7 Iconic Candies Through the Decades
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Loading... - Jerome Makris
- 10 Mar 2023
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Some even played a role in U.S. history.
If there’s one thing America loves, it’s candy.
The U.S. confection industry—chocolates, caramels, gummies, hard candies and more—stands as a $13 billion annual behemoth. On Halloween alone, according to the National Retail Federation, Americans spent some $3 billion on sweets.
Candies have even occasionally played a role in U.S. history. They’ve bolstered our economy at home and fueled our soldiers at war. Sweets have inspired and defined American popular culture, set legal precedent and even helped ease tensions during diplomatic standoffs.
Here are seven iconic American candies and their fascinating stories:
Candy Corn / 1880s
In the 1880s, when farmers comprised about half the U.S. labor force, many confectioners tried to market sweets by molding mellowcreme—usually a mix of corn syrup, sugar, gelatin, fondant and coloring—into the shapes of pumpkins, turnips and other agricultural products. Candy corn, reportedly invented by George Renninger of the Wunderle Candy company, followed suit. But before World War I, corn was seen as a cheap, coarse foodstuff meant more for pigs and chickens than for humans. So the Goelitz Candy Company cribbed the recipe from Wunderle and began playfully marketing the sweet as “chicken feed.” A common penny candy of the early 20th century, candy corn became by the 1950s America’s most highly advertised Halloween treat. Today, despite its famous divisiveness, the tricolor candy sells more than 35 million pounds in America annually. Read More…
