Bubble Gum

Chewing gum has been around for a very long time, dating back almost 9,000 years ago! There is some evidence that North Europeans were chewing birch bark tar for enjoyment and possibly to relieve toothaches. The Ancient Mayan and Aztec chewed on chicle which comes from sapodilla trees while in North America Indians chewed on spruce tree resin which continued with European settlers.

In 1840 John Curtis developed the first commercial spruce tree gum and in the 1850's he made the first chewing gum factory. But, spruce tree gum did not do well because it didn't taste that good and would become brittle when chewing which lead to the switch to paraffin wax. Soon after that Thomas Addams got his hands on chicle which helped him form a chewing gum company around 1880 but in the mid 1900's all gum manufactures had switched to synthetic materials.

Competition soared in the gum industry and every gum manufacturer was trying to develop new gum or ways to sell their gum to beat out their competition. Frank Fleer who had been in the gum industry since around 1885 wanted his product to stand out so he worked long and hard on trying to make a product that could blow bubbles. In 1906 he developed a chewing gum called Blibber-Bubbler but it was too sticky to blow into bubbles. It wasn't until 1928 that a Fleer employee named Walter Diemer accidentally made the right concoction to create the perfect bubble with chewing gum! It was named Dubble-Bubble

Walter Diemer wanted to test his new recipe so he took some gum over to a local store and it sold out by the end of the first day! To help sell the new gum Diemer taught store salesmen how to blow the perfect bubble so they could show people coming in who were interested.

Today gum is sold in many different flavors and shapes but Bubble Gum is usually pink, just like it was when Diemer first invited Dubble-Bubble.

Source: http://www.history.com/news/hungry-history/chew-on-this-the-history-of-gum

-SugarPop's Candy & Soda
248 N. Main Street
Historic Downtown
Mooresville, NC
(704)799-0959

Chupa Chups

Chupa chups have been around for quite some time! These lollipops come in a very wide variety from their classic flavors to filled lollipops and ice cream flavors! With their brightly colored fun wrapping and diverse flavors, no wonder they have been around for 50+ years!

Chupa chups came out in 1958 and were created by a man named Enric Bernat. During the 50's candies of different colors, shapes, and sizes were widely popular but they were all missing something- a stick. Kids would often take the candy out of their mouth to observe the changing colors , show their friends, or save for later in their pockets. You can imagine the mess it would make. Enric came up with the idea of putting a stick in his Chupa Chups to keep the mess to a minimal and make it more appealing to consumers.

Enric didn't come up with the quirky name Chupa chups. Originally he wanted the candy to be football shaped and name it "GOL" because of the shape and when you put it in your mouth it would be like scoring a goal. When he didn't like the name he hired an advertising team to come up with the name and create a jingle to go with it.

The Chupa Chups logo went through a couple changes before Salvador Dali had a creative revelation in 1988 and changed the logo to the bright a cheery daisy shape it is today. In 2008 Chupa Chups celebrated their 50th anniversary and held special events throughout the year in different countries world wide like Germany, France, the Philippines and finished with an MTV concert in Barcelona.

-SugarPop's Candy and Soda shop
248 N. Main Street
Mooresville, NC
704-799-0959

Red Hots or Cinnamon Imperials?

Red Hots or Cinnamon Imperials are a candy that everyone is familiar with. With their bright red color and spicy cinnamon smell and taste its hard to overlook this delicious candy! 

This spicy candy has been around for ages! Ferrara Pan Candy company was the first to manufacture these candies under the name of Cinnamon Imperials in 1932. Ferrara Pan Candy company is still the one and only company to manufacture the now Red Hots, once Cinnamon Imperials. Cinnamon Imperials are now sold as a general brand by many candy distributers.

Since Red Hots have been around since 1932 they have a large fan base! Not only can you eat these candies in their natural form but people are now using them to spice up their Jell-O or apple sauce to give it a nice spicy cinnamon flavor! Do you have any special Red Hot recipes?

-SugarPop's Candy&Soda shop
248 N Main St 
Mooresville, NC 28115 (704) 799-0959

Chocolate Turtles

There is nothing better than the classic combination of chocolate, caramel, and nuts. This combination is used in a variety of candies and chocolate bars.


Peanuts tend to be the choice nut for candies but in 1916 George Demet created the classic Turtle by adding pecans instead of peanuts in the city of Chicago. Just pecans dipped in chocolate was popular in the 1900's but Demet was the first to trademark this candy combination. It wasn't until 1918 that Turtles got their "turtle" name. A salesman went into the dipping room and pointed out to the dippers that the candy looked just like a turtle.

Today, Turtles are owned by Yildiz Holding and to keep up with demand they use 7,000 tons of chocolate and 13,000 tons of nuts! Not only do they come in their classic form, but they also come with cashews, sea salt caramel, dark almond, and hazelnut varieties!

-SugarPop's Candy

Whoppers

Whoppers are a classic and unique candy that can be found almost anywhere and is a great movie
theater candy!

These classic treats have a long history dating all the way back to 1887. In 1887, William Horlock created the very first malted milk powder in England which he had planned on marketing as a health food. Malted milk powder quickly became a staple sweetener for everything! The first chocolate covered malted milk ball came about in 1936 when Forrest Malt created Malteasers.

