Hi and happy National Cotton Candy Day! It seems weird to celebrate Cotton Candy Day in December when we usually associate cotton candy with summertime and amusement parks, and in fact, according to Mahalo.com, there are actually two National Cotton Candy Days ~ Dec. 7th and July 31st. Maybe to the creator of the December 7th observance, cotton candy reminded them of mounds of freshly fallen, soft, billowy snow. Makes sense to me.
In case you missed it, here is a link to my cotton candy post from National Candy Month last June. You should find everything you need to know about cotton candy there.
In case you missed it, here's my post about Good and Plenty Candy from National Candy Month in June.
Good and Plenty candies were originally produced by the Quaker City Confectionery Company in Philadelphia in 1893, which makes them plenty good and old, in fact they're the oldest branded candy in the United States. Good and Plenty candies are so special, they even have their own holiday, National Good and Plenty Day celebrated October 24th.
Good and Plenty candies are licorice pastilles. The center is a cylinder of soft black licorice which is covered by a candy shell, which is applied using the panning method (as shown here in the making of Atomic FireBalls). The finished products are pink and white capsule shaped candies.
Over the years, the ownership and production of Good and Plenty candies switched hands several times and was finally bought by Hershey's in 1996.
In the 1950's Good and Plenty commercials featured Choo Choo Charlie, a child train engineer whose train was fueled by Good and Plenty candies, and whose passengers consisted of a little girl and a Bassett Hound. "Charlie says, "Love my Good and Plenty', Charlie says, 'Really rings my bell!' " Later, commercials touted boxes with magic tricks printed on the back as well as teaching a new language called oodle talk.
Sweetest Day is celebrated the third Saturday in October every year, and today just happens to be that day. Sa-weet!
Sweetest Day is a day to show appreciation to the special people in your life who have brought you joy and gladness, and, in the spirit of it's original purpose, to bring joy and sweetness into the lives of those who are less fortunate.
There are two stories as to how Sweetest Day came about. First, it is said that in 1922, dozen's of the top candy makers from the Cleveland Ohio area concocted the idea of "The Sweetest Day In The Year" as a day to take time away from the hustle and bustle of daily life and slow down long enough to "bring a bit of good cheer to those you love". It is said that on the first "Sweetest Day" ever held, on October 14 1922, The Sweetest Day In The Year Committee along with help fromthe biggest movie stars of the day including Theda Bara and Ann Pennington, distributed over 20,000 boxes of candy to newsboys, orphans, old folks, and the poor in Cleveland Ohio.
The second story begins a little differently but ends about the same. A local Cleveland Ohio candy company employee by the name of Herbert Birch Kingston, was concerned about the often forgotten people in the community and sought to bring some happiness and cheer into their lives. He and some friends began distributing candy and small gifts to orphanages, those stricken with illness and disabilities, shut-ins and others who were forgotten. It wasn't too long after that, that actresses Theda Bara and Ann Pennington came upon the scene and joined in giving candy to newsboys, in appreciation of their service, and to people in hospitals.
Today, Sweetest Day is primarily celebrated in the Great Lakes region and the northeast, but is popping up here and their all over the United States as people relocate and bring the observance of the celebration with them.
Some criticize Sweetest Day as just another event created to coax people into buying candy, gifts, and cards. But hey, in my world, just waking up in the morning is reason enough for a celebration involving candy! I hope we can all take some time today to show some love to those we love. Have a happy Sweetest Day!
Good and Plenty candies were originally produced by the Quaker City Confectionery Company in Philadelphia in 1893, which makes them plenty good and old, in fact they're the oldest branded candy in the United States. Good and Plenty candies are so special, they even have their own holiday, National Good and Plenty Day celebrated October 24th.
Good and Plenty candies are licorice pastilles. The center is a cylinder of soft black licorice which is then covered by a candy shell, which is applied using the panning method (as shown here in the making of Atomic FireBalls). The finished products are pink and white capsule shaped candies.
