Catawba Bitty Gummy Bears and Raspberry Gummy Bears (Family Dollar)

Gummy bears are my favorite type of candy. I know it’s blasphemy to some, but when given a choice, I will usually pick gummy candy over chocolate. (Although if we’re talking about peanut butter cups, it’s not an easy choice.) Haribo and Black Forest are my favorite gummy bear brands, depending on whether I’m in the mood for harder or softer gummies. I am also fond of Albanese gummy candy, which is produced not far from where I grew up.

Many retailers also sell their own private label gummy candy that can be of varying quality. I’ve tried off brands from various retailers that are pretty forgettable. Recently, I picked up a few bags of gummy bears from Family Dollar to see how they rate. Family Dollar sells plenty of name-brand candy, but they also sell candy under their Catawba private label. Catawba candy I spotted during my latest shopping trip included gum drops, orange slices, fruit slices, starlight mints, sour neon gummi worms, watermelon gummi rings, and assorted hard candy. While Family Dollar sells a good amount of gummy candy under its Catawba name, I opted to stick with just gummy bears this time.

The Catawba Bitty Gummy Bears and the Catawba Raspberry Gummy Bears each cost $2.00 for an 11-ounce package at the time of publication. That comes out to about 18 cents per ounce. For comparison, Haribo gummy bears cost about 25 cents per ounce for an 8-ounce package or about 19 cents per ounce for a 3-pound bag at Walmart at the time of publication. Black Forest gummy bears cost about 41 cents per ounce for an 8-ounce bag or about 22 cents per ounce for a 6-pound bag at Walmart at the time of publication. So the Family Dollar gummies are generally a lower price per ounce than name brand gummies.

The Bitty Gummy Bears are naturally and artificially flavored, while the Raspberry Gummy Bears are artificially flavored. They’re a product of Turkey, and they were manufactured and produced in factories that process other products containing peanuts, tree nuts, milk, wheat, soy, and eggs.

The candy is distributed by Midwood Brands, LLC, based in Chesapeake, Virginia. Midwood Brands is a Family Dollar exclusive.

Nutrition information and ingredients for Bitty Gummy Bears (left) and Raspberry Gummy Bears (right). (Click to enlarge.)

Bitty Gummy Bear ingredients include glucose syrup, sugar, water, beef gelatin, citric acid, apple juice concentrate, palm oil and beeswax and carnauba wax, artificial flavors (strawberry, orange, blue raspberry, apple, pineapple), natural flavor (lemon), sodium citrate, and artificial colors yellow 6, yellow 5, red 40, and blue 1.

One package of Bitty Gummy Bears contains about 10 servings. One 30-piece serving has 100 calories, no fat or sodium, 23 grams of total carbohydrates (8% DV), and 14 grams of added sugars (28% DV).

Raspberry Gummy Bear ingredients include glucose syrup, sugar, water, beef gelatin, citric acid, palm oil and beeswax and carnauba wax, artificial flavors (red raspberry, blue raspberry), sodium citrate, and artificial colors red 40 and blue 1.

One package of Raspberry Gummy Bears contains about 11 servings. One 10-piece serving has 90 calories, no fat or sodium, 22 grams of total carbohydrates (8% DV), and 13 grams of added sugars (26% DV).

Bitty Gummy Bears (left) and Raspberry Gummy Bears (right).

So how do Family Dollar gummy bears compare to other brands in terms of taste and texture? They’re not going to win any health awards, but that’s to be expected when we’re talking about candy. In terms of taste, I was pleasantly surprised by these gummy bears. The Bitty Gummy Bears have different fruity flavors depending on the colors. The fruit flavor isn’t as strong as name brands, but it was good enough that my family could generally tell what flavor they were eating. The Raspberry Gummy Bears both taste raspberry-like. Texture-wise, these gummy bears are not as soft as Black Forest gummies, but they’re not as hard as Haribo gummies. I liked the texture.

I probably still prefer name-brand gummies, but I’d happily buy these Family Dollar gummy bears again.

The Verdict:

Catawba Bitty Gummy Bears and Catawba Raspberry Gummy Bears have decent flavor and texture and are better than a lot of other store-brand gummy candy. They’re also slightly cheaper than name brands. If you like gummy bears, these are worth a try.