Tiny, tasty packs of a dozen,
these sweet sweets swept America all of a sudden.
One for you, one for me.
Interactive is the way to be.
The Pez Space Trooper!
And it’s always handy,
when it’s time for Pez candy.
Sharing is fun and can be sweet
when you have plenty of Pez candy to eat.
Pez comes from the word Pfeffermintz
which means “peppermint” in German.
The first, middle, and last letters are P-E-Z.
Pez!
Pez was first dispensed in Vienna, Austria in 1927.
They were tiny, round, candied mints,
an alternative to smoking cigarettes.
The first Pez mint dispensers were known as “Regulars.”
They were pocket-sized dispensers that looked
like cigarette lighters.
To market these,
the company created the icon of the Pez Girl,
a gorgeous pin-up girl flashing
a million dollar smile and a fresh pack of Pez.
The motto for the campaign?
“Smoking prohibited.
Pezzing allowed.”
After World War II,
Pez traveled overseas and to America
but adults still loved smoking more
than they loved Pez.
So they shifted their marketing towards children
and added more candy-like flavors.
They gave the dispensers some flair
and then Pez was no longer just a mint,
or even a candy, but a cult classic.
The first and most important part of making Pez
is the sugar.
50,000 pounds of granulated sugar is delivered
every four days to the Pez factory.
Inside the factory,
the granulated sugar goes through a milling process
and is ground into confectioner’s sugar
in 600 pound batches.
Then the mass of sugar is mixed with corn syrup,
plant-based fat, color, and flavor.
The six primary flavors of Pez are strawberry,
cherry,
raspberry,
lemon,
orange,
and grape.
The dry Pez mix is pressed to
make the tiny candies.
It takes 3,000 pounds of pressure
to form just one Pez tablet.
Approximately two million tablets are pressed
in a seven and a half hour shift.
Throughout its process,
Pez candy goes through a
rigorous quality control.
First each little candy is measured to make
sure it is exactly nine grams,
nothing more,
nothing less.
Then the candy goes through a metal detector.
Please gather your belongings
before proceeding to your gate.
The machine you see here is capable of wrapping
100,000 rolls in a seven and a half hour shift.
Once the Pez are wrapped,
they go through another machine where cameras
inspect each package.
The Pez have to be perfect.
After the candies are wrapped,
they're married to a dispenser.
They’re put through a blister machine which
seals all of the candies in a pringle-like fashion.
Then the blister is dropped into the dispenser
and sent off to shipping.
At Pez, no sugar goes to waste.
The Pez that don’t pass quality control
are sent to farms as a special treat
for these guys.
Isn’t that sweet?
(Cow) Moo!
This year Pez celebrates its 90th birthday.
They’ve come a long way from
those tiny Pfeffermintz.
Pez dispensers are now sold in more than
60 countries worldwide.
Fan favorites include
Popeye,
Minnie Mouse,
and the Santa Clause dispenser
which still reigns as the best selling
Pez dispenser of all time.
Thanks for watching How Pez Is Made.
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