Over the years, the ownership and production of Good and Plenty candies switched hands several times and was finally bought by Hershey's in 1996.
In the 1950's Good and Plenty commercials featured Choo Choo Charlie, a child train engineer whose train was fueled by Good and Plenty candies, and whose passengers consisted of a little girl and a Bassett Hound. "Charlie says, "Love my Good and Plenty', Charlie says, 'Really rings my bell!' " Later, commercials touted boxes with magic tricks printed on the back as well as teaching a new language called oodle talk.
Fruit Slices candy are made from a syrup using fruit pectin and water. There are several companies around that make this fruity, jellied treat, ranging from your typical penny store type fruit slices to gourmet fruit slices, and the fancier the fruit slice the fancier the price.
Everlasting Gobstoppers are little colorful jawbreaker candies.
The creation of Everlasting Gobstoppers was derived from the fictional book by Roald Dahl, entitled Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, published in 1964. In Dahl's story, Everlasting Gobstoppers were designed by Willy Wonka, the eccentric owner/operator of a fantastic, if not bizarre, chocolate factory. Willy Wonka designed them to be a long lasting, and therefore, ecomomical treat for "children with very little pocket money." The children were pretty much forced to slowly suck on the candies because if they were to bite them their teeth would break.
In the original novel, the Everlasting Gobstopper's were described as a normal round jawbreaker which flashed with a variety of colors. The Gobstopper was used as a device to determine which of the children had integrity and were not intent on betraying Willy Wonka.
Everlasting Gobstoppers were introduced in 1976 by the Chicago candy company, Breaker Confections, which had licensed the Willy Wonka name in 1971 so that it could be used as a merchandising tie-in for the movie, "Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory". The Willy Wonka brand is now owned by Nestle' and is made in Itasca, Illinois.
In the United Kingdom jawbreakers have been called gobstoppers for over eighty years. Everlasting Gobstoppers are a jawbreaker candy made of several colorful, fruity layers to mimic the changing-color effect of the candy from the book. The original candy was made with a chalky candy center, and is now available with a chewy candy center as well.
Did you know that Dum Dum Pops have been around since 1924?!
Dum Dums are cute little, ball-shaped suckers which come in various colors and flavors. There were 7 original flavors including: lemon, lime, orange, coconut-pineapple, *cherry, *grape and *butterscotch.
Dum Dum Pops were originally made, back in 1924, by the Akron Candy Company in Bellevue, Ohio. An early sales manager of the company named the pops Dum Dum because he thought it would be easy for all children to say.
In 1953, the Spangler Candy Company purchased the Dum Dum Pop from the Akron Candy Company and moved production to Bryan, Ohio. Spangler Candy are also the makers of candy canes, Saf-T-Pops, and Circus Peanuts. (Yum!)
Fun Facts:
Many new flavors have been added to the Dum Dum flavor line-up including: *Root Beer, *Strawberry, Chocolate, Banana, Raspberry, Black Cherry, *Cream Soda, Pineapple, *Watermelon, Peach, Lime, *Sour Apple, *Blu Raspberry, Orange Cream, Fruit Punch, Buttered Popcorn, *Bubble Gum, *Cotton Candy, Cherry Cola, Pink Lemonade, *Mango, *Tangerine,*Coconut, *Strawberry Shortcake, and *Banana Split.
Bags of Dum Dum Pops do not contain all 25 flavors. The flavors are cycled in and out (pretty much according to the whim of the company). Current bags of Dum Dums contain 16 different flavors, (each indicated here by an *asterisk) plus the mystery flavor.
You can go online to the spanglercandycompany.com and order boxes containing 120 pops of your single favorite flavor (i.e., if your favorite flavor is Banana Split, order a box containing 120 Banana Split flavored Dum Dums).
The mystery pop is a mixture of two flavors (the end of one batch of candy meets the beginning of the next batch). Candy making lines are continuous and the switch over from one flavor to another results in some pops containing both flavors.
