We’ve found ten more facts about some of your most favorite sweet snacks. And you won’t
believe what we’ve uncovered about those epic goodies you just can’t seem to say
no to, no matter how hard you try. Who says you’ve gotta be a kid to love candy? We
sure didn’t! So here are ten sweet facts about your favorite candy part 2.
Twizzlers Licorice Candy and Actual Licorice
You may be surprised to learn this, but Twizzlers Candy has been around since 1845. That sure
is a long time for the world to have been enjoying licorice candy. It’s actually Y&S
Candies that started the company way back when, but it’s now a subsidiary of The Hershey
Company. These days, they offer a lot of variations of their candy that started out
quite simply enough. Multiple fruity flavors, and in all sorts of formats, like the quite
famous “Pull and Peel” that seems to be quite popular among children. But back in
the day, the only flavors that could be found by one and all were of course the standard
strawberry red and the black licorice. And for the longest time that was indeed enough. The
world was used to calling this type of candy licorice, but in actual fact, the only licorice
that Twizzlers offers is the black flavor, as the red flavor contains not a single ounce
of licorice extract, the common ingredient in all licorice. That’s what gives authentic
licorice its pretty familiar taste. The strawberry sort are made with corn syrup, artificial
flavoring and enriched flour.
Pop Rocks Were Pulled Off The Shelves
Of course they made a serious comeback later on and many children (and adults) have had
a blast with these little candies … literally. We mean, who hasn’t tried these things?
Even if it was just to see how they popped in your mouth? Well, curiosity will get you
hooked, as it did for many throughout the late eighties and nineties. The candy was
first introduced in 1975 by a team of chemists of all things. Their names were Leon T. Kremzner
and William A. Mitchell. They worked for General Foods and they stumbled across this recipe
in their work. They made the first batch in 1961 but the company held off on releasing
it to the masses for a whopping 14 years. Well, it finally made it to the public, but it was
pulled from shelves, as it didn’t have a very long shelf life, and it wasn’t in great
condition by the time it made it to willing customers. Kraft Foods finally granted ownership
to Zeta Espacial, who continue to release the candy to the rest of the world, while
in North America, the candy is released through Pop Rocks Inc. These days, it’s readily
available to one and all.
BPI Funnbar Candy
And who says all candy is bad for you? Certainly not the folks at BPI Sports, a supplement
and nutritional company that specializes in meal replacements and the many products used
by those living a fit life. But it seems that many in the diet industry have been looking
for some sweet treats while they grow tired of all the whey protein and what have you,
as the company launched these chewable bite-size candies a few years back. They even got a
familiar face to endorse the company, and he actually generated a wee bit of a buzz
for the candy that many have compared to Starburst Candies. Talk about “saying your prayers
and taking your vitamins.” Hulk Hogan himself claimed to chomp down on these tasty treats
while he worked on the old “pythons” of his, and he convinced quite a few to follow
suit. The Funnbar comes with many flavors in one package, very much like Starburst,
only it doesn’t contain as many calories of course. It comes packed with 15 grams of
protein per bar and they are sugar free and gluten free. So while your neighbor on that
treadmill beside you keeps chugging on that shaker full of vanilla flavored protein powder,
hand them one of these and make their day. After all, like many of the sweet treats we
enjoy, it’s always important to spread the joy.
Starburst - They Renamed It Twice!
And speaking of Starburst, the candy was introduced in 1960 in the United Kingdom, but they didn’t
go by Starburst back then. At its inception the candy was named Opal Fruits. The first
and original flavors that were offered at the time were strawberry, lemon, orange and
of course lime. They were finally introduced in the States by the year 1967 and thus went
under the name M&M’s Fruit Chewies. Now, we’re all sure that we can all agree that
we more than understand a name change on both occasions as the names don’t quite scream
“Eat Me!” as their third and final name did. And at the same time, it’s kind of
hard to garner a following for a product when you keep renaming it, isn’t it? It doesn’t
catch on as fast, because you’re always changing it. Starburst finally started being
referred to as Starburst before the start of the 1970s. And we can all be thankful for
that, as it just rolls off the tongue that much better, now doesn’t it? It’s now
offered in a spectacular amount of flavors and the candy takes the cake as being one
of the most popular chewable candies in the world.
Candy Cigarettes Were Banned
Now how are these for the most controversial candies on the list? Who didn’t buy a package
of these and pretend to be the star from some movie they saw? We’ve all been there, we’re
afraid, and while cigarettes are definitely bad for you, the Hollywood magic we’ve all
been subjected to over the decades told us that they were in fact “cool.” So, while
we couldn’t actually grab a package of real cigarettes as we played like we were James
Dean and all the other cinematic icons with a bad habit, we turned to these candies and
made like we were as “bad” as they were. But as it turns out, these candies were indeed
banned from the shelves of markets and corner stores for a pretty long while in North Dakota,
and all because the government of the area felt like these candies glorified the use
of cigarettes. Interestingly enough, these candies are unsurprisingly still banned in
some regions of the world, and for the very same reason. For example, in Canada, they’re
called candy sticks and the packages aren’t allowed to resemble real cigarette packages
like they do in the States. They usually are packaged with Popeye on the cover. A wholesome
enough brand association, the Canadian government believes. But they are completely banned in
countries like: Ireland, Denmark, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and many more.
