Sweet Surprises: Discover the Top 12 Fun Facts About Candy You Never Knew!

1. The Jawbreaker Journey

Once upon a jawbreaker, a sugary sphere embarked on a deliciously humbling journey–an adventure full of twists, turns, and syrupy layers that even Willy Wonka would envy: The truth is that over a 14 to 19 day production process, panners pour liquid sugar in a rotating spherical copper kettle, using a gas flame to tumble and craft multiple jawbreakers at once, inspecting for that perfect roundness, adding color and flavoring, and eventually bagging these candy globes for your candy-craving enjoyment.
Source => madehow.com

2. Roman Influencers' Dragati

Move over, ancient Roman influencers, it's time to sweeten the scene: Dragati, honey-covered almonds served at weddings and births by Roman nobility, eventually evolved into the colorful, sugar-coated Jordan almonds we know today. With the rise of sugar accessibility in the 15th century, these delectable treats symbolize the balance of life's bitterness and love's sweetness, and are delightfully credited to a marriage made in Roman heaven.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

Discover the ancient origins of candy corn and how it was once a seasonal delight produced only during the fall months! 🍬🌽🍁

=> Fun Facts about Candy-Corn

3. Astronaut-approved M&M's

Houston, we have a snacktime solution: M&M's are not only astronaut-approved for their satisfying texture and low crumble coefficient, but they also serve as both a gravity-defying mouth-catching game and an educational tool for demonstrating microgravity. It's no wonder these rainbow-hued treats have been NASA's go-to chocolate staple since the dawn of the space shuttle program.
Source => mashed.com

4. The Father of Gummy Bears

Before Hans Riegel Sr. became a beary important figure in the world of sweets, he was just a regular guy with a vision for creating a gummy delight: Riegel founded Haribo in 1920 and introduced Gummibärchen, the world's first gummy bears, which led to 16 factories producing over 100 million iconic Goldbears per day and dominating the confectionery industry with bearified goodness.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

5. Hippocrates' Licorice Party

Down the hatch, Hippocrates! Ancient Greeks knew how to throw a (medicine) party: Licorice was used not only for medicinal purposes, but also to concoct a delightful beverage called "glycyrrhiza," which mixed the root with water and honey.
Source => licorice.com

6. Fairy Floss Origins

Believe it or not: fairy floss isn't just the name of an up-and-coming indie rock band, but also the birth name of our beloved cotton candy! The airy confection we know and love today was spun into existence by an unlikely duo of a sweet-toothed dentist, William J. Morrison, and a candy-making confectioner, John C. Wharton. The magical, melt-in-your-mouth treat made its grand entrance at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, where these pioneers peddled over 65,000 boxes for a quarter each, even though the price was half the admission to the fair. Cotton candy has since climbed the ranks of the candy world, delighting our taste buds with its fluffy allure and vibrant hues, and gaining fun new aliases like "candy floss" and "Papa's Beard" along the way.
Source => smithsonianmag.com

7. Turkish Delight's Exotic History

Before gummy bears held a coveted spot in candy shops, and long before they leapt into our hearts (and stomachs), a fanciful and exotic confection dominated the sweet scene, entertaining taste buds from the Ottoman Empire to the Persian lands: Turkish delight, a succulent square-like treat with a lineage tracing back to the 18th century, rose to fame in Turkey and Iran, featuring flavors like rosewater, mastic gum, bergamot orange, lemon, cinnamon, and mint – all while debunking the misconception that it was the first-ever gummy candy.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

8. Twix-vengers Assemble!

Twix addicts, assemble! If the Avengers were made of caramel, cookies, and chocolate, they'd be called the Twix-vengers, traveling worldwide to sweeten everyone's lives since 1967: Straight outta Britain, Forrest Mars and Mars Limited first conjured up Twix, granting it a passport to Spain, Poland, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, Luxembourg, and the US, along with its many scrumptious alter-egos like the 100 Calorie Bars, Tea Breaks, Miniatures, Twix Xtra, and even country-exclusive treats like Twix Pods, Twix Milk, and the Twix Super Thick Shake!
Source => snackhistory.com

9. Vegan-friendly Lifesavers

Fear not, vegan sweet-tooths of the world – Lifesavers won't throw you overboard! While some flavors might leave you swimming with the gelatin-fish, others have embraced the animal-loving lifestyle like an enthusiastic dolphin full of fruit: Original, Wild Cherry, and Buttered Rum Lifesavers are all vegan-friendly, along with their Fruit siblings. Just beware of sneaky waves of cross-contamination from neighboring dairy and egg products lurking beneath the manufacturing surface!
Source => simplyhealthyvegan.com

10. PEEPS' Robotic Revolution

Wrap your head around this sugar-coated nugget: the PEEPS empire was born not just from a sweet tooth, but from a robotic revolution! The serious reveal: Just Born, creators of PEEPS and MIKE AND IKE, transformed into the world's largest novelty marshmallow treat manufacturer in 1954 by automating its marshmallow-forming process, which previously required workers to hand-squeeze marshmallow goo through pastry tubes. Today, the company churns out over two billion marshmallow PEEPS annually using this ingenious production method.
Source => manufacturing.net

11. Ronald Reagan's Jelly Diplomacy

Once upon a Reagan era, the Jelly Belly® brand jelly beans were the ultimate diplomatic sugar rush: gifted in custom jars adorned with the Presidential Seal, Reagan's love for licorice Jelly Belly® helped him kick his pipe smoking habit on his road to Governor of California in 1966, although no evidence suggests they ever stowed away on Air Force One.
Source => reaganlibrary.gov

12. The Birth of M&M's in WWII

When World War II soldiers found themselves in a (cocoa)nutshell of a situation with their melty chocolate treats, one man took matters into his own candy-coated hands: Forrest Mars Sr. saw the dilemma and created M&M's, a deliciously shielded chocolate snack with a hard shell, preventing any gooey mishaps, and named after the dynamic duo of confectionery - Mars & Murrie's!
Source => summerlandreview.com