I fondly remember standing in a crowd of joyful onlookers at the amusement park, smelling the sweet, warm smell of melting sugar, as I watched strands of pink floss flying around the inside of a large metal bowl. As the cotton candy man spun pink clouds of sweetness onto long paper cones I cheerfully anticipated his candy filament covered arm handing the yummy treat to me.
Cotton Candy is a sweet, fluffy soft candy confection made mostly from sugar, with food coloring and flavoring added. I like the way Christine Venzon of TLC Cooking describes it as "pillows of wool that melts in your mouth like a snowflake". You can read her excellent article about the science of making cotton candy here at howstuffworks.com
A precursor to cotton candy, was spun sugar, made back in the 15th century. Pastry chefs from Venice drizzled caramelized sugar syrup with a fork around broom handles, and then worked the warm pliable threads into various shapes. But these sugar masterpieces were not for commoners. Sugar was very rare and expensive at the time and was considered a luxury only for wealthy aristocrats.
Here at sugarstand.com you will find a recipe on how to make your own homemade cotton candy, which I imagine is similar to the spun sugar made in the 15th century.
In 1897, machine spun cotton candy was invented by William Morrison and John C. Wharton. The machine had a small bowl in which sugar was poured and then food coloring added. The sugar reserve bowl was then spun at high speed while heaters near the rim melted the sugar, which squeezed out through tiny holes by centrifugal force.The molten sugar would then solidify in the air and be caught in a large metal bowl surrounding the central sugar reservoir bowl. The operator of the machine then twirled a stick or cone around the rim of the large catching bowl gathering the sugar strands into portions.
Morrison and Wharton introduced "Fairy Floss" to a wide audience at the 1904 St. Louis World's fair and met with great success. "Fairy Floss" was scooped up into a box and sold for 25 cents, half the admission price to the fair. Despite it's high price, the pair were able to sell 68,655 boxes of the fluffy candy, making $17,163.75 during the 6 month duration of the fair, quite a lot of money for that time. (It's nothing to sneeze at now either!)
The name was later changed from "Fairy Floss" to "Cotton Candy", but people in the industry refer to it simply as floss.
Cotton candy machines work much the same way now as they did back then. And you don't have to wait for the local fair to open to buy this yummy nostalgic treat, you can now buy cotton candy at many stores and online and it comes in various colors and flavors, such as blue raspberry, bubble gum, watermelon, and still the favorite - classic (pink) vanilla.
The beauty of writing your own blog is that you can write about whatever you feel like writing about without any feelings of guilt. And heaven knows, with all the candy I'm gonna be eating this month, I'll have plenty to feel guilty about.
For today's candy post, I've decided to write about another of my favorite candy's, Bit-O-Honey.
Bit-O-Honey was introduced in 1924 by the Schutter-Johnson Company of Chicago, Illinois, and is now produced by Nestle'.
Bit-O-Honey is a honey-flavored, taffy-like candy with almond pieces embedded throughout. It is similar to Mary Jane candies and to the Big Hunk candy bar. It is uniquely packaged as six individual pieces wrapped in wax paper. It comes in a red wrapper with a cute little honey bee hovering above the name. The honey bee did not appear on the wrapper until the late seventies, and sometime later, was given arms.
Go to candyblog.net to read an in depth review of the Bit-O-Honey candy bar.
I love Bit-O-Honey candy! The package I devoured this morning in preparation for writing this post was fresh and soft and delicious! And, as promised in this classic commercial, each piece of Bit-O-Honey candy "will make you sweeter than you already are". I feel sweeter already!
Atomic FireBall's are made by the Ferrara Pan Candy Company based in Chicago and Forest Park, Illinois. (Along with Atomic FireBalls, they make Lemonheads, Boston Baked Beans, Red Hots, and Black Forest Gummies)
Atomic FireBalls are a round jawbreaker type candy, red on the outside with white layers of hard candy on the inside, and they are spicy hot!
