3-Century Candy Set - 1700s, 1800s, 1900s

1700s – Candied Flowers, Sugar Plums… and Stain Glass Candy?

Candy was part of the lives of all North Americans. Well-to-do European Americans coated flower petals and almonds in sugar and rolled nuts and seeds in sugar syrup to create sugar plums and rich cream filberts. They also boiled sugar to make stain glass and added sugar to a chocolate drink made from earthy, dark cacao beans. Martha Washington enjoyed both – her cookbook mentions stain glass candy and she used cacao shells to brew tea. Even more treasures await in the 1700s collection in this set.

1800s – Saloons, Soldiers… and Jelly Beans!

Here’s a sample of what’s in our 1800s Confectionery Shop Box… Rock candy - the main ingredient in a popular saloon drink, the Rock n’ Rye. Turkish Delight, a medicine for sore throat first sold in 9th century Arabic apothecaries, that became the jelly bean in Boston and was sent to Civil War solders. NECCO Wafers were made in an 1847 apothecary and became one of the first penny candies.

1900s – Peanut Butter, Toffee, and… Baked Beans?

Peanut Butter filled candy evolved in the early 1900s with the invention of peanut butter cups and Buckeyes, which resembled the nut of Ohio’s state tree, the filbert, which in turn, looked like a buck’s eye. The 1920s brought a toffee explosion, with favorites like the Heath Bar & Bit O’ Honey. In the 1930s, movie theater candy rolled on the scene, such as Mike and Ikes, licorice laces, and Boston Baked Beans, neither from Boston (actually, Pittsburgh) nor beans (made of peanuts). More retro treats await in the 1900s candy box.