Candy Trivia

  • Pop Rocks 
    In 1956 William Mitchell a general foods chemist was looking for a way to make instant carbonated soda pop by trapping carbon dioxide in hard candy tablets.  One afternoon he popped some nuggets he was experimenting with into his mouth... and felt them pop.  No one at General foods could think of a use for the substance, so it was shelved for almost 20 years,  But in 1975 it was introduced as pop rocks -- and became the hottest selling candy in history.  Between 1975 and 1980, more than 500 million packets were sold.
     
  • Pez
    Invented in 1927 by Eduard Haas, an Austrian anti-smoking fanatic who marketed peppermint-flavored PEZ as a cigarette substitute.  The candy gets its name from the German word for peppermint. Pfefferrminze.  Haas brought the candy to the U.S. in 1952.  It bombed, so he reintroduced it as a children's toy, complete with cartoon heads and fruity flavors. (one of the most secretive companies in the U.S., PEZ won't even disclose who currently owns the company.)
     
  • Charleston Chew.  Sometimes the names of candy bars come from fads that are popular when they are introduced.  The Charleston Chew was introduced during the roaring 20's, when the Charleston dance craze was in full swing.
     
  • M&M's In 1930, Frank Mars a Chicago Candy maker told his son Forrest to get out of the country and not come back.  Forrest went to England with a few thousand dollars and the recipe for his father's Milky ways.  He set up shop and began selling his own version of the candy bars.  While in England, Forrest discovered Smarties a candy coated chocolate treat that was popular with the Brits,  He bought the rights to market Smarties in America, where he went into partnership with a business associate named Bruce Murrie.  The Candy's were called M&M's short for Mars & Murrie.  In 1964, after much family bickering, the American and British companies finally merged.
     
  • Three Musketeers.  Advertising in the 50's and 60's suggested that the Three Musketeers got its name because it was a big enough for three people to share.  The truth is, it was originally made of three separate nougat sections: vanilla, chocolate and strawberry.  Eventually, the strawberry and vanilla nougat sections were eliminated, leaving only the chocolate nougat.