March 2017 - True Treats Candy

What is the vegan version of the gummy bear?

Actually the venerable and nicely-textured gummy bear started life as the Turkish delight, a vegetarian medicine-turned-treat that originated around 900 in Arabic apothecaries of the Mideast. The core ingredients were cream of tartar, possibly starch (ours contains corn starch) sugar, and the oil, such as rose.

Mexico

THANK YOU MEXICO! Without Mexico we would be chocolate-less.

Roller Coaster Candy and the Fun Factor

When you go to an amusement park, you may notice that there are two types of roller coaster riders: one has hands flung in the air, faces broad with animated expressions, plenty of laughter, and plenty of screaming. Fun screaming.

Charlie Chaplin

Born in London in 1889, he was destitute as his mother was mentally and physically ill and his father, an alcoholic, had abandoned the family. Chaplin inher ited his parents’ theatrical talents and began acting at five years old.

The First Penny Candies: What’s Missing and Why?

Penny candy has been a favorite for kids since the burgeoning industrial age of the mid-1800s. They could buy an array of sweets in general stores, tobacco stores, and apothecaries.

The Not Dumb Dum Dum

The Dum Dums lollipop was first made in 1924 by the Akron Candy Company. According to manufacturer Spangler, who purchased the company in 1953, they produce12 million Dum Dums per day and about 2.

The Secret Life of the Pixy Stix (Plus Kool-Aid)

The Pixy Stix, beyond any other candy, is a lesson in “don’t stop ‘til” you get it right. The ubiquitous Pixy Stix sugar-esq powder started out as a drink mix in 1930, along the lines of Kool Aid, made two years earlier.

Abolitionists, Resistance, and the Nation’s First Candy – Part 3

The Author’s Illuminating (for her) Experience I recently had an experience in my hometown of Shepherdstown, WV. It was about racism, not against African Americans but Muslims, and it did not directly involve me.

Abolitionists, Resistance, and the Nation’s First Candy – Part 2

Resisters Under the Seat It’s hard to know where the enslaved people in Mrs. Spencer’s buggy started.

Abolitionists, Resistance, and the Nation’s First Candy – Part 1

Mrs. Spencer: The Nation’s First Candy Store and Abolitionist The fascinating and revealing story of the nation’s first candy begins in 1800 when Mrs.