Gummy Goodness

My most recent sweet tooth addiction has been the Swedish Fish brand Aqua Life candies. After swimming laps over my lunch break last Friday afternoon, I was very much needing a quick sugar fix and stopped at Walgreens on State Street to satiate my craving before heading back to the office. While casually strolling down the candy aisle, I was immediately attracted to the gummy candies, which is somewhat unusual for me since I'm more of a chocoholic. After seriously considering the Haribo Gold-Bears, I instead opted for the soft and chewy Aqua Life assortment from Sweedish Fish. The 7.2 ounce bag is complete with orange sea horses, blue raspberry dolphins, grape blowfish, lemon starfish, and red Swedish fish. The flavors are mouth-watering, and the mix is much more fun and colorful than traditional Swedish fish. What I really like about Swedish fish is that they aren’t too gummy and don’t stick in your teeth like Dots and some other gummy candies. Instead, they are smooth and have just the perfect balance of soft chewiness.

In my mind, gummies will always be associated with my friend Katy from high school who was, and still very much is, obsessed with gummies. For some odd reason, our high school swim coaches would use bags of Jewel JuJu’s as incentives to make us swim faster. It seemed so normal to me at the time to be awarded with bags of JuJu’s for swimming a best time, a state meet qualifying effort, or for breaking a pool record. I swam for JuJu’s. This incentive system seems just a little weird to me now. But apparently, even today, I swim for JuJu’s. Fascinating.