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

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. 

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 

Milky Way!

There’s no one who doesn’t know Mar’s Milky Way candy bar, delicious chocolate-malt nougat topped with caramel and covered in milk chocolate! With such a great combination how could you go wrong with this candy?

The Milky Way was first created in 1923 by Frank C. Mars and was named after a popular milkshake, no the Earth’s galaxy!  In 1926 the Milky Way bar was originally sold as a two-piece bar, one with chocolate nougat and one vanilla but was separated 1936 were separated.  The common vanilla nougat Milky Way bar was branded as many different names such as “Forever Yours”, “ Milky Way Dark”, and “Milky Way Midnight”, but now it is simply just Milky Way.

In different countries the Milky Way comes in many different varieties such as Milky Way Crisp rolls in the UK, fruit flavored Milky Ways in Australia and ice cream Milky Way’s that are offered here in the U.S.!

-SugarPop's Candy and Soda shop

-SugarPop's Candy and Soda Shop

248 N Main St Mooresville, NC 28115

(704) 746-3166 

Goo Goo Cluster!

Creamy milk chocolate, roasted peanuts, gooey caramel and marshmallow nougat, a true “Southern Treat” as the company puts it. The Goo Goo cluster revolutionized candy bars as we know them, it was one of the first candies that consisted of more then one principal ingredient! This delicious candy was first produced in 1912, in Nashville, TN at Standard Candy Company in a copper kettle.  The name for the Goo Goo cluster comes from the idea that “Goo goo” is the first words a baby tries to speak, so, “It’s so good, people will ask for it from birth!”

What makes this candy interesting is not only where its ingredients combination really un heard of for one candy bar, but also its shape. Goo Goo clusters are circular in a time where square and rectangle candies were the norm. Due to their round shape Goo Goo clusters where first shown un wrapped and had to be displayed under a glass dome in stores, soon after that women in the factory would hand wrap each Goo Goo cluster until eventually machinery took over. At Standard Candy in Nashville today they can produce 20,000 Goo Goo clusters in an hour!

-SugarPop's Candy and Soda Shop

248 N Main St Mooresville, NC 28115

(704) 746-3166