[1] Mmm, gumdrops (photo © Farley’s & Sathers).

[2] Gumdrops with spice flavors are called spice drops. You can get these from the Vermont Country Store (photo © Vermont Country Store).

February 15th National Gumdrop Day.

Gumdrops are a chewy, brightly-colored, fruit-flavored confection, usually shaped like a truncated cone, and coated in granulated sugar.

When they’re flavored with spices (allspice, cinnamon, clove, licorice, peppermint, and wintergreen, for example) they’re called spice drops.

Outside the U.S., according to Wikipedia, the candy is known as American hard gums or hard gum candy.
 
 
GUMDROPS HISTORY

Gumdrops are believed to be an American invention, but the date and the inventor are lost to history (along with the origin of the phrase, “goody goody gumdrops”*).

The earliest known printed reference is an advertisement from The Illinois State Chronicle in 1859, from confectioner George Julier who offered “Fresh GumDrops, assorted flavor wholesale or retail.”

Invention can predate reference by decades or much longer. The earlier in history, the less printed material survives. The actual date could be hundreds of years earlier.

The Candy Land board game, invented in 1945, features both a Gumdrop Pass and a Gumdrop Mountain as enticing topography.

Gumdrops are progenitors of the pectin- or gelatin-based group of candies that includes Dots, jelly beans, Jujubes, and gummy candies.

Although gumdrops and their siblings, spearmint leaves and orange slices, have fallen out of fashion in favor of gummy candies, they are still popular with bakers (for garnishing cakes and cupcakes) and crafters.

Check out these flower cupcakes with gumdrops.

And where would gingerbread houses be without that gumdrop decor?

We think it’s time to get gummy with it, gumdrop-style. So track down some gumdrops and celebrate National Gumdrop Day. You may just find yourself asking, “Why don’t I enjoy these more often?”

If you want to make your own, there are quite a few recipes online. Here’s one, for starters.

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*The phrase appears to be an expression of delight, at receiving gumdrops. The first known example in print is in a cartoon published in the Oakland Tribune in 1936 [source].