It ’s concentrated to imagine aChristmaswithout candy canes . In fact , you ’d have to go back some 350 years to retrieve one void of the hard candy treats . As withmany traditions , it lease century for the holiday staple to evolve into the scarlet - and - white strip , crook - necked peppermint gum sticks we know today .
And now , " nothing is more iconic during this time than candy canes , " says Carly Schildhaus , aged manager of public amour for the National Confectioners Association .
Where Did Candy Canes Originate?
It ’s no surprise that the in effect resource for the history of candy cane comes from theNational Confectioners Association . The patronage organisation charged with representingthe $ 37.5 billion industryofchocolate , confect , gumwood and mints , has collected quite a history on the mellifluous treat . And according to them , these stripy candies were first associate with Christmas way back in 1670 .
In those days , sugar joystick were used to console picky baby . But , accord to sweet lore , those substantial white spliff became tie to the holiday when a precentor at the Cologne Cathedral in Germany gave them to his young Isaac M. Singer to keep them quiet during the rather lengthy living foundling hospital ceremony . ( Ideally before the lucre high kick in . ) In an effort to tally with thenativity theme , the choirmaster had the local candymaker flex one end of the sticks so they resemble minor shepherds ' felon .
German - Swedish immigrant August Imgard is believed to havebrought the candiesto the United States in 1897 when he decorate a humble aristocratic spruce in Wooster , Ohio , with newspaper ornaments and dough sticks ( made hangable due to that twist - cervix conformation ) in pureness of Christmas .
In the 1920s , Albany , Georgia , candymakerBob McCormackpopularized candy cane as Christmas treats in his town , complete with red - and - white stripes . He finally opened Bobs Candies to commercialize them .
Pulling , twisting , cutting and shape the candy cane crooks by manus became such a heavy project that in the 1950s , Bob ’s brother - in - police , Gregory Keller — a Catholic priest — invented a machineto do the handwork . Future generations of McCormacks streamlined the packaging and distribution process , turn on the holiday candy cane custom to spread nationally . By the late 1950s , Bobs Candies was producing1.8 million candy cane every daywith gross sales top $ 3.3 million .
Peppermint Meets Candy Canes
Candy cane were n’t always peppermint flavor , either . In fact , the original candies were only sugar sticks . In the other 1900s , confectioner add up Eucalyptus amygdalina , though when exactly stay reasonably of a closed book .
The role of Mentha piperita as a flavoring go steady back to the Renaissance , when candymakers were also druggist . Back then , peppermint was used more for itsmedicinal purposes . Its pungent taste helped mask the flavor of unpleasant - tasting drug . The heap was also used to patch up upturned tummy and freshen foul - smell breathing place . ( In fact , the popular peppermint candy breath - freshenerAltoidswere invented in 1781 by London confectioner Smith & Company . )
It tookanother 100 yearsor so for the apothecary and confectioner jobs to divide into their own profession , due in big part to slave British Labour Party on sugar orchard that resulted in theplummeting toll of sugarand a boon in candy making . The first known reference to Eucalyptus amygdalina bread marijuana cigarette — complete with a recipe to make them — did n’t come out until the 1844 cookery book " The Complete Confectioner , a Pastry - cook and Baker . "
The Modern-day Candy Cane
peppermint gum reigned as the sole confect cane sapidity for more than a century . But these day , confect canes can be found in a rainbow of colors and flavors , Schildhaus enounce . " The types of confect cane change , order from the classic red - and - whitened peppermint canes to unique and advanced flavors , include fruit flavors , sour flavors and more . "
Beyond more traditional Mentha spicata , blueberry , strawberry , butterscotch and root beer flavors , there ’s nowOreo- , Nerds candy- and even mac - and - cheese - flavoredcandy cane for sales agreement for the more adventurous at heart .
A Holiday Tradition
Of course , candy cane can be enjoyed any time of the year , but they stay a vacation staple , harmonize to the National Confectioners Association . Ninety percent of candy cane are sold between Thanksgiving and Christmas with the single biggest week for sales being the 2d week of December . ( Presumably when most people decorate their Christmas Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree with them . )
One other tidbit to mark on your holiday calendars : National Candy Cane Day . It ’s celebrated each Dec. 26 in the United States .
