Once in a while, I get a craving for Haribo gummi peaches. More precisely, I get a craving for a chewy form of malic acid. As I discovered from this Wired article on masochistic candy, malic acid is the sour stuff that gives tartness to apples and cherries. It is the tangy ingredient for most sour candies, and I started noticing it on the ingredients labels for many of my puckering favorites (Jolly Ranchers, Sweet Tarts). There are other acids that impart slightly different effects. This supplier’s page reads “to prolong the sourness in candy or chewing gum, citric acid is used for an initial sour boost, malic acid for a lingering sourness, and fumaric acid to sustain the tartness even longer”. Don’t forget to brush!