Gummy candies are beloved throughout the world—gummy bears especially—and German candy company Haribo's Goldbears might be the most recognizable example of the candies.
Called "Goldbears" to indicate their quality and differentiate them from the gummy bears made by other companies, they are now nearly ubiquitous around the world.
Haribo was founded in 1920 in Bonn, Germany by Hans Riegel in his family's kitchen with wife Gertrud becoming the first official employee in 1921.
The company invented the gummy bear in 1922.
The company now sells the candies in over 100 countries, and they estimate that 160 million of the bears leave their factories every day—on their way to be enjoyed by people of all ages throughout the world.
Some people have recently discovered that the candies they have been eating since childhood aren't quite what they thought, though.
Reddit user 1800-bakes-a-lot posted a photo of a Haribo Goldbears 100th anniversary package that revealed the truth about green gummy bears.
from mildlyinteresting
In case it's not clear enough...
1800-bakes-a-lot/Reddit
...green Haribo Goldbears are strawberry flavored.
People the internet over were surprised to learn the green bear's flavor.
Others were just as surprised people didn't know the bear was strawberry flavored.
Haribo fans were also surprised by the origin of the company's name.
Company founder Hans Riegel Sr. took the first 2 letters of his first and last names and the city where he was born—Bonn, Germany—and combined them—Ha-Ri-Bo.
According to Smithsonian Magazine, Riegel invented a new kind of candy he called Tanzbären or "Dancing Bear." These were the precursor to today's Haribo Goldbears, which didn't come to be until 1960.
The green bear isn't strawberry flavored everywhere in the world, either. In much of Europe, the green bears are now a more understandable apple flavor.
While many people were apparently eating the green bears without realizing what flavor they were, that doesn't change the fact Haribo Goldbears are one of the most well-known candies on Earth.
NBC News via Lisa Anderson