It wasn't until 1939 that Whoppers was introduced to the U.S under the name Giants by Overland Candies company. 10 years later Giants became Whoppers for seemingly no reason but the name stuck! When Whoppers first became available they were sold individually unwrapped until cellophane came along and then they were sold in sleeves. In 1950 the milk carton packaging came through and have stuck with Whoppers ever since. Today Whoppers not only come in the classic chocolate flavor but also Strawberry Milkshake and Reese's Peanut Butter Cup!

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. 

Swedish Fish!

It's rare that a bag of candy leaves SugarPop's without at least one Swedish Fish nestled between various other candies! Swedish fish are hugely popular in the candy scene and for a good reason. Their delicious cherry-esque flavor and sweet aroma has captured many hearts throughout the years, dating back to the late 1950's.

Swedish Fish first arrived in the states around the late 1950's as an import from the Swedish confectionery company Malaco. While Swedish Fish is considered a gummy candy, it is very different from the usual gummies one is used to eating. Swedish Fish contains no gelatin and is actually a wine gum candy (it doesn't actually contain wine), that is where its denseness comes from and it makes it a wholly vegetarian candy! After its debut in the states it became fully accepted into the candy scene between the 1960-1970's.

There has been much debate over what a Swedish Fish "Original red" flavor actually is. It has a very aromatic cherry smell upon first opening up a jar or bag filled with these treats and the tastes can go from cherry to raspberry, fruit punch or even lingonberry! Not even the candy company who produces Swedish Fish can tell consumers what the actual flavor is because it is a special flavor specifically crafted for Swedish Fish. Cadbury currently owns and distributes Swedish Fish in the U.S and produce the original red flavor, green, yellow, orange, and purple. 7,000 metric tons of Swedish Fish are produced each year, that could approximate to 1,929 orca whales!

In Sweden you can find a Swedish Fish called salmaik which is a salty black licorice flavor that is hugely popular and can be found almost anywhere in Sweden. In 2009 Rita's Italian Ice company released a Swedish Fish flavor that was hugely popular in the United States!

-SugarPop's Candy

248 North Main St.

Mooresville, NC 28115(704) 799-0959

Jaw Breaker

We have all had a jawbreaker in our lifetime and I think everyone can agree that a jawbreaker is a real commitment! Jawbreakers can range from the size of a small pebble to as big as a golf ball, some are hard all the way through and some have soft chewy centers. Here at SugarPop's we have brightly colored and marbled jawbreakers the size of golfballs and tiny jawbreaker that have a soft chewy center. 

Jawbreakers, or gobstoppers, rose to popularity due to Ferrari Pan Candy Company in Forest Park, Illinois. The term gobstopper comes from British slang being that gob refers to ones mouth and jawbreaker refers to how hard the candy is and how it can cause a substantial amount of dental problems due to the high sugar count and if one where to chomp down onto the jawbreaker. These candies can take a few hours to dissolve or weeks depending on their size or how determined a purchaser is. Jawbreakers take about a week to manufacture due to the many layers of sugar and color that has to be added to get the giant size and flavor! 

Fun trivia: 

The cartoon Ed, Edd n Eddy,  featuring three adolescent boys, had many episodes centered around the three boys trying different schemes to obtain a jawbreaker and in 2003 they released an Ed, Edd n Eddy game called Jawbreakers that centers around you trying to obtain 100 different jawbreaker flavors! 

See how Jawbreakers are made! 

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! 

He

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.

Fairy floss or Cotton candy?

It comes in various colors, flavors, and sizes that no kid can resist; sticky and sweet cotton candy! Everyone has enjoyed this fluffy treat at least once in their lifetime whether it be at a carnival, circus, or at a fundraiser, but did you know this sugary treat was co-invented by a dentist?

Four men invented fairy floss, now it is called cotton candy, in 1899: Thomas Patton, Josef Delarose Lascaux, John C. Wharton, and William Morrison. They debuted their cotton candy at the St. Louis World’s Fair and sold 68,655 boxes of cotton candy for 25 cents a box! That totaled to $17,163.75, which comes out to $411, 243.45 in modern day payment, which is quite a bit of money for the 1900’s. Sugar used to cost about four cents a pound, so they were practically spinning gold!

About 50 years later in 1949, Gold Metal Products invented and launched a new type of cotton candy machine that was more dependable and easier to use. From that point on cotton candy became a staple at any fair, circus, fund raisers, etc..

-SugarPop's 

248 N. Main Street

Mooresville, NC

28117

(704)799-0959

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 

Chocolate!

We offer a wide variety of chocolate from milk chocolate to dark chocolate, but this delicious treat wasn’t always the way it is now. Chocolate consumption can be dated back to Pre-Columbian Mexico were the Mayans and Aztecs used the beans from the cocoa tree to make a drink called Xocoatll that was bitter and frothy. From 1528 up until 1847, chocolate was not widely accepted and was still made into the frothy bitter drink the Mayans and Aztecs used to consume. In 1847 Fry and Sons created the first “eating chocolate” but also did not attract much attention because the chocolate was still bitter in taste. It wasn’t until Daniel Peter, a famous Swiss chocolatier, experimented with the chocolate and added milk to balance the flavors did it become a huge success. 

Fun fact: White Chocolate really isn’t chocolate! It is made with powder from a Mediterranean evergreen and only has the same consistency as regular chocolate.   

How its made: Luxury chocolate

How its made: Hershey chocolate 

-SugarPop's Candy and Soda shop

248 N Main St Mooresville, NC 28115

(704) 746-3166