In 1954, Nello Ferrara, son of Salvatore Ferrara, created the famous Atomic FireBall. Nello came up with the idea to make a spicy candy and the company began production. They did not foresee the instant popularity of the Atomic FireBall. At the time of the candy's introduction to the candy industry, they were only able to produce 200 cases per day, but found that within three weeks of sending samples to candy brokers, orders were rolling in at the rate of 50,000 cases per day. (Astounding!)
The Atomic FireBall was developed using the hot panned candy process. The process involves building candy pieces from single grains of sugar and tossing them into revolving pans while adding flavor, color and other candy ingredients. This process continues until the pieces become the desired size. The entire process takes two weeks to complete. Go to ferrarapan.com to view a video tutorial of how the Atomic FireBall is made.
The Atomic FireBall has remained "sizzling hot", (both figuratively and literally) since 1954. An estimated 15 million fireballs are consumed per week by people all over the world.
Watch this You Tube video to get a recipe for making pickled beets using Atomic FireBalls. (My husband would love these, he's a beet freak!)
We're starting out our candy extravaganza with my favorite candy bar, the "100 Grand Bar" made by Nestle' (well that's a big fat lie, my true favorite is the Freia milk chocolate bar from Norway, but we're talking affordable and obtainable here).
The "100 Grand" candy bar, which comes two pieces to a pack, consists of a chewy hunk of caramel sprinkled with crunchy little rice cereals, which then take a dip in a tub of warm milk chocolate. (I think I like the "100 Grand" so much because I'm a big fan of caramel).
In the late 1950's, T.V. game shows were the hottest thing. One game show called "The Big Surprise" featured contestants answering ten questions which ranged in value from $100 to $100,000. It was this show that sparked the idea for the $100,000 Bar, which was introduced in 1966.
The name was changed in 1985 to "100 Grand Bar", as the term "grand" for $1000 became a popular term in the 1980's.
Shockingly, this innocent little candy bar has been used more than once in heartless radio pranks where D. J.'s have led listeners to believe they could win $100,000 by promising them "100 Grand" for being a certain numeric caller. (Shame on them!) In 2005, a Kentucky woman sued a radio station for a prank in which a radio D.J. told her she would win $100,000 for being the tenth caller when in fact the prize was a "100 Grand" candy bar, which is a lovely prize, but no $100,000! Read all about it here at thesmokinggun.com.
The "100 Grand Bar" is a scrumptious little confection, but I'm afraid their commercials as of late have been a little less than stellar. Here is a classic commercial from 1979. (I believe the actress shown first and last in this commercial is Nancy Morgan, John Ritter's first wife. She's a cutie and didn't you just love John Ritter?!)
National Jelly Bean Day is held every April 22nd. Not only is the origin of National Jelly Bean Day unknown, but the origin of the jelly bean itself is unclear. It is believed that the jelly bean is a descendant of a candy dating back to biblical times, called Turkish Delight. Turkish Delight is a sweet gummy confection much like the interior of a jelly bean.
Jelly beans are thought to have come into existence in France during the 1800's. The first known appearance of jelly beans in the U.S. was during the 1860's at the time of the Civil War. William Schrafft of Boston encouraged people to send candy, including jelly beans, to soldiers in the Union Army.
Today Jelly Beans have become especially popular at Easter time since they are the shape of an easter egg. Each year 16 billion Jelly Beans are made for Easter. That's enough Jelly Beans to fill a nine-story office building or circle the globe 3 times. At the height of the Beatles popularity, fans showered them, on and off stage, with jelly beans. Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States, was known to keep a jar of Jelly Belly jelly beans on his desk at all times.
My favorite Jelly Beans are undeniably Jelly Belly brand jelly beans. You can find a recipe page here at jellybelly.com showing you which combinations make yummy creations. My second favorite jelly beans are Starburst jelly beans. Starburst jelly beans are fruity and tangy, but not too tangy, I think you'd like them.
So whether you want to have a "How many jelly beans are in the jar contest?" or string them together to make a necklace or just gobble them down until you're sick, run, don't walk to your nearest candy store and buy a bag of your favorite kind! Happy National Jelly Bean Day folks!
