How are gummy worms made?

In this article

What goes in
How they are made
Sugary and sour worms
Worms and bears
Diet notes

Fizzy Worms. Gummy worms, twisting and overlapping, each worm two coloured in pairs such as red and yellow, green and orange, and blue and pink. — Fizzy Worms in our pick and mix, £1.49 per 100 g. See them in the shop, with every ingredient and allergen. The picture is an illustration.

Gummy worms are worm shaped gummy sweets. They were invented by the German confectionery maker Trolli in 1981, and they are now sold in many flavours, sizes and textures, from bite sized pieces to jumbo worms, and from soft and chewy to firm.

What goes in

The most common gummy worms contain gelatine, sugar, water, corn syrup or glucose syrup, flavourings such as fruit extracts, and colours. Some also contain citric acid for a sour taste, and vegetable oils or waxes are sometimes used as a coating to stop them sticking together: see how do jelly sweets set?

How they are made

Like other gummy sweets, gummy worms are shaped in starch:

Cook. The sugar, glucose syrup and water are cooked with gelatine, and the flavourings, colours and any acid are mixed in.
Stamp the moulds. Worm shaped stamps are pressed into trays of starch, leaving rows of hollows. This is done on a machine called a starch mogul, which is used to make gummy bears and jelly beans too.
Deposit. The hot mixture is poured into the hollows.
Set. The trays are left in drying rooms while the worms set.
Tip out. The worms are tipped out, the starch is cleaned off, and the starch is recycled.
Coat. Finally the worms are given a thin coat of oil or wax, or tumbled in sugar or sour sugar: see how are gummy sweets shaped?

Sugary and sour worms

Some gummy worms have a sugar coating, and others a sour dusting. The sour kind are coated in sour sanding, sugar mixed with citric, tartaric and malic acids, which gives a sharp taste the moment they touch your tongue. The crystals are made to cling by moistening the worms before they are tumbled: see how are sour sweets made?

Worms and bears

Trolli's worms came almost 60 years after the gummy bear, which Hans Riegel of Haribo created in the 1920s: see how are gummy bears made? and Hans Riegel and the gummy bear

Diet notes

Because the usual recipe uses gelatine, gummy worms are generally not vegetarian unless the label says so: see gelatine in sweets explained. Our Fizzy Worms card opens up to show the full ingredients and allergen information.