a baseball cap and candy. Then when we got home smoked a J chatted and began to eat gummy worms. Then friend J asked me what the different flavors were? And then we thought… can you taste the different flavors? What about blind taste test? How are flavors divided? Wow gummy worms are kinda weird, how are they made? Why do I love trolliz gummy worms?
Welcome to my high curiosities..
What are the different flavors of Trolliz Sour Gummy Worms?
According to the back of the Trolliz Sour Brite Crawlers… okay wait quick question, what’s brite? Brite: Means to overrippen, like barley or hops. Random.
The flavors are—
- Cherry-Lemon (Bright Red, Yellow)
- Strawberry-Grape (Red,Blue)
- Orange-Lime (Orange, Green)
Can you taste the flavors right by a blind taste test?
So this one I tested on friend J to see, but could not remember results. So I had my roomie B test me, these are the results (mind you slightly scewed by the fact I knew name of flavors).
- Tasting the Orange-Lime. wrong. When I tasted orange side I thought it was lime, and when I tasted lime side I thought it was orange.
- Tasting the Cherry-Lemon. half right. When I tasted cherry side I thought it was grape and when I tasted lemon side I changed my theory and guess lemon correctly
- Tasting the Strawberry- Grape. right! This favorite flavor of mine, I guessed both sides correctly.
But this of course got me thinking
How are Trolliz flavors divided… and more importantly how are they made?
I stumbled upon this beautifully made ppt by an internet user on Trolliz Gummy Worms history that I feel is important to learn from
Fun facts
- Sour Gummyz Worms were invented in 1981 by Herber Merderer (kinda reads like murderer to me).
- Trolliz was owned by Merderer until 1996 when Kraft Foods took over.
- Trolliz has factories in Spain, Czech Republic, Germany, China and Venezuela
Okay terrifying part… Trolliz Gummy Worms are made out of..
- Corn syrup, sugar, citric acid, lactic acid.
- Flavors are actually artficial flavoring yellow 5, blue 1, red 40, yellow 6 an titanium dioxide.
Want to be slightly more creeped out? Check out this video of how it’s made here.
But then the ppt had this sketchy comment that said “there are not really flavors on sour gummies, they are just colors. So we have to dive a little deeper here..
Are the flavors “real” on trolliz sour gummy worms?
So this is when I stumbled upon pure gold. Candy Blog Net an internet users blog where they rate candy on a 10 point scale. I so badly want to tell you the full scale and what each number represents but just check it out. It ranked Trolliz a 7 aka a “worth it”. But I’m getting distracted- back to the flavors!
After about 5 articles, I came to no conclusion on whether the flavors are truly flavored. But what I did learn!?!? There is a Very Berry gummy worm pack now of everyone’s favorite flavor- the strawberry and grape one.
Why do I love gummy worms?
First, let’s just all admit that gummy worms are slightly fascinating. Did I mention that they were originally created to “gross-out parents cause its like kids eating worms” you have to admit that is hilarious, and I love to imagine the german execs of trolliz gummy worms plotting this invention in their offices like “ooh yeah we should create candy that weirds out paretns”. But aside from that, my sad story of connection and journey of the Trolliz gummy worm. My shame food. My comfort candy. My funny experience. I thought about even as a kid I LOVED mud-cups, aka chocolate pudding with gummy worms. And I realized it was a childhood memory too. And then I thought….. this isn’t a shame food. It’s just a food that has memories too it. It can be a celebration food! It can be whatever food it wants too! Or maybe it shouldn’t even be considered a food after I’ve learned about the ingredients 🙂
Things that helped contribute to this blog post
- A vegan meal from purple carrot.
- A delicious Reality Czech beer from Moonlight brewery.
- Some puffs of a Sour: 2003 Skunk joint from Basa Collective(oddly themed?)
- The Lo-fi playlist
- Better sex education, therapy, strong female friendships and realizing that UTI’s are more biological then “my fault”
- And of course.. Trolliz Gummy Worms
High Curiosities 