The Caveman was the first to sample candy by eating the honey from bee hives… what a Geico commercial that would make. History actually traces candy back 3,500 years to the Egyptians who along with the Chinese would mix honey with fruit & nuts, however since sugar was so expensive, candy was only available to the wealthy. I guess the only skinny people with teeth were the poor.
Of course, Halloween is the number 1 candy selling holiday, but Christmas is a very close 2nd with all the Candy Canes, Hershey, Dove, Lindt & Ghiradelli Chocolates given as special treats around the Holidays to all you Chocoholics out there!
I find it a bit ironic that basic candy is made simply of sugar & water, yet averages a yearly consumption by Americans of 65 percent of the candy produced! I came across another curious bit of trivia… Huge supplies of licorice were found in King Tut’s tomb. What???? Why & who put it there? It does have numerous medicinal purposes… I hope they knew its laxative effect. Well, maybe that’s what kept ‘em going.
Valentines Day… Oh, and those adorable Conversation Hearts … yep, way back when, the colonists made candy with love notes scratched on them. Then in 1860 Daniel Chase took it one step further & created candy wrapped in paper with printed sayings. By 1900 (things were a bit slower back then) the Candy Hearts were created with the familiar sayings we all know & love – “Be Mine” & “Kiss Me”. Generally about 8 BILLION candy hearts are sold each year! Valentine’s is approaching … come on people, let’s try to make that 9 BILLION!
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