Chocolate cinnamon bears are red and spicy, chewy and sweet — a uniquely irresistible combination that Utahns love on Valentine’s Day and beyond.
Plain red gummy candies — flavored with cinnamon and shaped like a cuddly teddy bear — have been around since the 1920s, says Rachel Sweet with Salt Lake City’s Sweet Candy Co. It wasn’t until the 1990s that someone decided to introduce the edible animal to milk chocolate.
“We had a vice president of sales that thought everything tasted better with chocolate on it,” Sweet said, so the company sent its already-popular red bears through the chocolate enrobing machine.