The Weird and Wonderful Stories Behind Your Favorite Candies

Candy-making is often a precise science, but sometimes, a dash of chaos or a bizarre piece of equipment leads to something truly delicious. From accidental discoveries to unlikely inventions, here are some of the most unusual backstories in the world of sweets.

Many of our most beloved candy treats are the result of happy accidents. A moment of inattention or a failed experiment can sometimes yield a sugary success.

Some candy stories are like a movie plot: full of drama, unlikely heroes, and surprise twists.

Cotton Candy: The Dentist's Delight

It might seem odd that a dentist would invent a sugary treat, but that's exactly what happened with cotton candy. In 1897, a dentist named William Morrison and a confectioner named John C. Wharton teamed up to create a machine that used centrifugal force to spin melted sugar into a fluffy, thread-like confection. They called it "Fairy Floss" and introduced it at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, where they sold over 68,000 boxes. The name was later changed to cotton candy. The unique cotton candy flavor is iconic as the number of candies attests.

Life Savers: A "Pill" for Summer Sales

The iconic Life Savers candy was born out of a business problem. In 1912, a Cleveland chocolate manufacturer named Clarence Crane was struggling with poor sales during the hot summer months. His chocolate products would melt, making them difficult to sell and transport. He needed a summer candy that could withstand the heat.

His solution came from an unlikely source: a pharmacy. Crane was in a drugstore one day and noticed a hand-operated pill-making machine that produced flat, round pills. He realized he could adapt this equipment to create a hard, non-melting mint. The machine even had the bonus of punching a hole in the center of the candy, which made it melt in the mouth faster.

The hole was also a key part of his marketing strategy. Crane named his new candy "Life Savers" because of its resemblance to a life preserver. He even used a slogan, "For That Stormy Breath," playing on the nautical theme. While the urban legend that the hole was meant to prevent choking is a myth, the unique shape was a brilliant way to differentiate his product from the square mints that were common at the time.

Pop Rocks: A Chemical Conundrum

Pop Rocks are famous for the explosive, popping sensation they create in your mouth. This isn't magic; it's food science at its most playful. In 1956, chemist William A. Mitchell, who also invented Tang and Cool Whip, was trying to create a powdered, carbonated soft drink tablet. His experiment failed to produce a drink, but it did create a solid candy with tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide trapped inside. When the candy dissolves on the tongue, these bubbles are released, creating the popping and crackling sound. The candy's unusual process and unique effect led to urban legends and a temporary halt in production in the 1980s, but they've since made a triumphant return as a quirky, nostalgic treat.

Pez: A Smoking Alternative

The Pez dispenser is a cultural icon, but its origin is anything but a kid's treat. In 1927, Austrian inventor Eduard Haas III created the small, brick-shaped mints as a breath freshener and an alternative to smoking. The name "Pez" is a shortening of the German word for peppermint, "Pfefferminz." The first dispensers were simple, utilitarian boxes designed to appeal to adults. It wasn't until the 1950s, when Pez was introduced in the United States, that the company pivoted to a child-focused market, adding fruit flavors and, most importantly, the now-famous character heads on top of the dispensers. The result was a radical transformation from a smoking cessation aid into a beloved toy and collectible.

Black Jack Gum: From Mexican General to Candy Icon

The story of Black Jack chewing gum is one of the most unlikely in candy history. It all begins with Antonio López de Santa Anna, the infamous Mexican general who led the charge at the Alamo. After being exiled from Mexico, Santa Anna sought refuge in New York, where he brought with him a large lump of chicle, a natural gum from the sapodilla tree that he, like many in Central America, enjoyed chewing.

He attempted to sell the chicle to American inventor and photographer Thomas Adams as a cheap substitute for rubber, which Adams was hoping to use for bicycle tires. Adams tried to vulcanize the chicle, a process used to make rubber more durable, but his experiments failed spectacularly. With an entire ton of chicle on his hands and no rubber to show for it, Adams was at a loss.

He then had a moment of inspiration. Recalling that Santa Anna loved to chew the substance, Adams decided to boil a small batch of the chicle in his kitchen and sell it as a chewing gum. It was an instant hit. He called it "Adams' New York Gum."

Building on this success, Adams's company eventually developed the first flavored chewing gum in America in 1884. He added a licorice flavor to his chicle gum and called it Black Jack. Not only was it the first flavored gum, but it was also the first gum to be sold in the now-standard stick shape, replacing the crude pellets and chunks that were common at the time.

To add another twist to the story, Adams main rival was William Wrigley Jr., who initially started out selling soap. Wrigley's marketing strategy was simple but genius: he gave away free packages of chewing gum with every bar of soap he sold. The gum was so popular that he eventually abandoned the soap business and focused entirely on gum, creating iconic brands like Wrigley's Spearmint and Juicy Fruit.

Beemans Gum: The Lucky Charm of Aviation

The story of Beemans gum is a tale of a medical remedy that found a second life in the skies. In the late 19th century, an Ohio physician named Dr. Edward E. Beeman was a specialist in digestive disorders. He discovered that pepsin, an enzyme derived from the stomach of hogs, could aid digestion. His initial efforts to sell pepsin in powder form were a bust.

