Not Just for Kids: Americans
over 18 years of age consume
65% of the candy that’s
produced each year
74% of kids eat the ears on
chocolate bunnies first
Great supplies of licorice
were found in King Tut’s
tomb
Cotton Candy is made out of
100% sugar
Americans eat 25 pounds of
candy, per person, per year.
But the people of Denmark
eat 36 pounds of candy per
person, per year!
Chocolate Manufacturers
Association members use
about 3,500,000 pounds of
whole milk every day to
make chocolate
First chocolate factory in the
US, called the Walter Baker
Company, was established in
1765
Some candies, such as
lollipops, candy canes, and
gummi bears, do not contain
fat or cholesterol, making
them a healthier treat than
many people realize. Gum
drops, licorice twists, and
sour balls are also free of fat
and cholesterol. What’s
more, many of these candies
are low in calories. A cup of
candy corn, for example, has
fewer calories than a cup of
raisins.
Chocolate chips were
introduced by Nestle in 1939,
and they now produce about
250 million each day
After experimenting for eight
years trying to find a way to
add milk to chocolate, Daniel
Peter of Switzerland created
milk chocolate in 1875. Peter
sold his creation to his
neighbor, Henri Nestle.
During the 1970s, Telly
Savalis was known for his
role as a tough New York
City Detective named Kojak.
In the show, Kojak was
known for always having a
sucker.
The original 3 Musketeers
Bar of the 1930s had three
parts: chocolate, vanilla and
strawberry. It became all
chocolate in the 1940s
The Midwest and Northeast
consume more candy per
region than the South,
Southwest, West, or Mid-
Atlantic states
Cacao beans were so valued
in ancient Mexico that the
Maya and later civilizations
used them as currency to
purchase small household
items and pay for various
services; a large tomato was
worth one bean, a rabbit 10
beans, and a slave 100 beans.
Taxes levied against
conquered tribes were also
paid in cacao beans, but by
the sack, each containing
about 24,000 beans
About 65% of American
candies have been around for
more than 50 years
Cacao is a South American
tree whose seeds are the
source of cocoa and
chocolate
Many botanists believe that
the fist cacao trees grew wild
in the Amazon basin or in the
Orinoco valley of South
America. The domestication
of the cacao tree, however,
did not begin until it reached
the lush tropic lowlands of
southern Mexico over 3000
years ago.
In Europe during the Middle
Ages, the high cost of sugar
made sugar candy a delicacy
available only to the wealthy
During ancient times, the
Egyptians, the Arabs, and the
Chinese prepared confections
of fruit and nuts candied in
honey
Once upon a time…in San
Diego, a woman named
Eleanor Abbot created a
game. She was a recovering
Polio patient and decided to
make a game that would
entertain children affected
with the disease. She
submitted her board game to
Milton Bradley, who
enthusiastically accepted it
for production. Before she
knew it, in 1949, a new game
called Candy Land was
introduced.
The first Candy Land games
were sold for only a dollar.
The advertisements assured
parents that the game fulfilled
“the sweet tooth yearning of
the younger set without the
tummy ache aftereffects”
As the packaging proudly
stated for 30 years, Candy
Land is a “sweet little
game…for sweet little folks”.
To date, Candy Land’s
distinctive red and white
peppermint name has been
printed on over 40 million
games.
In a December 2005 Forbes magazine
feature about the most popular American
toys, Candy Land led the list for the
1940s. The game has changed with the
times undergoing minor revisions,
resulting in four primary versions.
Original versions featured place names,
but no characters. Children wouldn’t
meet Gloppy the Molasses Monster, for
example, until later. That character is
known today as Gloppy the Chocolate
Monster.
Additional versions of Candy
Land featuring popular
children’s franchises occupy
the market. Dora the Explorer
and Winnie the Pooh have
their own adaptations.
The Give Kids the World
Village, a nonprofit resort in
Florida for children with life-
threatening illnesses, boasts a
life-size Candy Land
playground and also
partnered with Hasbro to
offer an edition to benefit the
family resort.
While many parents and
educators praise Candy Land
for its ability to teach good
sportsmanship along with
basic counting and color-
identification skills, the game
has its critics. In a country
where childhood obesity has
reached dangerous levels,
some say a game focusing on
sugary sweets might entice
kids to overindulge their
sweet tooths.
Hasbro, which purchased
Candy Land from Milton
Bradley in 1984, became
embroiled in a trademark
lawsuit in 1996. Hasbro sued
an online adult magazine that
presented sexually explicit
material under the web site
candyland.com. The court
ruled on Hasbro’s side and
ordered the adult web site to
find a new web address.
Hasbro will release Candy
Land: Sweet Celebration
Game this fall in honor of the
th
game’s 60 anniversary.
Universal Pictures has hired
Ethan Cohen to write and
Kevin Lima to direct a live-
action feature based on
Candy Land, and the film is
slated for release in 2011.
By the mid-1800s, over 380 American
factories were producing candy,
primarily “penny candy” which was
sold loose from glass cases in general
stores.
Candy is simply made by
dissolving sugar in water.
The different heating levels
determine the types of candy:
hot temperatures make hard
candy, medium heat will
make soft candy and cool
temperatures make chewy
candy.
Sweet-making developed rapidly into
an industry during the early
nineteenth century through the
discovery of sugar beet juice and the
advance of mechanical appliances.
Homemade hard candies such as
peppermints and lemon drops became
popular in America during that time.
The Aztecs of Mexico
introduced Europe to
th
chocolate in the 16 century.
Sixty million chocolate
Easter bunnies are produced
each year.
It takes 6 minutes to produce
a Marshmallow Peep.
The melting point of cocoa butter is
just below the human body
temperature—which is why it literally
melts in your mouth. Or your hands!
The first recipe for brownies
appeared in the 1896 edition
of the Fannie Farmer
Cookbook
During the Gold Rush,
Etienne Guittard arrived in
California from Paris,
bringing with him the
knowledge obtained in his
uncle’s chocolate factory in
Paris. He started the Guittard
Chocolate Company in 1868,
which is still family owned
and operated.
Dominbro Ghiradelli of Italy
began making chocolate in
San Francisco during the
Gold Rush of 1849. His
original factory still stands at
Ghiradelli Square
Milton Hershey set up his
confectionary shop in
Philadelphia in 1871 at the
age of 19
Most people are not allergic to
chocolate. A recent study showed that
only one out of 500 people who
thought they were allergic to
chocolate actually tested positive
The US produces more
chocolate than any other
country in the world, but the
Swiss consume the most,
followed closely by the
United Kingdom
Hershey’s kisses were first
made in 1907; today,
Hershey makes about 20-25
million per day
The Nestle Crunch Bar was
developed in 1938
Chocolate is America’s
favorite flavor. A recent
survey revealed that 52
percent of US adults said
they like chocolate best. The
second flavor was a tie (at 12
percent each) between berry
flavors and vanilla
Chocolate manufacturers
currently use 40 percent of
the world’s almonds and 20
percent of the world’s
peanuts
71% of American chocolate
eaters prefer milk chocolate
According to a recent survey
conducted by NCA/CMA,
candy is the number one
choice among children for
afternoon snacking
Licorice comes from a plant
called the Glycyrrhiza,
meaning “sweet root” in
Greek. During the Middle
Ages, crusaders brought
licorice to England.
Many pharaohs and prophets
enjoyed licorice. Soldiers
were recorded drinking
licorice to quench their thirsts
on long marches