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If Halloween is the best night of the year for kids who love candy, then the day after is when grown-ups with a sweet tooth hit the jackpot. Overnight, entire aisles of sweets get marked down, selling for 50 to 90 percent off. It鈥檚 a great day to stock up on hiking fuel. And this year, I鈥檒l be stocking up on Swedish Fish.
My love for Swedish Fish as a backpacking snack started on the聽, a weekend-long group hike the brand organized along the spine of the Rockies in Colorado. At aid stations along the route, tables brimmed with the loose Scandanavian-themed gummies. I grabbed them by the handful (the pre-Covid world was a different place), munching on them across passes and at water breaks.
Now, on long backpacking trips, trail runs,聽, or basically any other adventure, Swedish Fish are my secret weapon. Why? Let me break down why I鈥檓 raiding my local grocery store for these鈥攁nd why you should too.
They鈥檙e Pure Sugar
Granted, this isn鈥檛 particularly unique鈥攎ost candy is all sugar, after all, and that鈥檚 not usually something you brag about when you鈥檙e talking nutrition. But when you need energy, and fast, taking a hit of simple carbohydrates is a quick way to get it, hence all of the energy gels and blocks at your local REI. But not all sugars are the same: As our friends at 国产吃瓜黑料聽outlined in a recent article on energy gels, research suggests a combination of glucose and fructose can boost athletes鈥 endurance without causing tummy troubles. One of the main ingredients in Swedish Fish is invert sugar, which is鈥攜ou guessed it鈥攁 combination of glucose and fructose. No wonder these gummies go down so smooth.
They鈥檙e Cheap
Even when they鈥檙e not on sale, Swedish Fish are a fraction of the price of purpose-made energy chews.聽聽retail for about 92 cents an ounce; Swedish Fish, about 34 cents, are comparable to other candies. Add in that post-Halloween discount, and you can stock up for a season鈥檚 worth of backpacking trips all at once. (Just make sure to keep them in an airtight container; no one likes a leathery, dried-out gummy.)
They鈥檙e Covered in Wax
OK, bear with me on this one: This is the best thing about Swedish Fish. Like a lot of candies, they鈥檙e covered in carnauba wax, a palm-derived substance that candymakers use to give their creations that appealing gloss that consumers love. Thanks to that, you can keep them almost anywhere without creating a sticky mess: I鈥檝e decanted them into my shell鈥檚 chest pockets on ski tours, where they stayed just warm enough to be edible, and stashed them in my hipbelt pockets on backpacking trips. As long as the weather鈥檚 not hot enough to melt them, they won鈥檛 pick up dust or crumbs from other food like gummy bears do. (Do pick somewhere reasonably clean, though.) Bonus: No need for single-serving plastic means less waste, and less microtrash to carry out.
So keep your M&Ms and your Skittles: I鈥檒l be boosting my blood sugar with a schoolful of those fruity, chewy candies on my hikes this fall and winter. Try it, and you might just find yourself going fishing for them too.