Easter candy facts!

Easter is right around the corner! Do you have your easter baskets ready?

1.) Chocolate bunnies are a must have for any easter basket! Or maybe you prefer Peeps? More than 700 million Peeps, marshmallow bunnies, and marshmallow eggs are bought each easter season! This makes these tasty marshmallow treats the most popular non-chocolate item.

2.) 90 million chocolate bunnies are produced every year! Do you prefer milk or dark chocolate?

3.) Chocolate bunnies should be eaten ears first, according to 76% of Americans. Five percent said bunnies should be eaten feet first, while 4% favored eating the tail first.

4.) In 1953, it took 27 hours to create a marshmallow Peep. Now it takes about six minutes and about 5 million assorted Peeps are made each day in preparation for Easter.

5.) If we took all the Jellybeans that American's consume on Easter and lined them up end to end it would circle the earth nearly three times!

6.) What is your favorite Jellybean to eat on Easter? Children voted for their favorite jellybeans and the votes were: cherry (20%), strawberry (12%), grape (10%), lime (7%), and blueberry (6%).

7.) 70% of Easter candy bought is chocolate. 

8.) Easter is the second most popular candy holiday right after Halloween, beating out Valentines day by almost more than a billion dollars!


Candy isn't just for eating anymore! Try dyeing your easter eggs with some candy this year!

Now&Later's
-12 Now&Later candies (separate colors)
-2 cups of water
-1 tbsp of vinegar
Boil 2 cups of water with 1 tbsp of vinegar, add the Now&Laters and let simmer for 15 minutes. Strain into a mug or dish for dyeing.

Red Hots
-7 ounces of Red Hots (3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons)
-2 cups of water
-1 tbsp of vinegar
Boil 2 cups of water with 1 tbsp of vinegar, add the Red Hots and let simmer for 15 minutes. Strain into a mug or dish for dyeing

-SugarPop's Candy & Soda shop

248 N Main St, Mooresville, NC 28115
(704) 799-0959

Awesome Candies you will probably never eat again!

Sometimes the best things get discontinued for no reason. Have you ever tried any of these now discontinued or hard to find candies?

1.) Garbage Can-dy
These Garbage Can-dies were quirky and delicious! The package was shaped like little garbage cans and filled with Pez like candies shaped like things you would find in the trashcan; fish bones, shoes, dog toys, and a discarded soda bottle. Garbage Can-dy may be discontinued but we have something just as quirky for you: Sour Flush! Candy powder for dipping comes in a toilet shaped container with a plunger shaped sucker!

2.) BarNone
In 1986 Hershey tried to produce a gourmet chocolate bar before there were any gourmet chocolate bars! They tried combining aspects of all their best selling chocolate bars into one; peanuts, carmel, wafers and of course an over load of chocolate. In 1997 it was discontinued although some hope it will some day make a comeback.

3.) Chicken Dinner Bar 

Fortunately this candy didn't taste anything like chicken and was only a reference to Herbert Hoover's presidential campaign- "A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage." This candy was a chocolate covered nut roll that remained on shelves for almost 40 years before its original manufacturer was taken over by another. 

4.) Gator Gum 

This gum was introduced in the 1980's and was popular for only a short time and still has a whole legion of fans behind it. Gator gum was tart, to the point that some consumer's complained about it hurting their mouths. Unfortunately its shelf life was short lived, along with other drink companies trying to make gum flavors.  

5.) Tart n' Tiny 

In 1980 Tart n' Tiny by Wonka was hugely popular and their best selling candy. But by 1990 they became discontinued all together. With some luck you can still find a box or two floating around on the internet for sale, but if you happen to get your hands on a box we don't suggest eating the candy. 

Nerds!

