Permen

Permen adalah sejenis gula-gula (confectionary) yang dibuat dengan mencairkan gula di dalam air. Perbedaan tingkat pemanasan menentukan jenis permen yang dihasilkan: suhu panas menghasilkan permen keras, suhu menengah menghasilkan permen lunak, dan suhu dingin menghasilkan permen kenyal. Permen dinikmati karena rasa manisnya.

All About Candy

Mints

Mints, like licorice, have been around since the early times of man. The word mint comes from a Greek myth involving Hades, the god of the underworld. Hades was romantically involved with a nymph named Minthe. Persephone, Hades wife, was angered by this relationship and transformed Minthe into a plant, a sweet herb. Ancient Greeks placed mint leaves around the deceased to cover the smell and remind Hades of what he had done. Other cultures, however, had different uses for mint including using the herb in cuisines and medical remedies.

Mint was brought to America for medicinal purposes by early Colonists. Later, mint became a popular homemade candy. In the late 1790s, mint was commercially cultivated in Massachusetts. By the 19th century, America had the kings of peppermint – Hiram G. Hotchkiss and A.M. Todd, noted mint growers and dealers. By the turn of the century, the popularity of the mint flavor was soaring.

Marshmallows

A Treat from the Ancient Egyptians

Ancient Egyptians were the first to enjoy a gooey treat now called marshmallow as early as 2000 BC. The treat was considered very special and it was reserved for gods and royalty.

Marshmallow was made from the mallow plant (Athaea officinalis) that grows wild in marshes. The term marshmallow was derived both from the native home of the plant and the plant name. Mallow is native to Asia and Europe and has been naturalized in America. The Egyptians squeezed sap from the mallow plant and mixed it with nuts and honey. However, no one knows what the candy looked like in those times.

The French were introduced to marshmallow in the early to mid-1800s. Owners of small candy stores whipped sap from the mallow root into a fluffy candy mold. This time-consuming process was typically done by hand. Candy stores had a hard time keeping up with the demand. Candy makers started looking for a new process to make marshmallows and found the starch mogul system in the late 1800s. It allowed candy makers to create marshmallow molds made of modified cornstarch. At this same time, candy makers replaced the mallow root with gelatin and this created the marshmallow stable form.

Lollipops

There are many stories about how the lollipop was invented. Some believe that a form of it has been around since the 1800s. Charles Dickens and other authors referred to a sweet lozenge without a stick in some stories. During the Civil War, it is believed that little pieces of hard candy were put on the ends of pencils for children to nibble.

In 1908, George Smith claimed to be the first to invent the modern lollipop. Smith applied an idea of putting hard candies on a stick to make them easier to eat. He decided to name the treat after his favorite racing horse, Lolly Pop, and later trademarked the name. Lollipops were successful until the Depression. Smith stopped production on lollipops and the name fell into public domain.

Licorice

Licorice dates back to the early times of man. Many pharaohs and prophets enjoyed licorice. Soldiers were recorded drinking licorice to quench their thirsts on long marches.

Licorice comes from a plant called the Glycyrrhiza, meaning ‘sweet root’ in Greek. During the Middle Ages, crusaders brought licorice to England.

Many years later, a monastery in Pontefract, England began producing licorice candy. Early settlers brought licorice recipes to America. Since then, America has produced and imported delicious licorice products.

Jelly Beans

The exact origins of the jelly bean are lost in time, and only a part of its history is known. Most experts believe the jelly center is a descendent of a Mid-Eastern confection known as Turkish Delight that dates back to Biblical times.

The shell coating is an offspring of a process called panning, first invented in 17th century France to make Jordan Almonds. The panning process, while done primarily by machine today, has remained essentially the same for the last 300 years. The French began by rocking almonds in a bowl filled with sugar and syrup until the almonds were coated with a candy shell. Today, large rotating pans do the heavy work, while master confectioners apply their true art in adding the ingredients to create just the right shell.

Gummy Bears and Gummi Candy

The gummi bear is a German creation. Hans Riegel, a candy maker from Bonn, Germany, invented the gummi bear in 1922. Initially, he called his invention the "dancing bear" and named the company that manufactured the bears "Haribo," an acronym for Hans Riegel Bonn. The confection became popular by the end of its first year.

