Candy Canes: A taste for Christmas
The Christmas season brings many types of traditions from special kinds of songs, to decorations, colors and of course foods.
Another tradition people enjoy this time of the year is the vast array of Christmas candies from various types of chocolate to peanut brittle and others.
However one candy that is truly associated with the Christmas season is the red and white candy cane.
According to History.com, the original candy cane was made 350 years ago and over time the candy cane has become a symbol during the Christmas holiday.
Oddly, the first candy cane was not made in the shape of a cane, but was white, completely straight and only flavored with sugar.
The origin of handing out candy canes is believed have started in 1670 when a choir master at Cologne Cathedral in Germany gave the sugar sticks he bent into the shape of a shepherd’s crook to the children in his choir to keep them quiet during the Christmas Eve Mass.
The choir master bent the sugar stick in such a manner to honor the shepherds in the Nativity story and hence the candy cane became synonymous to Christmas.
During the turn of the 19th century, the red stripe was added to the cane and the candy makers added the peppermint flavor, which became the traditional flavor.
In later years, the tradition of giving candy canes at Christmas spread to the United States through German-Swedish immigrant August Imgard, who decorated his Christmas tree with candy canes in 1847.
In the 1920’s Bob McCormack, a candy maker from Atlanta, was the first to use candy canes as special treats for Christmas for his friends and family.
In the beginning the red and white candy canes were made by hand and producing them took a long time and were difficult to shape.
The tedious process of making candy canes was eliminated in the 1950’s when a machine designed especially for the automation of candy cane productions was invented by Gregory Keller.
Using his brother-in-law’s invention, McCormack’s company, Bob’s Candies, began a mass production and distribution of the candy canes worldwide. It has been in the business for over eighty years.
Today, many people believe that the shape and form of the candy cane has a religious meaning.
It is believed that the red stripes of the candy cane represent the blood of Christ and the white stripes represent the purity of Christ.
The three fine stripes are believed to represent the Holy Trinity and the ‘’J’’ shape of the candy cane is said to represent the name of Jesus.
The solid texture or hardness of the candy cane is said to symbolize the solid rock foundation of the church.
The peppermint flavor is supposed to stem from an herb called hyssop, which in the Old Testament, hyssop was used to symbolize the purity of Jesus and the sacrifice he made.
The crook shape is also believed to symbolize a shepherd’s crook.
Since the origination of the candy cane, three and a half centuries ago, it has become a traditional Christmas symbol and is the number one non-chocolate candy sold in December.