According to Laurnie Wilson, "Some say that [Nerds were] named after a reference in the Dr. Seuss Book, If I Ran the Zoo, where a 'nerd' is mentioned as one of the creatures the narrator would collect for his zoo." Nerds are crunchy, sour, sweet and bright! Kids love this box full of treats because of the bright colors and delicious flavors. They were launched in 1983 by Angelo Farggos of the Nestle candy company and by 1985 they were voted "Candy of the Year" by the National Candy Wholesalers Association.
Nerds were very popular in the 1980s but had big competitors like Pop Rocks, Candy Buttons, and Mike and Ike's. They were generally, and still are today, sold in one box with two separate chambers to hold two different flavors of nerds. In the UK they once sold Nerds in a box with three separate chambers with a strawberry cola flavor that the United States never got to distribute. Nerds is a unique candy in its shape, size, and flavor but had a close cousin called Dweebs. Dweebs were slightly larger then an average Nerd, less sour, and were sold in three different flavors in one box; Dweebs only lasted a short time on the market. Nerds also tried to take off in the cereal market by creating a Nerd Cereal that came packaged just like the candy. Two separate cereal flavors in one box and it even came with a mail-in coupon to receive a nerds cereal bowl that you could separate your cereal into! Unfortunately, this cereal did not last long and is now discontinued.

This iconic candy comes in many flavors and forms! The most popular are the nerd boxes with these current flavors:

• Strawberry and Grape (Pink and Purple)
• Wild Cherry and Watermelon (orange or red and green)
• Double Dipped Lemonade-Wild Cherry and Apple-Watermelon (red and yellow)
• Sour-Lightning Lemon and Amped Apple (yellow and light green) 
• Surf n' Turf- Totally Tropical Punch and Road Rash Raspberry (red and blue) 
• Wildberry and Peach (blue and orange) 
• Wildberry and Punch and Watermelon (Green and Blue) 

Nerds has also morphed into different and just as unique products such as:

• Sour Nerds
• Nerds Rope- The factory makes about 60 miles of Nerd Ropes each day! 
• Rainbow Nerds
• Jumbo Nerds
• Nerds Gum ball 
• Theme Nerds
• Nerds Cereal 
• Techno-nerds
• Nerd Gum 
• Dweebs 
• Neon nerds- now only sold in Australia and New Zealand 
• Nerd Jelly Beans
• Wonkalate- A UK only chocolate bar that is purple in color and contains snozzberry flavored Nerds. 

See how Nerd Ropes are made! 

Wilson, Laurnie. "Candy Favorites – Wholesale Candy & Bulk Candy Suppliers Since 1927." A Nerd-tastic History. Candy Favorites, 1, Feb.2015.

SugarPop's Candy and Soda 
248 N. Main Street
Historic Downtown
Mooresville, Nc
28117
704-799-0959

Gummy candy!

Here at SugarPop's we don't mess around with our gummy candy! We have more then just your average gummy bears and worms, we have sharks, whales, army men, teeth, brains, chicken feet and much more! Gummy candy has a short and sweet history but it is one of the most popular candies today! 

The first gummy candy was invented by Hans Riegel when he invented the gummy bear during the 1920's. He owned the German candy company Haribo and went on the manufacture the first American gummy candy in 1982. In 1981, another German gummy candy manufacturer under the name of Trolli made the very first gummy worm, which soon became the most popular gummy candy ever made! 

Here is a brief history and some facts about other popular gummy candies!


Bottles
Bottles are sweets in the shape of classic Coca-Cola-style bottles with a cola flavor. They are produced by numerous companies. "Fizzy Blue Bottles", made by Lutti (formerly part of the French division of the Leaf Candy Company, now controlled by a private investment group), are sweets typically found in a pick and mix selection. They are very similar to cola bottle gummies in shape, but blue and pink colored and usually sour. "Blue Bottles", a variation from another company, have small rims around the sides, and are chewier and thicker, with a sweeter taste.

Rings
Ring-shaped gummy candy is often covered in sugar or sour powder. The most common and popular flavor is the peach ring, but other flavors include green apple, melon, blue raspberry, strawberry, and aniseed - although these are typically coated in chocolate. A commonly known producer of gummy rings is Trolli, for which the gummy rings are an important asset.


Red frogs
In Australia, jelly confectionery in the shape of frogs has been very popular since the 1930s. They are colored red or green, although they are usually referred to as "red frogs".

