A couple of weeks ago, I posted about someone making Skittles-infused vodka, which didn’t exactly thrill me as a must-try thing, but this idea has a bit more potential: vodka-soaked gummy bears.
They tried a variety of “gummy” candies; in addition to regular gummy bears, they tried the sugar-free kind, gummy worms, and Swedish Fish. Apparently the Swedish Fish didn’t turn out so well, but the others all worked fine. They liked the sugar-free gummy bears the best, but be careful about eating sugar-free gummies because they contain the sugar alcohol sorbitol, and too much of it will give you horrible gas, stomach cramps and explosive diarrhea…although, I suppose if you’ve already committed to the vomiting and drunken stupos from eating vodka-soaked gummies, you’re probably not going to worry too much about shitting your pants.
Do you remember the ingredient Olestra they were putting in lowfat potato chips about 10 years ago? Right there on the Pringles can, they talked about explosive diarrhea, leakage of stools and uncontrollable flatulence. Olestra didn’t last very long on the market.
I remember Olestra quite well. It’s still used in some products — I personally am a fan of the fat-free Ruffles potato chips that use Olestra — but you’re right that the reports of “anal leakage” kept it from becoming widely used.
Sorbitol and other sugar alcohols, however, are VERY nasty. I discovered that the hard way by taking a liking to sugar-free Reese’s Mini Peanut Butter Cups. If I ate more than three of them, the suffering was almost unbearable.
Oh yeah. My mother was a diabetic chocoholic, so she went through the whole gamut of “sugar free” products, which in the ’70s all featured sorbitol. The results, I understand, were neither pretty nor pleasant.