It was his bookkeeper, Nellie Horton, who had a brilliant suggestion: put the pepsin in chewing gum. Dr. Beeman followed her advice and created a pepsin-infused gum, which he marketed as a cure for indigestion and seasickness. The gum, with its slightly wintergreen flavor, didn't immediately take off, perhaps due to the unfortunate early wrapper design that featured a pig. Horton eventually convinced him to replace the pig with his own portrait, and the gum's fortunes changed.

The most fascinating part of its story, however, came much later. Beemans gum became the unofficial "lucky charm" of early aviators. Pilots in the 1930s and 1940s, including legendary test pilot Chuck Yeager, would chew Beemans before every flight. They believed the pepsin in the gum helped to prevent airsickness, and the act of chewing helped to equalize the pressure in their ears during high-altitude flights. Yeager was famously quoted in the film *The Right Stuff*, asking, "Hey Ridley, got any Beemans?" before his historic flight, solidifying the gum's place in aviation lore.

The Beemans brand, along with Black Jack, Teaberry and Clove, has seen several stops and starts in production over the years, often due to declining sales. However, a dedicated cult following, largely fueled by its connection to aviation history and its prominent feature in movies like The Right Stuff and Indiana Jones, has repeatedly brought it back from the brink of extinction. It's a testament to a candy whose unusual origin and quirky reputation have made it more than just a piece of gum—it's a piece of history.

Jelly Beans: The Civil War Connection

The exact origin of the jelly bean is murky, but one popular theory connects them to the American Civil War. Boston candy maker William Schraft is said to have encouraged soldiers to send his "jelly beans" to their loved ones. The candy itself is a marriage of two different confectionary techniques: the jelly center, inspired by Turkish delight, and the hard, sugar shell, a technique known as "panning," which was used to make Jordan almonds and other similar candies. The combination was a perfect storm of chewiness and crunch, making it an instant hit. The candy's elliptical shape and a process that allows for a wide array of colors and flavors made it a perfect fit for a symbol of spring and, eventually, a staple of Easter baskets.

Pixy Stix has had a fascinating journey that started with a happy accident

The story of Pixy Stix begins with a powdered drink mix called **Frutola**, created by the Fruzola Company in Salt Lake City, Utah. The powder, intended to be mixed with water like Kool-Aid, was sold in penny packets. However, the creator, J. Fish Smith, noticed that children were more interested in eating the sweet and sour powder directly from the package.

Smith leaned into this unexpected consumer behavior. He modified the formula and rebranded the product as a candy powder called **Lik-M-Aid**. The packaging included a small spoon for kids to more easily scoop the sugar into their mouths.

A new company, Sunline, Inc., was founded in St. Louis, Missouri, to manufacture and market Lik-M-Aid nationwide. Sunline, Inc. introduced a new way to package the popular candy powder: in color-striped paper straws. This new product was branded as Pixy Stix. This innovative packaging method became the iconic form we know today.

1963: SweeTarts were a direct response to parental complaints about the messiness of the powdered Pixy Stix. Sunline compressed the same mixture into a tablet form, creating a less-messy candy.

The Snickers Bar's Family Drama

The story of the Snickers Bar is less about a strange process and more about a charming, and slightly unusual, origin. In 1930, Frank Mars, the founder of Mars Candy, introduced a new candy bar: nougat topped with caramel and peanuts, all covered in milk chocolate. He named it after his family's favorite horse, Snickers. This simple, personal tribute to a beloved animal became one of the most popular candy bars in the world. It’s a sweet reminder that even massive corporations can have a humble, heartfelt origin story.

The Accidental Invention of the Marshmallow Peep

The original Marshmallow Peep was not the cute, puffy chick we know today. When the candy was first created by the Rodda Candy Company in the 1950s, it was a laborious, handmade process. Each peep was individually squeezed from a pastry tube, a process that took 27 hours per peep. The marshmallow was so sticky and fragile that it could only be handled by hand.

The modern Peep's success is owed to a massive technological leap. In 1954, a company called Just Born (which had just bought Rodda) created an automated machine that could produce the candies in just six minutes. This revolutionary process made Peeps a mass-market treat, allowing them to be produced in huge quantities and in various shapes and colors. The contrast between the slow, handcrafted origins and the modern, high-speed production line is a truly entertaining part of candy history.

Currently, Circus Peanuts are an insanely popular marshmallow candy you may have forgotten about.

Bubble Gum: The Chewy Mistake

Bubble gum wasn't invented on purpose; it was an accident born from a failed chewing gum experiment. In 1928, Walter E. Diemer, a Fleer Company accountant, was trying to create a new chewing gum formula. He found that a batch of gum he was working on was less sticky and more elastic than any he had seen before. He had stumbled upon the perfect formula for blowing bubbles. Diemer even used a strange process to test the quality of his new creation: he would blow a bubble, put it back in his mouth, chew it, and then blow another one, a habit that must have seemed bizarre to his colleagues. The result of his tinkering was Dubble Bubble, which was an instant hit. The original flavor was a distinctive, fruity one, and the gum's pink color was the result of it being the only available food dye at the time. The flavor was so unique, today there are dozens of candies with the same distinct Bubble Gum flavor.

Rock Candy: The Crystal Confection

The creation of rock candy isn't so much a process as it is a waiting game. Unlike most candies, which are cooked and shaped, rock candy is "grown". A supersaturated sugar solution is prepared and left to sit for days or even weeks. As the water evaporates, the sugar molecules bind together and crystallize on a string or stick, forming large, beautiful sugar crystals. The process is a simple, yet fascinating, display of chemistry in action.