For many years, gummi bears were imported to America. American high school students were among the first Americans to know about the gummi bear. They learned about the candy through their German classes. In 1981, the Herman Goelitz Company (now Jelly Belly Candy Company) created the first American-made gummi bear. A year later, the Haribo Company brought their business to the U.S., and the candy was now easily accessible to Americans.

Chewing Gum

Chewing gum has enjoyed a long history. Evidence of gum chewing dates back to prehistoric men and women who chewed on tree resin for enjoyment. Other ancient cultures around the world also are documented gum chewers.

Greek and Middle Eastern cultures routinely chewed resin from the mastic tree to freshen their breath. In Central America, the Mayans enjoyed chewing on chicle sap. This Central American tree resin was the basis for modern chewing gum.

In the United States, Native Americans and settlers first chewed on spruce tree resin and beeswax. In New England, spruce sap was used to make America’s first gum. In 1848, John Curtis used resin to make State of Maine Spruce Gum. He sold two hunks of the gum for a penny. As time went on, spruce gum became less popular and was replaced with a paraffin-based gum.

Cotton Candy

It is unclear who was the first person to invent cotton candy. Four people - Thomas Patton, Josef Delarose Lascaux, John C. Wharton, and William Morrison - have all been named as the inventors of the candy.

Wharton and Morrison received a patent for the cotton candy machine in 1899. They created the first electric cotton candy machine to melt and spin sugar through tiny holes using centrifugal force. After the two candy makers from Tennessee received the patent they took the invention to the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904.

Patton received a separate patent in 1900 for his process of making cotton candy. He was experimenting with caramelizing sugar and forming threads using a fork. Patton used a gas-fired rotating plate to spin the cotton candy threads. He introduced the candy at Ringling Bros. Circus and it became popular with children.

Conversation Heart

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Queen Gertrude offers the now-loved sentiment “Sweets to the Sweet.” Perhaps this is the origin of the tradition of giving candy to a loved one. Early American colonists made homemade candies with love notes scratched on the surface for Valentine’s Day. New England Confectionary Company (NECCO) expanded upon the colonists’ idea and created the conversation heart in the mid-1800s.

In 1860, Daniel Chase, brother of NECCO founder Oliver Chase, invented the process to print motto candies. Originally, the candies were “cockles” – small, crisp, scallop shell-shaped candy wrapped in colored paper with printed sayings. The Sweet Hearts, the name used for candies with mottos inscribed directly on them, were invented in 1900. The candy was cut into shapes like horseshoes and baseballs. This allowed for longer sayings to be printed on them such as “How long shall I have to wait? Pray be considerate.” This enabled would-be-lovers to send messages to each other.

Candy Corn

Candy corn has been around for more than 100 years. George Renninger, an employee of the Wunderlee Candy Company, invented the popular confection in the 1880s and Wunderlee became the first to produce the candy. The Goelitz Candy Company (now Jelly Belly Candy Company) started producing the confection in 1900 and still produces candy corn today.

When candy corn first appeared, it was popular among farmers because of its agrarian look. The tri-color design was considered revolutionary and the public went crazy for it. Lack of machinery meant that candy corn was only made seasonally from March to November. Candy corn has remained unchanged for more than 100 years and is a favorite at Halloween.

Candy Canes

Legend has it that in 1670, the choirmaster at the Cologne Cathedral in Germany handed out sugar sticks among his young singers to keep them quiet during the long Living Creche ceremony. In honor of the occasion, he had the candies bent into shepherds' crooks. In 1847, a German-Swedish immigrant named August Imgard of Wooster, Ohio, decorated a small blue spruce with paper ornaments and candy canes. It wasn't until the turn of the century that the red and white stripes and peppermint flavors became the norm.

In the 1920s, Bob McCormack began making candy canes as special Christmas treats for his children, friends and local shopkeepers in Albany, Georgia. It was a laborious process - pulling, twisting, cutting and bending the candy by hand. It could only be done on a local scale

Candy Bars
Chocolate, as a Drink, was a favorite of Montezuma, Emperor of the Aztecs. Hernando Cortez, the Spanish conquistador, brought the drink back to Spain in 1529. It remained a favorite of the Spanish royalty for many years before becoming consumed widely throughout Europe. Three centuries later in England chocolate was first used as a non-liquid confection.

The early eating bars of chocolate were made of bittersweet chocolate. Milk chocolate was introduced in 1875 when Henry Nestle, a maker of evaporated milk and Daniel Peter, a chocolate maker, got together and invented milk chocolate, which today is preferred by 80% of the world's population.