Road kill gummies
In February 2005, following complaints by the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Kraft decided to stop production of the controversial Trolli U.S. Road Kill Gummies. The society complained that the products, shaped as partly flattened squirrels, chickens and snakes, would give children an incorrect message on the proper treatment of animals.


Teeth gummies
In Australia, jelly confectionery in the shape of teeth has been very popular since the 1930s. They are colored pink and white, with pink representing the gums and teeth being white. They have a slight minty flavor, similar to mint toothpaste.

How gummy candy is made

Chocolate truffles

Anyone who has been into SugarPop's knows about our chocolate truffle case. It is filled with beautifully decorated and rich chocolate truffles of all kinds! Any chocolate connoisseur is familiar with the different shapes, sizes, and taste of truffles, but did you know that size, shape, and filling helps differentiate between three very different types of truffles?

This rich and delicious treat is thought to be first created by N. Petrucelli in Chambéry, France in 1895. His truffles became popular with the public with the establishment of Prestat chocolate shop in London by Antoine Dufour in 1902. Today there are three main types of chocolate truffles: American, European, and Swiss:

The "American truffle" is a half-egg shaped chocolate-coated truffle, a mixture of dark or milk chocolates with butterfat and, in some cases, hardened coconut oil. Joseph Schmidt, a San Francisco chocolatier, and founder of Joseph Schmidt Confections, is credited with its creation in the mid-1980s.
"Sweet surrender", Los Angeles Times, February 8, 2006

The "European truffle" is made with syrup and a base made up of cocoa powder, milk powder, fats, and other such ingredients to create an oil-in-water type emulsion.


The "Swiss truffle" is made by combining melted chocolate into a boiling mixture of dairy cream and butter, which is poured into molds to set before sprinkling with cocoa powder. Like the French truffles, these have a very short shelf-life and must be consumed within a few days of making.
Chocolate, Cocoa, and Confectionery: Science and Technology by Bernard W. Minifie (1999), page 545.

Along with these three main types of truffles there are also various other kind of truffles: 

The "California truffle" is a larger, lumpier version of the French truffle, first made by Alice Medrich in 1973 after she tasted truffles in France. She sold these larger truffles in a charcuterie in the "Gourmet Ghetto" neighborhood of Berkeley, then in 1977 she began selling them in her own store, Cocolat, which soon expanded into a chain. The American craze for truffles started with Medrich

A Canadian variation of the American truffle, known as the Harvey truffle, includes the addition of graham cracker crumbs and peanut butter.

The "French truffle" is made with fresh cream and chocolate and then rolled into cocoa or nut powder

The "Belgian truffle" or praline is made with dark or milk chocolate filled with ganache, buttercream or nut pastes

"Chocolate Truffle." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 04 Jan. 2015

Here is a brief video on how chocolatier's hand make chocolate truffles! 

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Blow Pops!

Blow pop's have been around for a long time and almost everyone is familiar with this fruity lollipop with a bubble gum center! This candy comes in many flavors such as; watermelon, cherry, grape, strawberry, sour apple, lemonade, orange, tangerine-mango, black cherry, blue raspberry, cherry ice and kiwi-strawberry. Originally they were called "Triple Treat" by their original manufacturer  Triple T Candy Company in 1969 and in 1973 they were re-branded under the name "Charms Blow Pop".

Walter W. Reid Jr. founded the Tropical Charms candy company in Bloomfield, New Jersey in 1912 in reference to the square shaped hard candy they sold, but shortened the name to Charms. Blow Pops are nut-free, peanut-free, gluten-free and during World War II the U.S Army included Charms's candies in combat rations as a supplement; the tradition has continued only with a few interruptions.

Lucille LaCapra is shown performing a quality-control weight check on candy manufactured by the Charms Candy Co. of Bloomfield in a photo from the late 1960s.

Walter Reid III, the son of the founder, took control of the company and soon made it the leading producer of hard candy in the world. When they invented the Charms Blow Pop, it was the first ever gum filled lollipop in the world.

In 1988 the Charms candy company was sold to the Tootsie Roll company where they then produced the Tootsie Pop and became the largest lollipop manufacturer in the world.