Jolly Rancher Produced Ice Cream
It was in 1949 that a gentleman by the name of Bill Harmsen founded the Jolly Rancher
Company. He named it that because he figured that the name would suggest a hospitable environment
that his clientele would enjoy and flock to. At first his products were specifically sold
in Denver, Colorado, and ice cream was at first one of his main offerings. But it was
because of the customary cold weather in that particular region that his ice cream didn’t
do all that well among patrons. He soon realized, though, that his customers were enjoying the
candy year round, no matter what the weather conditions. So it was because of this that
he put all of his focus on the candies themselves. Now talk about putting all of your eggs in
one basket! Or maybe we should say candies in one basket. The hard candy treat is offered
in many great fruity flavors as well as other interesting mixes, like Fire Stix. They were
taken over in ownership a few times over however, the first take-over was made by Beatrice Foods,
and ultimately, Hershey decided to purchase the candy after the Leaf company owned it
for a little while.
The Kit Kat Jingle
The very first Kit Kat bar was introduced in the month of August, way back in 1935.
It is perhaps the most popular wafer-style chocolate bar in existence and there’s very
good reason for that. It’s definitely delicious and the company has succeeded all these years
on their dependability and consistency at producing a quality bar that consumers have
definitely grown quite accustomed to. But we wonder how many of those consumers have
favored the bar because of how it tastes, or rather, are there other forces at play
here? Cue the horror movie overly dramatic theme music here. As it turns out, the theme
song that the Kit Kat commercials always feature was designed to stay in your head long after
you hear it. Psychological researchers have studied the jingle and determined that it
was written with this intent and the more you hear this song, the worse it’ll get.
Of course the design here, is that when you’re in line at the market, the song may still
be stuck in your head after the last time you saw the advertisement, and instead of
passing up the opportunity to “have a break,” you’ll dish out the few bucks to enjoy yourself
a snack that was long ago decided that you were going to have, and long before you left
the house. Interesting how that works, isn’t it? Oh the advertising geniuses at work amaze
us to no end. Now if you’ll excuse us, we think it’s time for a break. Now what
to have, what to have …?
Kit Kat Flavors In Japan
And speaking of Kit Kat bars, they are offered in some pretty peculiar flavors all around
the world, and probably the most peculiar is the Green Tea flavor that has sparked quite
a bit of interest in recent years … especially in Japan! Kit Kat bars were only introduced
to japan in 1973. That’s definitely a long time from when they were first introduced
to the US and North American markets. But since then, Japan has definitely run with
the idea of the bar, as many flavors have popped up in the area, and some of them are
indeed quite peculiar at that. Some of the flavors are Soy Sauce, Green Tea, Sake, Tokyo
Banana, Wasabi and so many others. In North America, other flavors that have done pretty
well are Orange, mint, dark chocolate and of course white chocolate.
White Chocolate Isn’t Chocolate At All
There are quite a few people out there that don’t like chocolate at all—yes, as crazy
as it sounds—it’s quite surprising indeed, but there are those that favor white chocolate
instead. The sweetness of white chocolate can definitely tip a few in its favor, and
also with that sweetness is a particular creamy flavor and texture to go along with it. But
what if we told you that white chocolate wasn’t chocolate at all? Would that shock you? Perhaps
not, as many have been privy to this little bit of information for quite some time, as
the secret was out a while ago. But perhaps all of you in the know can’t exactly say
what white chocolate is made from to begin with. Any guesses? It actually doesn’t
contain any cocoa solids… not a trace of them. So what is it made of? Well, at the
end of the day, white chocolate is made of a combination of sugar, milk solids and the
only trace of cocoa comes in the form of the cocoa butter they throw into the mix. Cocoa
butter is extracted from cocoa solids by the heating process during manufacturing, essentially
separating the solids from the fatty content, hence the term butter. It is this ingredient
that is rather predominant in white chocolate. Other dietary fats like milk fat are added
to the process that give us the wonder that is white chocolate as well.
The Mary Jane Candy Wrapper
Some things just never grow old. But they do happen to accumulate a few years of existence,
don’t they; no matter how young they might seem in spirit. And in saying that, the Mary
Jane candies haven’t changed all that much in over a hundred years. Actually, they haven’t
changed at all. Talk about maintaining the status quo. The peanut butter and molasses
flavored candy was originally made by the Charles N. Miller Company and later purchased
and continued to be made by the Stark Candy company, not to be confused with Tony Stark
of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, of course, and finally by the Necco company most recently.
It was originally named after Miller’s aunt, Mary Jane. The wrapping hasn’t changed at
all however, and that stands despite the amount of times ownership of the rights and recipe
has changed hands. The infamous color and “little girl” illustration remains atop
the candy. The only unfortunate thing is that Necco closed its doors in 2018 and it’s
unclear as to whether this classic candy will ever again be redistributed by another company,
and sadly, we may just have had our “last dance with Mary Jane.” Yes, we may have
lost this candy to the years, folks and that’s a tragedy in and of itself, but let’s hope
somebody decides to take it up again and hopefully they too keep the classic wrapper intact. Fingers
crossed.
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