Browsing Tag

peppermint

Candy News

Candy Canes Are Coming to Town

December 15, 2017 by
“Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before! What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas . . . perhaps . . . means a little bit more!”   ― Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

candy cane figurinesLast week I ran to our local supermarket to pick up milk, orange juice, lettuce, and whatever I can whip up for dinner on very short notice. On my way to the check out I noticed the stock boy opening a mountain of boxes in the front of the checkout lanes. Isn’t this the spot where all the Halloween candy just was? But somewhere along the way Halloween (and Thanksgiving) came and went and so did those bags of Milky Ways, Snickers, Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and Kit Kats (as well as all those turkey day leftovers).

Now what did my wandering eyes did appear but box after box of colorful candy canes in every possible color and flavor imaginable!  Boxes of Peppermint, cherry, raspberry, blueberry, Lifesavers, and chocolate mint candy canes lined the aisle.  And oh, by gosh, by golly is it really only 4 weeks till Christmas?

candy canes

So while I was waiting in the “10 items or less” checkout line (and silently counting the number of items the lady in front of me kept taking out of her shopping cart) I was thinking that you can associate a certain candy with just about every holiday. A heart shaped box of chocolates for Valentine’s Day. A big chocolate bunny at Easter. And of course those classic red and white striped candy canes always say, Christmas.

I remember they were the last thing we hung on our Christmas tree when I was little. Somehow the amount of candy canes that adorned our real tree on December 1st had somewhat diminished by the time Christmas Eve arrived.

Did you know that Bob McCormack started his own candy company in the 1920s in Albany, Georgia and made candy canes by hand? This was a tedious job and the breakage rate was high. Bob’s brother-in-law, Gregory Harding Keller, a Catholic priest invented the Keller Machine which twisted the candy and bent it into canes. Needless to say, this remarkable machine revolutionized the candy manufacturing business. Today, more than 1.7 billion candy canes are sold each year!

merry christmas candy canes

So how about adding candy canes to that “all I want for Christmas” list (along with those two front teeth)? Candy Favorites has wrapped Peppermint Candy Canes, Miniature Candy Canes, Candy Cane Peppermint Tootsie Pops, Candy Cane Pails and Hershey’s Candy Cane Candy Bars.

So it doesn’t matter if you’re naughty (Santa, it’s a long story) or nice, remember candy canes make great stocking stuffers and don’t forget to leave some peppermint sticks for that jolly old elf who will be coming down your chimney soon with a bound.

May your days be merry and bright. Merry Christmas!

Candy Memories, Candy News

LifeSavers – “A Hole Lot of Fun”

May 19, 2017 by

 “Sometimes memories sneak out of my eyes and roll down my cheeks.”

Did you ever wish you could have just one special day back from your childhood? A day where you could be in a certain place, with a specific person, at a particular time? A day you could freeze and thaw anytime you wanted? I think memories work like that.

I have many ”wish days” but there’s one that I’d love to relive. That certain place would be at our family store, Davidek’s Market, the specific person would be my dad, and that particular time would be after school.

When I was in junior high, the bus left me off 2 blocks from our little neighborhood store.  I’d walk there after school. Wednesdays were one of my favorite days to come through that swinging glass front door. I knew my dad would be waiting for me. In his crisp white starched apron, standing behind the wooden meat block cutting pork chops, probably for our next door neighbor’s dinner. I see him smile and hear him say, “There she is,” as I dropped my books near the black metal, manual adding machine.

Wednesday. It was the day our candy order was delivered. My dad knew to leave it for me to stock. It’s the day I got to open orange boxes of Clark Bars; brown and green boxes of Milky Ways; red, white and blue boxes of 3 Musketeers and cellophane wrapped boxes of Wrigley’s, Juicy Fruit, Double Mint and Teaberry gum. But my favorite candy treasure to open was the little packs of Life Savers.

Did you know LifeSavers were first made in 1912 by chocolate maker Clarence Crane because he wanted a sweet treat that wouldn’t melt in the summer heat? They got their name because they looked like life preservers.

Right in the middle of my dad’s long, white, porcelain meat counter sat a long metal LifeSavers holder. That holder held that same spot for as long as I could remember. I loved filling in each spot with the different colored rolls. I’d unwrap my favorite flavor first –Wild Cherry, which always seemed to be the first ones to go (hmmm . . . I think I had something to do with that). Then the multi-colored 5 Flavor rolls. The green Wint-O-Green. Next the blue Pep-O-Mint. Each little roll fitting snuggly in their designated spot.

Then when I was all through with my candy duties, I’d grab my roll of Wild Cherry LifeSavers, pull that little green string through the foil and plop one in my mouth. Just like it was yesterday, a burst of that sweet cherry delight swirling across my taste buds can bring it all back to me.

Memories of that one special day sneaking into my eyes. Just me and my dad, in the store after school, laughing and talking behind that white porcelain meat counter. With a roll of cherry LifeSavers in my pocket as I catch a tear rolling down my cheeks.

Candy Reviews, Christmas Candy, Lollipops

With Peppermint Tootsie Pop Candy Cane Lollipops the Nostalgia Never Stops

November 25, 2009 by
Hard to find and a true Christmas favorite  - Peppermint Tootsie Pop Candy Cane Lollipops

Hard to find and a true Christmas favorite - Peppermint Tootsie Pop Candy Cane Lollipops

Sharability: 2

Denture Danger: 9

Convenience: 8

Novelty: Seasonal Novelty: 10

Overall: 10

‘Tis the season for the candy cane tootsie pop. The minty sweet peppermint to chill your breath and chewy tootsie roll chocolate to wash over your tastebuds with warmth.

You can enjoy the solo peppermint taste as long as you want until you can’t resist the urge to bite into the lollypop any longer. Then the sweet chewy chocolate flavor blends into the peppermint for one of those favorite flavor combinations that is sure to get stuck in your teeth.

Give your kids this wintertime candy to suck on while you sip on your liquid version of this candy: peppermint schnapps hot chocolate.

The chocolate peppermint makes you think of Christmas trees and Hannukah menorahs. It makes you think of snowy mornings of candy canes and hot chocolate, the feeling of coming back from sledding and gulping down that first sip of hot chocolate before you even have had time to take off your snow pants. This simple candy combines two favorites (candy canes and tootsie rolls) to flaunt its flavor and teach the original tootsie roll pop a little something.