Nello Ferrara, the son of
Salvatore Ferrara, created the famous Atomic FireBall in 1954.
At this time in his life he had the idea to develop a spicy candy.
When the product was presented to the candy industry, the capacity at
Ferrara Pan was limited to 200 cases per day. Within three weeks
of sending samples to Ferrara Pan brokers, orders were rolling in at a
rate of over 50,000 cases per day, far beyond the capacity Ferrara Pan
could handle at that time.
The Atomic Fireball was
developed using the hot panned candy process. This process
involves building candy pieces from single grains of sugar and tossing
them into revolving pans while adding flavor, color and other candy
ingredients. This process continues until the pieces become the
desired size.
The Atomic Fireball gained world-wide
recognition shortly after the product was introduced. The round,
spicy, hard candy that was once a dream, had become a success. An
estimated 15 million fireballs are consumed per week by people all
over the world and the number continues to grow.
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