We've just added a few goodies to our splendid bulk candy selection. Now you can knock back "by-the-pound" Sour Patch Kids and Sour Patch Watermelon by the fistful. Click on the picture to the left, and then read on to learn a little something about these sweetly sour gummi toddlers.

Sour Patch Kids were originally called Mars Men, little aliens that were sold for one cent each.

The process of creating the sour-coated soft candy was developed in the late 1970s, and this "alien" approach was the first candy to be tested with it. It is believed that the then national sales manager of candy distributor Jaret came up with the idea of sour products in soft confectionery. Jaret then developed the candy by having Canadian manufacturing colleagues experiment with regular gummy products, adding a coating of sour sanding. This new product was first released in the U.S. by Jaret in 1985. In the mid 1980s, Cabbage Patch Kids dolls were all the rage, and is believed to be the inspiration for the product's name. The child character on the original packaging was a cartoon representation of the inventor's son.

In the United States and Canada, the Sour Patch brand is offered in the Kids flavor mix variety, an assortment of child-shaped lemon, lime, orange and raspberry candies . Many Sour Patch Kids flavors, with the exception of the sour sanding, are identical to those of the Swedish Fish gummy candy. An identical formula is used to produce like-colored varieties of both candies by their manufacturer, Cadbury Adams, a subsidiary of Cadbury Schweppes, at a factory located in Hamilton, Ontario. The candies are currently available throughout the United States, Canada, and some areas of Western Europe. The products enjoy particularly strong success along the U.S. East Coast, and in the New York City metropolitan market, where the original Sour Patch candies were first introduced. In 2006, Sour Patch Kids became the main sponsor for ABC Family's hit show Kyle XY.

BTW, for your dental pleasure, we've also added individual Starburst, and we've replaced our Gummi Strawberries & Cream with gummi Strawberry Puffs. And for those of you who loved our Gummi Blue Sharks, we've replaced them with a better tasting, smaller, multi-colored shark.

If you have any ideas for what you'd like in the Bulk Candy area, remember to speak up!