Candy

46/365: National Gumdrop Day

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Midwest Mark

Oh, good. Just in case anybody’s sweet tooth wasn’t satisfied with all that chocolate yesterday, today we get to celebrate National Gumdrop Day.

Gumdrops were supposedly invented by a man named Percy Trusdale in 1801, but there is no information on this mystery man. This is going to be a fun post, I can tell already! I’m sure Percy was an upstanding citizen, doing whatever he did wherever he lived for however long he lived and with whomever he lived.

Gumdrops are brightly colored, sugar laden treats that have been popular for at least 200 years. They are usually fruit flavored (except the ones sold on the Hogwarts Express, which may taste like grass, boogers, dirt, or snot). References to the sweet treat abound in pop culture: the board game Candy Land pays homage by featuring a place called Gumdrop Mountain, Buddy the Elf had to pass through a sea of swirly twirly gumdrops (after conquering the seven levels of the Candy Cane forest) on his way to New York City in Elf, and BJ Thomas had a hit song in the ’70s called “Gumdrops Keep Falling On My Head.”

The most popular brand of gumdrops in America is DOTS. They were launched in 1945, and acquired by Tootsie Roll in 1972. Gumdrops have never really excited me. What can I say about a candy that is more a decorative feature of gingerbread houses than something you’d actually want to eat?  Give me sour Zotz any ol’ day!

To celebrate today’s holiday, Tara and I simply ate a few DOTS gumdrops. They were chewy and fruity and…well, not all that great. But the orange ones were the best.

Gumdrops

Related articles
Categories: Candy | Tags: , , , , , | 2 Comments

45/365: National Cream-Filled Chocolate Day

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Midwest Mark

Once in awhile these food holidays make perfect sense, and today is one of those occasions: it’s Valentine’s Day, and also, National Cream-Filled Chocolate Day. The two go together like peas and carrots, as Forrest Gump would say. (Forrest was also known to enjoy a box of chocolates every now and then, making the analogy especially appropriate).

Today’s history lesson is a little different. You’ll get the story behind Valentine’s Day, and how chocolate came to be associated with it.

There were no fewer than three Catholic saints named Valentine, making that name the “John Smith” of ancient times, I suppose. Most people believe the holiday honors the saint who defied Roman emperor Claudius II’s orders outlawing marriage for single men, who were forced into the army instead. Valentine performed the marriages in secret and, when caught, was sentenced to death. While languishing in prison he fell for the jailor’s daughter, and before his execution sent the girl a letter which he signed “from, your Valentine” – a phrase that has been around ever since. Because of his sympathy toward those in love, and his own romantic gestures, St. Valentine was given his own holiday, one that has come to symbolize love. By the 15th century, lovers were presenting gifts to one another to mark the occasion; these included flowers, sweets, and greeting cards. Why chocolate? Because it has long been a symbol of love thanks to its, ahem, “mood-enhancing” properties (read: it’s an aphrodisiac, yo). Even the Aztecs would give cocoa as offerings to their gods, as a sign of appreciation. Appreciation for not smiting them with bolts of lightning, I guess? Anyhoo, the tradition persists to this day. More than 36 million heart shaped boxes of chocolate are sold on Valentine’s Day, and it’s a good bet that many of those chocolates are filled with cream!

I have often said that if anything trips us up during this challenge, it won’t be something tricky like Peking Duck or Chocolate Souffle. It’ll be something deceptively simple, like cream-filled chocolates. Sure enough, I found myself digging frantically through nearly-empty shelves of Target today on my lunch, searching for a box of chocolates. We had all kinds of chocolate in the house, but none of it contained cream in the middle, and truffles don’t really count. Fortunately, I happened upon one overlooked box of Russell Stover – the last one in the entire store. Whew! I had a piece of coconut cream, and Tara indulged in butter cream. Good stuff. Happy V-Day!

Russell Stover to the rescue!

Russell Stover to the rescue!

Related articles
Categories: Candy | Tags: , , , , , , | 6 Comments

42/365: National Peppermint Pattie Day

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Midwest Mark

When I learned today was National Peppermint Pattie Day, I was confused. Tara makes us a drink called the Peppermint Patty, with hot chocolate and peppermint Schnapps, and I at first assumed this is what we were celebrating, cold winter day and all. Nope. And we’re not celebrating Charles Schulz’s fictional cartoon character from Peanuts, either. Instead, we are honoring the York Peppermint Pattie®.

