Posted on 12/19/2022 6:14:07 AM PST by Red Badger
NATIONAL HARD CANDY DAY
A favorite of young and old alike, National Hard Candy Day on December 19th, recognizes the sweet tooth in all of us.
#HardCandyDay
Most hard candies are 100% sugar with flavoring and colors added. To achieve a hard candy, confectioners boil a sugar syrup to 320 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the temperature is reached, the hot, pliable sugar is poured into molds or rolled and folded into shapes and left to cool. Once cool, solid sugar becomes hardened and brittle.
The first hard candies, such as lemon drops and peppermints, were likely prescribed as a remedy for stomach ailments.
Hard candy became popular in the seventeenth century as sugar prices fell. Previously, hard candy was something that only the well-to-do could afford. By the mid-1800s, over 400 companies were manufacturing this popular treat.
In 2015, Jolly Rancher surpassed Werther’s Original as the best-selling hard candy. Other popular hard candies include Dum Dum Pops, Life Savers, Tootsie Roll Pops, and Charms Blow Pop.
HOW TO OBSERVE HARD CANDY DAY
Enjoy your favorite hard candy. While shopping for some to taste, be sure to pick some up to fill those stockings, too. National Hard Candy Day is also an excellent time to discover the history behind your favorite hard candies. You can read about many of the candy makers from bygone days or who are still producing our favorites. Watch videos showing you how these colorful candies are made, too. You will be amazed at how innovative each candy maker had to be to develop their own unique process.
Use #NationalHardCandyDay to post on social media.
NATIONAL HARD CANDY DAY HISTORY
While National Day Calendar has not discovered the origin of this sweet, sweet holiday, we encourage you to share a little sugar with your sweetheart while we keep researching.
Candy FAQ
Q. Who holds the record for the largest lollipop?
A. On July 12, 2012, See’s Candies Lollypop Factory created the largest lollipop. It measured 4 feet 8.75 inches long and 3 feet 6 inches wide and 5 feet 11 inches high without the stick. The stick alone measured 11 feet 10 inches tall.
Q. Who holds the record for the largest candy cane?
A. Fabiano’s Chocolates and Ice Cream set the record on December 5, 1998, in Lansing, Michigan. The candy cane measured 36 feet 7 inches long and 4 inches in diameter.
Q. What is the most popular flavor of hard candy?
A. Whether you’re talking candy canes, Life Savers, or some other hard candy, cherry seems to be the number one flavor.
Sweet Ping!......................
Just bought me a can of Washburn’s “since 1856” yesterday. My favorite Christmas candy.
When I was a kid, back in the Stone Age, there was a kind of hard candy that had a liquid center of some flavorful sweet stuff.
Don’t remember the brand or anything.
I haven’t seen anything like them in decades....................
We didn’t have those in the Deep South. IIRC, that is a northeastern US brand...............................
I remember that kind also. You just don’t see that or much ribbon candy in the stores anymore. Everything is Reese’s peanut butter cups now.
Yes, pure sugar hard candy coating (no flavor) with a soft center.
That and ribbon candy were standard fare at Christmas. I much prefer the newer flavored hard candies like Life Savers, Jolly Ranchers. Also like cinnamon discs.
I like Claey’s horehound drops, when I can find them. Tractor Supply and Sportsman’s Warehouse stock them from time to time.
But do you remember the brand? I don’t recall it, but I was a kid, and all I saw was CANDY!................
You might try Cracker Barrell restaurant. They have a lot of candy that I remember as a kid but hardly ever see them anymore.
No, I don’t remember the brand of those jellied candies nor the ribbon candy.
Me, either! Maybe some other FReepers can, whose memory cells are still operational!..................
We played church...bro was priest...those were Holy Communion. lol
I remember the boxes of ribbon candy that used to be sold at Christmas.
The box was about twice as thick/high as a cigar box and around the same length and width. It had 3 or 4 layers of 10 various ribbon designs and flavors.
There’s only about two companies (Hammond’s & Savigny’s) that still sell boxes of ribbon candy and they’re only one layer and maybe 5 designs and flavors if you get their biggest box. But, they’re also not near as elaborate as they used to be in designs.
My British neighbor calls them “boiled sweets.”
Just the same, not a fan. My mother always had them out - until they turned into either a rock-hard mass or became glue-like and stained the serving dish.
And woe be unto thee, if thou didst touch them!.................
Big Rock Candy Mountain
One evening as the sun went down and the jungle fire was burning
Down the track came a hobo hiking and he said boys I’m not turning
I’m headin for a land that’s far away beside the crystal fountains
So come with me we’ll go and see the Big Rock Candy Mountains
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains there’s a land that’s fair and bright
Where the handouts grow on bushes and you sleep out every night
Where the boxcars are all empty and the sun shines every day
On the birds and the bees and the cigarette trees
Where the lemonade springs where the bluebird sings
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains all the cops have wooden legs
And the bulldogs all have rubber teeth and the hens lay soft boiled eggs
The farmer’s trees are full of fruit and the barns are full of hay
Oh, I’m bound to go where there ain’t no snow
Where the rain don’t fall and the wind don’t blow
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains you never change your socks
And the little streams of alcohol come a-trickling down the rocks
The brakemen have to tip their hats and the railroad bulls are blind
There’s a lake of stew and of whiskey too
You can paddle all around ’em in a big canoe
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains the jails are made of tin
And you can walk right out again as soon as you are in
There ain’t no short handled shovels, no axes saws or picks
I’m a goin to stay where you sleep all day
Where they hung the jerk that invented work
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains
I’ll see you all this coming fall in the Big Rock Candy Mountains
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