Today is National Candy Cane Day!

Candy Cane Day? Yes, it's true. Just ask the folks at Spangler Candy Company who have make over two million candy canes everyday.

Spangler Candy Company Candy Canes

The Spangler Candy Company have perfected the candy cane making process. They've been in business since 1906 making their world famous Spangler® Candy Canes and Dum Dum Pops® (they make 10 million a day), Saf-T-Pops®, Circus Peanuts and Marshmallow Treats, and Valentine, Easter, Halloween & Christmas candies. They also manufacture candy under the DreamWorks® license.

Spangler candy people are progressive people that are on the move.

I bet when you've unwrapped and eaten one of their famous candy canes you had no idea they had all this (because I didn't either!). Check out the other interesting things that the Spangler company offers:

• a fun kid's web site at www.dumdumpops.com
• an educational and fun web site at www.saftpops.com
• an online order site to purchase Dum Dums Pops® and other candies
• a Save Wraps for Stuff® program to help with the purchase of unique Dum Dum items
• a flavor rotation program to introduce exciting new flavors into our Dum Dum assortment
• a company store & museum and a factory trolley tour

Spangler's candies are really popular, so you'll find them just about everywhere. But if you're planning a trip to Ohio to visit friends and family, do something different - stop by the Spangler Candy Company in Bryan (Ohio) for a tour of their factory and museum. Then write and tell me all about it.

If you like candy canes, you might be a big peppermint bark fan.

And if you're a peppermint bark fan, there's a good chance that you like peppermint bark made by Swiss Colony. Many peppermint bark aficionados swear by it. They claim that the very best peppermint bark is only made at Swiss Colony.

Peppermint Bark from Swiss Colony

They sell over 4000 pounds every year, so you know it must be good. And get this... They promise that they make every batch of by hand. Now that's completely unheard of these days! Especially from a big company like Swiss Colony. (swisscolony.com)

The holidays trigger many of us to think about Christmases past.

In fact, the other day I thought about the ribbon candy that my Mother loved and would almost lose her mind over (and have a conniption fit if she couldn't find it to buy!) every Christmas.

For my Mom, Christmas wasn't complete without it.

I couldn't remember the name of the candy company that makes it, but I did a little research and I found my Mom's favorite holiday candy maker.

Ribbon Candy from Hammonds Candies

Hammonds Candies produces nearly 70,000 pounds of candy a year. So you know that they have their candy making process down pat! One batch of ribbon candy makes about 400 ribbons. (hammondscandies.com)

Fruitcake is the made by the devil.

Okay. Not really. But I never understood fruitcake. I mean, it's so dense. According to Harper's Index, in 1991, the ratio of the density of the average fruitcake to the density of mahogany (yes, the wood!) is 1:1. Good Lord!

But I guess if you have an acquired taste for it, then you might know about (and like) Grandma's Fruitcake from Beatrice Bakery. It's famous!

Grandma's Fruitcake from Beatrice Bakery

The Beatrice Bakery makes about a 5 thousand fruitcakes a day and a million fruitcakes a year. What's special about their fruitcakes is, although they use typical ingredients, their batter is 65% fruit and nuts. And I don't know how they do it, but they promote that they use a "secret ingredient" that keeps their fruitcake from drying out. (beatricebakery.com)

But what I want to know is...

Who on earth is buying all those fruitcakes?

Because when a research firm polled about 1000 adults what they did with fruitcake when it was given to them as a gift, here's what they found out:

• 38% gave it away
  
• 28% actually ate it
  
• 13% used it as a doorstop
  
• 9% scattered it for the birds
• 8% claimed they couldn't remember
• 4% threw it out
  

From Russell Baker, The ‘New York Times’.

I'd be remiss if I were to write about holiday candies and sweets and fail to mention gingerbread houses.

I recall being extremely fascinated by gingerbread houses when I was a kid. What I always wondered was, Can you eat them? - not that I wanted to, but I still wondered about it.

Gingerbread Houses by the Cookie Gallery

The place of all places that is known by many - a fantastic place to buy the most exquisite gingerbread houses - is The Cookie Gallery. They make more than 4000 Gingerbread Houses everyday during the holiday season. (cookiegallery.com)


Image source: chotda
Business, Candy, Candy canes, Christmas, Christmas and holiday season, Dum Dum Pop, Fruitcake, Gingerbread houses, Peppermint bark, Ribbon candy, Shopping, Spangler Candy Company, The New York Times: Technorati Tags

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