Oh, well. They’re good, too.

The Peppermint Pattie was created by Henry Kessler of the York Cone Company in 1940. York’s traffic cones were selling well, but didn’t taste very good, so he decided to branch out into candy. Wait a sec…he sold ice cream cones. My bad. Anyway, chocolate covered peppermint candies had been around for years, but Kessler thought they were too soft, so he set out to create a crispier version, even performing a “snap test” to ensure it would break cleanly in the middle. The Peppermint Pattie became so popular, York stopped making cones altogether. The candy was only available regionally – mainly in the Northeastern United States – until 1975, when Peter Paul (which purchased the York Cone Company a few years earlier) rolled out the York Peppermint Pattie nationally. Peter Paul merged with Cadbury, and then Hershey’s acquired Cadbury, so nowadays they are the ones making the York Peppermint Pattie. In Mexico, no less. Peppermint Patties are known for their strong, clean flavors – cool, minty sugar surrounded by crispy dark chocolate – and have far fewer calories and fat than competing candy bars. They’re the health food of the candy world!

Maybe not quite.

To celebrate the holiday, we just stuck with the basics and enjoyed a Peppermint Pattie after dinner. Sometimes the simplest solution is the best, especially with something so distinctly flavorful.

Peppermint Pattie

Related articles
Categories: Candy | Tags: , , , , , | 7 Comments

26/365: National Peanut Brittle Day

Posted on January 26, 2013 by Midwest Mark

Today is National Peanut Brittle Day. Why we call this hard candy “brittle” is a mystery, for it is anything but. Liable to break or shatter easily? Peanut brittle sometimes requires a mallet to break apart into pieces!

OK, I exaggerate. And I have to say, it’s really, really good. Tara’s mom sent us a bunch of treats for Christmas, including homemade brittle. Why we didn’t save a little bit for today is a good question! 

Brittles are one of the oldest candies around. When not busy hunting leprechauns or picking four-leaf clovers, the Irish enjoyed eating sugar coated peanuts as snacks. They began adding syrup, and brittle was born. There are many variations around the world. The Greeks have pasteli, the French have croquant, Indians have Gacchac, and Canadians have peanut brittle, eh. In the Middle East it’s made with pistachios, and in Asia, a mixture of sesame seeds and peanuts.

When we began this challenge, I wondered if anybody else had attempted it. I scoured the internet, but could find no similar quest. And then a couple of days ago I stumbled upon a blog in which somebody did, in fact, attempt to do the same thing in 2011. He took a similar approach to us, and I was impressed with his posts, until they ended abruptly in May. I wasn’t sure if he burned out at that point, so I sent him an email, and he was kind enough to respond. The guy’s name is John, he lives twenty miles outside of New York City, and he did in fact complete his own holiday food odyssey – but was stymied by a computer that died and a lack of technological and social media savviness. He has been very supportive of our own attempt, is impressed with this blog, and has been quick to offer tips and advice. He wrote, “From time to time you may get sick of foods or desserts or whatever it may be. But I’m not sensationalizing or exaggerating when I say it changed my life. Food history is an amazing over looking part of history I think. I learned so much about culture and different time periods just be researching these meals. Also, growing up predominantly eating the meals of my grandmother from Italy, I became aware of this whole “American” culture in cuisine. I think you’re going to learn more than you expect.” 

Tara workin' that candy thermometer to the "hard crack" stage.

Tara workin’ that candy thermometer to the “hard crack” stage.

Thanks, John! Tara and I have already learned a lot, and feel like our own food horizons are expanding with each day that goes by. If you don’t mind, you can be our official “culinary consultant.” I may have a need for suggestions as we plow our way through the year!

Back to today. We sort of found ourselves scrambling late in the day, because our calendar had erroneously listed National Pistachio Day twice: January 26 AND February 26. So much for the bag of nuts we had sitting on the counter. A quick run to the grocery store yielded no peanut brittle, but Tara had a recipe in her trusty Fannie Farmer cookbook, and whipped together a batch of brittle. Start to finish, it took less than an hour – and turned out very tasty!

Related articles
Categories: Candy, Nuts | Tags: , , , , | 3 Comments

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.