National Gummy Worm Day Date in the current year: July 15, 2024

Gummy candies, also known as gummi candies, gummies or jelly sweets, are gelatin-based chewable sweets that are available in an impressive variety of shapes. The name “gummi” originated in Germany, where these candies first became widely popular, and was borrowed into American English. British English speakers usually call them jelly sweets.

The first commercially available jelly sweets were produced and sold in Lancashire in 1864. They were invented by an immigrant from Austria who worked at Fryers of Lancashire. Shaped like plump babies, the sweets were originally marketed as Unclaimed Babies. Since 1953, baby-shaped gummy candies have been known as Jelly Babies.

The next important milestone in the history of gummy candies was the invention of gummy bears in 1922. Bear-shaped gummies (Gummibären or Gummibärchen in German) were invented by Hans Riegel, the founder of the German confectionery company Haribo. Other popular shapes of gummy candies include bottles, rings, frogs, sharks, teeth, and, of course, worms.

Gummy worms (worm gummies, crawlers) were introduced by the German confectionery company Trolli in 1981. The intent behind the new confection was to give children something fun to snack on, while mildly shocking their parents. Of course, no one finds gummy worms shocking anymore, but they have successfully completed their task to undermine the popularity of the ubiquitous gummy bears.

Today, gummy worms are produced by various brands. They can be sweet and sour, plain or coated with sugar, single or multi-flavored. Trolli even producers glow worm gummies with sour sugar and glowing color.

It is unclear who came up with the idea of celebrating National Gummy Worm Day, but isn’t it great that someone did? Thanks to them, July 15 is the perfect day to snack on delicious gummy worms regardless of how old you are. While gummy worms are fun to eat on their own, you can get creative and use them in various desserts (dirt pudding cups with gummy worms are a classic), add gummy worms to jello shots or simply soak them in booze.

Dirt and worms pudding is a great treat for Halloween, but you can start perfecting it on National Gummy Worm Day. It is actually not very hard to make. Pour two cups of cold milk into a mixing bowl and add a 4-ounce package of chocolate instant pudding. Whisk until well-blended and set aside for five minutes. While the pudding thickens, crush a 16-ounce package of Oreos to crumbs.

Gently fold in an 8-ounce container of whipped topping until the mixture is evenly colored. Take ten 8-ounce plastic cups. Place 1 tbsp cookie crumbs into the bottom of each cup, top with 2 tbsp pudding. Repeat until the cups are full (the top layer is supposed to consist of cookies). Add a couple of gummy worms on top of each cup and refrigerate the dessert for about an hour.