Salt water taffy!

Many people enjoy salt-water taffy, but it was created by accident! In 1883 David Bradley’s candy store was flooded by a major storm and his taffy got soaked in salty Atlantic Ocean water. When a young girl came into the store asking for taffy Bradley jokingly offered her his new “salt-water taffy” but the young girl loved it and the name stuck. It wasn’t until Joseph Franlinger boxed up the candy and sold it as an Atlantic City souvenir that it became popular. Enoch James was Franlinger’s first major competition because he perfected the recipe making it less sticky and easier to unwrap, sold the candy in bite size pieces and mechanized the pulling process for taffy.  Although the first salt water taffy was sold because it was soaked in salt water, there is no salt water in modern salt water taffy today.

Customers buying salt water taffy in Atlantic city

Taffy Puller

-SugarPop's Candy and Soda shop

248 N Main St Mooresville, NC 28115

(704) 746-3166 

Smack it, Crack it! Turkish Taffy!

Smack it, Crack it!

Many people remember the iconic candy known as Turkish Taffy! It was sold up until 1989 but the chewy taffy made a comeback in 2010!  In 1897 Albert J. Bonomo founded the Bonomo Company in Coney Island, New York producing hard candy and salt-water taffy.  After World War II the Bonomo factory started producing Turkish Taffy in four delicious flavors; Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and banana! Originally Turkish Taffy was sold to stores in large sheets where they would then have to break pieces off with a small hammer and then sold to customers by the weight! In the late 1940’s Bonomo started producing the candy into bars, this is where the “Smack it, Crack it!” phrase came along. Up until the 1960’s Turkish Taffy bars still only cost a nickel, which, along with the slow melting taffy pieces, satisfied a lot of customers; making it a well-known candy bar! Today you can find Turkish Taffy not only in its regular flavors like vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and banana, but also in Blue Raspberry and Wild Cherry!

Check out how Turkish Taffy is made and some of the classic commercials! 

How its made

Commercials 

-SugarPop's Candy and Soda Shop

248 N Main St Mooresville, NC 28115

(704) 746-3166 

The Sky Bar!

In the 1930’s chocolate variety was very slim, that’s why when Necco came up with this unique chocolate bar they knew they had to make it special. Produced and announced to the public by dramatic sky writing in 1938, the Sky Bar is one of the most unique chocolate candy bars Necco has made. Filled with four different centers of caramel, vanilla, peanut, and fudge, its hard not to like this tasty chocolate bar! Not even 10 years later Americans would once again be “wowed” by the Sky bar, on VE-Day it was one of the only six working and illuminated signs in New York’s Time Square.

Necco is still a very popular candy company and still produces candy but their Sky Bar has become quite elusive. Many people are surprised and delighted when they see that here at SugarPop’s we carry such an iconic and elusive candy bar!

-SugarPop's Candy and Soda Shop 

248 North Main Street 

Mooresville, NC 28115 

(704) 799-0959

M&M's!

 "Melts in your mouth, not in your hand."

-M&M slogan

Who doesn’t love a bag of M&M’s? M&M’s can be found around the world in wonderful varieties such as peanut, pretzel, PB&J, and dark chocolate! This classic candy originated in the United States in 1941. In the 1930’s, during the Spanish Civil War, Forest Mars Sr. came up with the idea of M&M’s when he saw soldiers eating chocolate with tempered hard shells so the chocolate would not melt.  Production began in 1941, the two “m”s on the candy represent Forest Mars Sr. and Bruce Murrie, the son of the president of Hershey’s Chocolate. It wasn’t until the 1950’s that the beloved candy every one knows and loves came to be like the M&M’s we see today, peanut M&M’s were only tan and the colors red, yellow and green were added to the mix. Today 340 million M&M’s are produced daily to eat (or for decoration here at SugarPop’s)!

Take a look at how M&M's are made! 

Here at SugarPop's M&M's can make a delicious treat and beautiful decoration for any event!  

-SugarPop's Candy and Soda Shop 

248 North Main Street 

Mooresville, NC 28115 

(704) 799-0959

Jelly Belly jelly beans!

With over 100 different flavors, Jelly Belly jelly beans are hard not to like. It wasn’t until around the 1960’s that jelly beans were first made but their history goes back farther then that. In 1869 Gustav Goelitz opened up a candy business in Belleville, Illinois at the age of 24 making candy corn and “royal buttercreams”. His family continued the tradition and in 1965 jellybeans finally made a break through when the Mini Jelly Beans were infused with flavor in the center.

Gustav Goelitz in the front with his foot on a barrel. 

Jelly Belly jelly beans made another breakthrough in 1976 when they came up with the recipe that inspired many of the classic flavors everyone has come to love: Root Beer, Green Apple, Licorice, Cream Soda, Lemon, Tangerine, Very Cherry, and Grape. After the major recipe breakthrough they kept pushing the flavor boundaries creating unique and wonderful flavors, anything from strawberry daiquiri to jalapeno!

From there on out Jelly Belly jelly beans continued to wow America with its great taste and innovation, becoming loved by President Ronald Regan and even being sent into space!  Today around 46,000 kilos of Jelly Belly jelly beans are produced everyday!

-SugarPop's Candy and Soda shop

248 North Main Street 

Mooresville, NC 28115 

(704) 799-0959