The Scoop on Candy Canes
/
I’m a sucker for candy canes (pun intended). I’m a traditionalist at heart. I love the red and white striped peppermint ones and avoid the new multi-colored, multi-flavored ones on the market. I buy the red and white stripers every year and put them in stockings, hang some on the tree and scatter them midst other holiday decorations. The broken ones are mine for snacking… and there are always broken ones… even if they need a little help to break.
Ever wonder where the tradition began, why they’re striped, and why they’re peppermint? Me, too! So here’s the story…
The candy cane seems to have originated in c.1670 when a German choirmaster at the Cologne Cathedral gave sugar sticks to young singers to shush them up during the very long and tedious Living Creche ceremony. He bent the candy sticks into the shape of shepherds' crooks to honor the occasion. Very imaginative, our choirmaster. Some sources claim that the shape represents a “J” for Jesus. Other sources indicate the same type of white sugar sticks were used as pacifiers by parents as early as the 17th century.
August Imgard, a German immigrant who settled in Wooster, Ohio, is credited with the first recorded use of candy canes as decorations in the USA. In 1847 he reportedly cut down a blue spruce tree, had a local tinsmith fabricate a star for the top, and decorated the tree with candles, paper ornaments, nuts, and candy canes. He displayed it on a revolving platform with a music box for accompaniment. People came from miles around to see it… or so the story goes. Wooster still celebrates Imgard for bringing the Christmas tree tradition to the USA and also for being the first to decorate with candy canes… albeit plain white ones.
Wooster, OHio commemorates August Imgard for bringing the Christmas Tree Tradition to the USA. A decorated tree adorns his gravesite.
But what about the stripes? Solid white canes didn’t acquire their stripes till the late 1800s. There’s no record of who first introduced the ‘barber pole’ stripes, but it was Bob McCormack, an Albany, Georgia candy maker in the 1920s, who is credited with being the first candy maker to fabricate striped canes commercially. In the 1950s, Gregory Keller, Bob’s brother-in-law who was a Catholic priest, invented the Keller Machine, which automated the process of twisting soft candy into a striped spiral and cutting it into a precise length. From a marketing point of view, the stripes added visual appeal. The all-white ones might have been tasty, but they’re pretty blah-looking.
Keller’s patent for candy cane forming - who knew?
According to the National Confectioner’s Association (and they should know), candy canes are the world’s top-selling non-chocolate candy in December each year with an astounding 1.76 billion produced annually in the United States.
The Spangler Candy Company, a privately owned Bryan, Ohio confectioner, has been manufacturing and marketing candy since 1906. You’d definitely recognize some of Spangler's products which include brand names like Dum-Dums, Bit-O-Honey, Necco Wafers, Sweetheart Candies, Circus Peanuts and Canada Mints. In fact, Bryan, Ohio has the dubious honor of being the "Dum-Dums Capital of the World". Spanglers is the largest manufacturer of candy canes in the USA producing approximately 45% of the candy canes sold here. They produce 2.7 million candy canes a day which is paltry compared to the 12 million Dum-Dums they manufacture every day.
As an aside, Doscher's Candies of Cincinnati, OH was established in 1871 and is the oldest producer of candy canes in the United States and also the oldest continually operating candy company in America. Their candy canes are still "Spun and Hooked" by hand using the original recipe and process.
Though there seems to be no historical documentation, it appears that peppermint was added to candy canes around the turn of the 20th century. Peppermint oil is pleasing to the taste and has been used by apothecaries (pharmacists of yore) for centuries to camouflage the taste of bitter medicines. There are also some health benefits to peppermint. For instance, The Cornell Center for Materials Research notes that peppermint oil contains higher antioxidant levels than those found in cereals, fruits and vegetables. Peppermint can soothe an upset stomach, freshen your breath and soothe a sore throat. It’s also considered a natural appetite suppressant. If I wasn’t sold on candy canes before, I’m definitely sold now!
Of course on the flip side, an average candy cane also contains 8-11 grams of sugar with no nutritional value whatsoever. The average recommended added sugar consumption for an average adult is 25-35 grams per day which means you could potentially surpass your daily allotment for sugar by just eating a couple candy canes. There’s always something, huh?
Some candy cane records:
The record for the longest/largest candy cane is held by Alain Roby, a Geneva, Illinois pastry chef, who in 2012 created a candy cane measuring 51 feet (15.5 m) long and comprised of 900 pounds of sugar.
On the bizarre record side, Joel Strasser broke his own previous record of most candy canes in a beard. His new record is 187. Oh, yuck!
And while we’re on the subject of bizarre, The Archie McPhee Store of Seattle, Washington, offers weird candy cane flavors in case you’re interested. Pickle, bacon, gravy and possum are some examples. Then there’s Clamidy Canes from Vat 19 in case you’re into fish-flavored canes. Just an option.
Don’t eat all your canes on Christmas Day! Save a couple to enjoy on December 26th, National Candy Cane Day.