June is National Candy Month.

The biggest “candy holiday” is Halloween followed by Easter, Christmas and Valentine’s Day.

Candy is simply made by dissolving sugar in water. The different heating levels determine the types of candy: Hot temperatures make hard candy, medium heat will make soft candy and cool temperatures make chewy candy.

Less than two percent of the calories in the American diet are supplied by candy.

In Europe during the middle ages, the high cost of sugar made sugar candy a delicacy available only to the wealthy.

Chocolate

A one-ounce piece of milk chocolate contains about the same amount of caffeine as a cup of decaffeinated coffee.

U.S. chocolate manufacturers currently use 40 percent of the almonds produced in the United States and 25 percent of domestic peanuts.

The third week of March is American Chocolate Week.

The word chocolate comes from the Aztec xocolatl, meaning bitter water. It is said that the Aztec king Montezuma so believed that chocolate was an aphrodisiac that he drank 50 golden goblets of it each day.

US standards require that unsweetened chocolate contain between 50 and 58 percent cocoa butter. Bittersweet, semisweet or sweet chocolate is created by adding sugar, lecithin and vanilla or vanillin. Bittersweet chocolate must contain at least 35 percent chocolate liquor. Semisweet and sweet can contain from 15 to 35 percent. Milk chocolate is created when dry milk is added to sweet chocolate. It must contain at least 12 percent milk solids and 10 percent chocolate liquor. White chocolate is not true chocolate because contains no chocolate liquor. Instead, it is usually a mixture of sugar, cocoa butter, milk solids lecithin and vanilla. If there is no cocoa butter, then the product is a confectionery coating, not white chocolate.

Chocolate Measures

6 ounces of chocolate chips equals one cup.

Cocoa

Darker, richer cocoa is called Dutch cocoa and has been treated with an alkali, which helps neutralize cocoa’s natural acidity. Butterscotch is the blend of butter and brown sugar.

Ginger is often credited with possessing calming properties as well, and has been used through the ages as a digestive aid.

Gum

Chew gum until the sugar is gone to blow a bigger bubble. Sugar does not stretch and can cause the bubble to collapse early

Gumball Sizes

5800 ct = 17/32″
3650 ct = 5/8″
1900 ct = 7/8″
1430 ct = 15/16″
1080 ct = 1″
900 ct = 1-1/32″
850 ct = 1-1/16″700 ct = 1-3/32″
600 ct = 1-1/8″
475 ct = 1-1/4″

Candy Calendar

National Taffy Day is May 23rd.

April 22nd is National Jelly Bean Day.

National Lollipop day is celebrated on July 20th.

July 15th is Gummi Worm Day.

Dryden & Palmer dates back to 1880 when rock candy enjoyed great popularity as a cough-cold remedy and delicious confection. In addition, vast amounts were used in salons. Every bar had its own creation of rock and rye to “cure their patrons’ colds” or at least make them forget they had a cold in the first place. Prohibition was not kind to the rock candy industry and of the original manufacturers, only Dryden & Palmer remains today.

Saltwater taffy was “invented” in Atlantic City in 1883.

Tootsie Rolls debuted in 1896, introduced by Leo Hirshfield of New York who named them after his daughter’s nickname, “Tootsie”.

Hershey

Milton Hershey of Lancaster, PA introduced the first Hershey milk chocolate bar in 1900.

Hershey’s Kisses appeared in their familiar foil wraps in 1906

NECCO wafers

Pastel-colored candy disks called NECCO wafers first appeared in 1901 named for the acronym of the New England Confectionery Company.

The Baby Ruth candy bar was first sold in 1920, named for President Grover Cleveland’s daughter – not the famous baseball player.

The Milky Way Bar is the first of many candies to be introduced by the Mars family in 1923. It was created to taste like a malted milk that would be available anywhere, any time.

Snickers Bar

M&M/Mars introduced the Snickers Bar in 1930. It was named for a favorite horse owned by the Mars family. It is the number-one selling candy bar in the U.S. today.

3 Musketeers Bar

M&M/Mars debuted the 3 Musketeers Bar in 1932. It was originally made as a three-flavor bar featuring chocolate, vanilla and strawberry nougat. In 1945, it was changed to all chocolate nougat.

Hershey’s Miniatures chocolate bars debuted in 1939.

“M&M’s” Plain Chocolate Candies were introduced in 1941 in response to slack chocolate sales in summer.