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.
In the 1950s, Bob's brother-in-law, Gregory Keller, a Catholic
priest, invented a machine to automate candy cane production.
Packaging innovations by the younger McCormacks made it possible to
transport the delicate canes on a large scale.
Although modern technology has made candy canes accessible and
plentiful, they've not lost their purity and simplicity as a
traditional holiday food.
Source: National
Confectioners Association |
|
Candy Cane memories... Candy
canes have been a Christmas tradition in my family since as long as
I can remember. Our Christmas tree always bears at least one candy
cane for each person in our family. Back in junior high I began
giving gifts each year to my friends at school and since a junior
high student’s income is rather meager I started making candy cane
reindeer made from candy canes, brown pipe cleaners for antlers,
google eyes, and little red pom poms for noses. They were a big hit
and I make them every year now for several of my friends and family.
~ Morgan from Texas
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