Red Licorice Laces

Red licorice and licorice laces were first made by the American Licorice Company. The company has followed a unique path since it started in 1914. Its first product was black licorice, what they called Black Licorice Vines. In 1920, they introduced a new candy called Raspberry Vines, red, chewy, with a fruit flavor. Shortly after, in 1925, the silent film star Charlie Chaplin needed to eat a boot in his movie “The Gold Rush”. So, he asked the American Licorice Company to make a licorice boot. The company ultimately made two – one extra in case the first was damaged.

One of the American Licorice Company’s most enduring selections, Raspberry Vines, has a more prominent role in the movie kingdom. Made in the 1920’s they were renamed “Red Vines,” in the 1950s. Packaged in a cardboard tray they were well-suited for movie theater concession stands. Their timing was good: in the late 1940s and 1950s, televisions were taking over the American entertainment landscape. To get the public back into the theaters, and make a better profit, movie theaters built luxuriant concession stands.

Today, Red Vines, the “Original Red Twists,” is one of the top-selling movie theater candies in the United States. Red Vines, like other modern licorice company selections, contains no licorice. While the public still refers to them as licorice, companies must call them “twists.

Want to learn more, check out Susan’s blog, with sections from her books “Sweet as Sin” and “Fun Foods of America.”