Several months ago, I saw a dramatic candy. It was labeled "Rotten," with a monstrous character on the front label, who had a mohawk, hideous bulging eyes, and very sharp teeth. The candy itself was gummy worms, to be exact. Anyway, it will surprise no regular readers that I picked some of this candy up at once. Specifically, I bought the original gummy worms, and then some sour gummy worms, from the Rotten brand, based out of Santa Monica, California.
Like some other products--the one that springs to mind is Dr. McGillicuddy from the booze of the same name (see my recent post on August 23rd, 2025 for more info on that brand), Rotten's "creator" is fictitious. Only this time it's much easier to tell this. Allegedly, Rotten gummy candy is made by a Doctor Rufus P. Rotten, who along with his clones has developed a candy which can "release your freak in a flash." If you go by the official company website, that's all you get. However, I read an interview with the actual creator on another website, which is much more mundane and businesslike. Michael Fisher was a student at Stanford University, who graduated with a degree in management science and engineering. He was a big fan of gummy candy, but at the same time he wanted to eat in a healthier manner. To try to solve this contradiction, after graduating Fisher teamed with some food science partners to do some research and development, in 2021. A Kickstarter project in 2021 was beneficial, and by October of 2023 Rotten was launched. Fisher was inspired by brand names such as Liquid Death (see my post on April 15th, 2023 for my take on this water brand), as well as late 20th century brands like the Garbage Pail Kids, and Creepy Crawlers. Meaning he decided that calling a food "rotten" had a reverse, cool kind of cache to it. He embraced this philosophy across the board. Among his company merchandise offerings are a line of "un-fresheners." And if you join the company's club it's called a "slimescription." But perhaps paradoxically, Rotten candies are healthier than most. They use 60% less sugar to sweeten their candies, utilizing alternate sweeteners such as monk fruit and allulose. Furthermore, their wares have more fiber and protein than typical candies, and Rotten avoids using artificial colors, sweeteners, and high fructose corn syrup.
Rotten original gummy worms: These had a fruity odor. They were shaped like traditional gummy worms, or worm-shaped. They were multi-hued, being either orange-yellow, black and red, or red and green. They were about 1.75 inches long (about 4.5 cm.). The texture was chewy. The outer colors didn't seem to affect the taste, as all of them seemed identical. The flavor was fruity, but not extremely so. I would have preferred a stronger taste. Overall then, they were disappointing. I guess I could really tell that they had less sugar than a typical, better-tasting gummy.
Rotten sour gummy worms. These were the same size, shape, and color schemes as the previous. The only difference was that these worms were shiny, and dusted with powder. They were also noticeably sticky to the touch. The flavor was improved from the original ones. Nicely tart. Once again, the particular colors of the worms didn't change the taste. I enjoyed these. In conclusion then, I would recommend the sour worms, but wouldn't recommend the originals. But I did appreciate the morbid artwork and character, though.
Rotten did receive some blowback from other "Big Gummy" competitors. Rotten has reportedly gotten some threatening letters from Nerds, through their parent company Ferrara. Although, since gummy candy isn't unique, nothing apparently came of this--it appears to have been an empty threat. Moving on, according to its official company website, I was amused to read that Rotten candy does cause some side effects--namely, "neon tongue" and "uncontrollable spewing of slime." Clearly this is a joke, but I like that type of levity in a world where businesses are usually much more paranoid about lawsuits and such. For the record, after eating the Rotten worms I did spew some slime, but it was only in moderate amounts, and very much under my control.
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