Share the history of the candy cane with your friends and family to spread some holiday cheer!
Once you start seeing candy canes, you know that it’s officially the holiday season. They start popping up on trees, in your office, and in your kids’ hands and you know the countdown to the holidays has really begun. Do you know, though, how the candy cane came to be? Here’s a brief history of the candy cane for you to share with your friends and family!
The candy cane dates back to the seventeenth century with another traditional holiday symbol: the tree. Straight white sticks made of sugar were used to decorate trees in Europe, along with other food items and handmade ornaments.
Allegedly, the cane got its famous crook around 1670 thanks to the choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral in Germany. He wanted the candies to look like shepherd’s crooks he could pass out to the kids to keep them quiet during Christmas Eve services (smart man!). The candy cane didn’t get its stripes or minty flavor for two centuries though!
Sometime around the beginning of the 1900s, the canes started to be made with their red stripes. At the same time, they also started being flavored with peppermint or wintergreen. The stripes because popular in the 20s when Bobs Candies (the first to add the red stripe) started wrapping the canes in clear material so they could be easily passed out. Today, Bobs makes around 3 million candy canes a day!
Each year, 1.76 billion candy canes are produced. That sounds like a huge number – and it is! With that many canes in circulation, one in every four people worldwide can enjoy a candy cane during the holidays.
Happy holidays from Fuller Insurance Agency! For all of your insurance needs in Chino Hills, Long Beach, Los Angeles, and throughout California,
contact our dedicated team.
