Candy cane
Encyclopedia
Peppermint
Peppermint is a hybrid mint, a cross between the watermint and spearmint . The plant, indigenous to Europe, is now widespread in cultivation throughout all regions of the world...
or cinnamon
Cinnamon
Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum that is used in both sweet and savoury foods...
; however, it is also made in a variety of other flavors and may be decorated with stripes of different colors and thicknesses. The candy cane is available year-round, but traditionally surrounds the Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
holiday, particularly in North America.
Origins
In its early form, the candy cane began as a simple white stick of sugarSugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
for children to eat - there was no "cane" shape or stripes to speak of. While it is uncertain where the first canes originated, it is clear that by the mid-17th century, if not earlier, its use had already become widespread across Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. These sticks were made by confectioners who had to pull, cut, twist, and (in later years) bend the sugar sticks by hand, making it a time-intensive process. Candy cane production had to be done locally, since they were easily damaged and vulnerable to moisture. The labour required, and difficulty of storage, combined to make these candies relatively hard to get, although popular.
The Candy Cane was first manufactured in the 1920’s when Bob McCormack in Albany, Georgia first started making them as Christmas treat, giving them out to children, family, friends, and co-workers. Candy Cane production was a labor intensive process, done only by hand, until the candy cane machine was invented in the 1950’s by Bob McCormack’s brother in-law, Gregory Keller, who was also a Catholic priest. This machine made it possible to ship candy canes and it made the production of the traditional Christmas treat a lot easier. The candy cane machine transformed Bob’s Candies Inc. into the largest producer of candy canes in the world.
The cane shape
The distinctive "hook" shape associated with candy canes is traditionally credited to a choirmaster at Cologne CathedralCologne Cathedral
Cologne Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church in Cologne, Germany. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and the administration of the Archdiocese of Cologne. It is renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture and is a World Heritage Site...
in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, who, legend has it, in 1670 bent straight candy stick
Candy stick
Candy stick may refer to:*Stick candy, a long, cylindrical hard candy with different colors and flavors swirled together.*A candy cigarette.*Micrurus fulvius, also known as the eastern coral snake, a venomous elapid found in the United States....
s into canes to represent a shepherd
Shepherd
A shepherd is a person who tends, feeds or guards flocks of sheep.- Origins :Shepherding is one of the oldest occupations, beginning some 6,000 years ago in Asia Minor. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat and especially their wool...
's crook, and gave them to children at church services. The shepherd's staff is often used in Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
as a metaphor for The Good Shepherd Jesus Christ. It is also possible that, as people decorated their Yule
Yule
Yule or Yuletide is a winter festival that was initially celebrated by the historical Germanic people as a pagan religious festival, though it was later absorbed into, and equated with, the Christian festival of Christmas. The festival was originally celebrated from late December to early January...
trees with food, the bent candy cane was invented as a functional solution.
Christmas usage
In EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, candy canes were used to decorate Yule
Yule
Yule or Yuletide is a winter festival that was initially celebrated by the historical Germanic people as a pagan religious festival, though it was later absorbed into, and equated with, the Christian festival of Christmas. The festival was originally celebrated from late December to early January...
trees along with other items of food. In North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, the first documented example of the use of candy canes to celebrate Christmas occurred in 1847, when a German-Swedish immigrant by the name of August Imgard hung the candy canes from the branches of a Christmas tree
Christmas tree
The Christmas tree is a decorated evergreen coniferous tree, real or artificial, and a tradition associated with the celebration of Christmas. The tradition of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas started in Livonia and Germany in the 16th century...
. Christmas cards from the following decades show Christmas trees decorated with candy canes, first white canes, then striped ones in the 20th century. This then spread to the rest of the continent, where it continues to remain a popular Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
tradition.
Candy canes are primarily used as a decoration for Christmas trees. This is done by using the "hook" shape of the candy cane to hang them on branches of the Christmas tree. A single tree can have many candy canes.
Red stripes and peppermint flavor
The stripes are made similar in fashion to a barber's pole, with the red stripes twisting around the white stick of sugar. These signature stripes did not become part of the candy cane until the 19th century. It is uncertain who first started using the stripes, but evidence of their use only appears after the turn of the century. At around this time, candy makers began using peppermintPeppermint
Peppermint is a hybrid mint, a cross between the watermint and spearmint . The plant, indigenous to Europe, is now widespread in cultivation throughout all regions of the world...
as a flavor.
One of the first documented candy canes in this form is the polkagris
Polkagris
Polkagris is a Swedish candy stick or straight candy cane that was invented in 1859 in the town of Gränna, Sweden, and remains a popular candy tradition in the town...
, invented in 1859.
Mass production
Bobs CandiesBobs Candies
Bobs Candies are a brand of candy manufactured by Farley's & Sathers Candy Company.It currently comes in the following products:* Assorted Sticks* Butterscotch* Candy Balls* Caramel Chews* Cherry Lumps* Chocolate Mint Chews* IBC Root Beer Float Chews...
was the first company to successfully mass-produce and distribute candy canes while preserving their freshness. Lt. Bob McCormack began making candy canes as special Christmas treats in the 1920s. That decade also saw the company's use of cellophane
Cellophane
Cellophane is a thin, transparent sheet made of regenerated cellulose. Its low permeability to air, oils, greases, bacteria and water makes it useful for food packaging...
as a wrapping to keep moisture from damaging the candies, and by the 1950s, they were using a candy cane machine invented by his brother-in-law Gregory Keller to mass-produce them. These two inventions made it feasible to mass produce, ship, and distribute candy canes. The following years saw further refinements in packaging and design to protect the candies from being broken, making it more practical to store them and ship them for longer periods of time.
When making candy canes, sweeteners are the primary ingredients. Coloring, flavorings, and processed ingredient as well as water and raw materials are used to produce the appropriate texture, taste, and appearance. For example, without corn syrup, candy canes would be transparent. But beyond the sugar and corn syrup, molasses, glucose syrups, and other crude sugars are sometimes added. Wintergreen and peppermint oil are what candy cane factories often use to give the original candy canes their mint flavor.
Modern reinterpretations
There is a modern allegorical tradition that reinterprets the candy cane's shape as a "J", standing for Jesus Christ or the right side up standing for the shepherds that came to visit baby Jesus. The stripes are said to represent his sacrifice, with the red being blood, and the white being purity. However, no historical information to support any claim that the cane was originally made with this allegory in mind has been produced, so it is regarded as an urban legend.Other uses of the pattern
Candy cane stripes have been used as a daymarkDaymark
A daymark or a day marker is a structure such as a tower constructed on land as an aid to navigation by sailors. While similar in concept to a lighthouse, a daymark does not have a light and so is usually only visible during daylight hours...
for lighthouse
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
s. See White Shoal Light
White Shoal Light (Michigan)
The White Shoal Light is a lighthouse located 20 miles west of the Mackinac Bridge in Lake Michigan. It is an active aid to navigation.-Overview:...
. Indeed, the phrase "Candy stripe" is a generic description of the candy cane color scheme
Color scheme
In color theory, a color scheme is the choice of colors used in design for a range of media. For example, the use of a white background with black text is an example of a basic and commonly default color scheme in web design....
. Candy striper is a generic name for a hospital volunteer.
External links
- Candy Cane, Answers.com
- History of Candy Canes, About.com
- Images of Candy Canes, Wikimedia CommonsWikimedia CommonsWikimedia Commons is an online repository of free-use images, sound and other media files. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation....