For the children's stories by Val Biro, see Gumdrop (book series)

Gumdrop (book series)

The Gumdrop stories are a series of 37 children's books written and illustrated by Val Biro. They concern a 1926 Austin 12 hp called "Gumdrop", who gets involved in various adventures. The car is real and in the author's possessions, but the stories are fictional. The first book was The Adventures...

. For the song, see Gum Drop

Gum Drop

For the candy, see gumdrop. For the CSI episode, see Gum Drops. For the children's stories by Val Biro, see Gumdrop ."Gum Drop" is a popular song written by Rudy Toombs....

. For the CSI episode, see CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (season 6)

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (season 6)

The sixth season of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation premiered on CBS on September 22, 2005 and ended May 18, 2006.-Notable cast members:-Episodes:-External links:* at TVShowsOnDVD.com....

.

Gumdrops are a type of confectionery

Confectionery

Confectionery is the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well...

 (candy

Candy

Candy, specifically sugar candy, is a confection made from a concentrated solution of sugar in water, to which flavorings and colorants are added...

). They are usually brightly-colored gelatin

Gelatin

Gelatin is a translucent, colorless, brittle , flavorless solid substance, derived from the collagen inside animals' skin and bones. It is commonly used as a gelling agent in food, pharmaceuticals, photography, and cosmetic manufacturing. Substances containing gelatin or functioning in a similar...

- or pectin

Pectin

Pectin is a structural heteropolysaccharide contained in the primary cell walls of terrestrial plants. It was first isolated and described in 1825 by Henri Braconnot...

-based pieces, shaped like a truncated cone

Cone (geometry)

A cone is an n-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a base to a point called the apex or vertex. Formally, it is the solid figure formed by the locus of all straight line segments that join the apex to the base...

 and coated in granulated sugar

Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...

. This makes them very sweet.

Gumdrops come in (usually artificial) fruit and spice varieties; the latter are also known as spice drops. Gumdrops, spice drops, and their variations are used in baking, candy crafting, decorating, and for eating out of hand. They are often used for decorating cakes and cupcakes. Around Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

 time, this candy is an ingredient used in making gingerbread houses.

In the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, three other "old fashioned" gumdrop candies are also popular: Orange Slices, Licorice Babies, and Spearmint Leaves. All are larger in size than spice drops or gumdrops, are fruit slice, kewpie-doll, or leaf shaped, sprinkled with sugar, and are typically sold by the bag.

The Apollo 9

Apollo 9

Apollo 9, the third manned mission in the American Apollo space program, was the first flight of the Command/Service Module with the Lunar Module...

 Command module

Apollo Command/Service Module

The Command/Service Module was one of two spacecraft, along with the Lunar Module, used for the United States Apollo program which landed astronauts on the Moon. It was built for NASA by North American Aviation...

 was called Gumdrop on account of the blue cellophane wrapping in which the craft was delivered.

Spice drops

Spice drops – commonly referred to as A.B (All Baking) Gums – are a variation and are distinctly different in the flavorings used. Instead of the typical fruit flavors found in regular gumdrops – for example: orange, lemon, lime, grape, cherry – spice drops have sharp spicy flavors such as cinnamon

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum that is used in both sweet and savoury foods...

, mint and cardamom

Cardamom

Cardamom refers to several plants of the genera Elettaria and Amomum in the ginger family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to India and Bhutan; they are recognised by their small seed pod, triangular in cross-section and spindle-shaped, with a thin papery outer shell and small black seeds...

. They are also generally smaller than gumdrops.

The spice drop color/flavor code is generally as follows [but varies by manufacturer]: orange is clove

Clove

Cloves are the aromatic dried flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae. Cloves are native to the Maluku islands in Indonesia and used as a spice in cuisines all over the world...

, yellow is allspice

Allspice

Allspice, also called Jamaica pepper, pepper, myrtle pepper, pimenta, or newspice, is a spice that is the dried unripe fruit of Pimenta dioica , a mid-canopy tree native to the Greater Antilles, southern Mexico, and Central America, now cultivated in many warm parts of the world...

, red is cinnamon, green is spearmint

Spearmint

Mentha spicata syn. M. cordifolia is a species of mint native to much of Europe and southwest Asia, though its exact natural range is uncertain due to extensive early cultivation. It grows in wet soils...

, purple is cardamom or anise

Anise

Anise , Pimpinella anisum, also called aniseed, is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae native to the eastern Mediterranean region and Southwest Asia. Its flavor resembles that of liquorice, fennel, and tarragon.- Biology :...

, white is wintergreen or peppermint, and black is licorice.

See also

• Jelly baby
  Jelly baby
  Jelly babies are a type of soft confectionery that look like little babies in a variety of colours. There are currently several brands of jelly babies, most predominantly Trebor Bassett , Rowntree , Norfolk Manor, and Haribo.Jelly babies were launched by Bassett's in 1918 in Sheffield...
  
  
• Jujube
  Jujube (confectionery)
  Jujube , or jube, is the name of several types of candy, varying in description on a regional basis. The candies can vary in texture form being hard and resinous to something similar to firm loukoum or gummy candies....
  
  
• Wine gum
  Wine gum
  Wine gums are chewy, firm pastille-type sweets similar to gumdrops without the sugar coating. While generally manufactured from gelatin, at least one winegum, Swedish Fish, contains no gelatin; all have their own mixes containing various sweeteners, flavorings, and colorings...
  
  
• Gummi bear
• Dots
  Dots (candy)
  DOTS, or Mason DOTS, are a brand of gum drops marketed by Tootsie Roll Industries, which claims that "since its 1945 launch," the candy has become "America's...#1 selling gumdrop brand." According to advertisements, more than four billion dots are produced from the Tootsie Roll Industries Chicago...
  
  

External links

• Cooks.com Gumdrop Recipes