There's so many origin stories on the candy cane that there's no way to be sure where or when it originated. A common tale is that an 1847 reference has German immigrant August Imgard of Wooster, Ohio, as the person who introduced the candy sticks to America. He would decorate his house up at Christmastime with candy canes.
OK, so maybe it's not true. But it's a pretty good idea. The myth is that about 1670, a choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral in Germany had had it with noisy kids in church. So, to keep their little mouths busy, he came up with a stick of peppermint, bent to look like a shepard's staff, and gave it out to the ankle biters. Fun. But fake.
There was a time when candy canes were as straight as Rep. Daryl Metcalfe. Again, no one knows for sure, but the first visual reference to candy canes with the J-shape or the red-and-white swirl didn't show up until the early 20th century. Christmas cards before that time showed only straight, plain white peppermint sticks.
Well, that's what they told the National Confectioners Association who conducted a survey of 500 kids — ages 6-11 — on how they prefer to consume their candy canes. Most of them (54%) say they suck on them. Biting/crunching (24%) came in second, with licking (19%) being the third choice — 2% said they didn't know, 1% said "other" (whatever that would freakin' mean). Boys were more likely to crunch (31%) than girls (17%). ... Stop it!
Damn we eat a lot of candy canes. The National Confectioners Association says about 1.2 billion candy canes are made each year, with 90% of them being sold between Thanksgiving and Christmas. OK, but who the hell is buying candy canes in June?
The world's largest candy cane was built in Geneva, Ill., by chef Alain Roby in 2012. The candy cane was 51 feet long, required about 900 pounds of sugar and now holds the Guinness World Record. You think that's weird? We think it weirder that there's a ton more candy cane-related records that have been set . People ... seriously!
There is nothing right about this man. Nothing.
It was 1919 and Bob McCormack's Famous Candy Company was creating candy canes by hand in Albany, Ga. But it was a very slow process (they had to bend the canes by hand). His brother-in-law — a Catholic priest by the name of Gregory Harding Keller — came up with the Keller Machine, which automated the candy-cane-making process, thereby making it possible to churn out millions a day. Thank God.
Peppermint candy canes are touted for some substantial health benefits including aiding in gastrointestinal discomfort, curbing cravings, easing headaches, relieving stuffy noses, and of course, freshening breath.
Candy canes are sweet AF!
What better symbol of Christmas? (OK, other than the Nativity.)
But our sweet tooth is strong, and we're all about that red-and-white bent stick of joy. So, we wanted to get to know it better. The team at Everybody Craves mined some interesting things about the candy that we didn't realize.
Here's 6 of them: