September 22, 2022 • 44 mins
This novelty candy creates a popping sensation in your mouth using highly pressurized (but totally harmless) pockets of carbon dioxide. Anney and Lauren explore the science, history, and urban legends behind Pop Rocks.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello and welcome to savor production of iheartradio. I'm Annie
Reese and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today we have an
episode for you about pop rocks. Yes, I'm very excited
for this one. Yeah, Oh, it's so it's so weird.
We do love these brand ones and uh, this one's great. Yes,
not currently a sponsor. Um. was there any particular reason
(00:30):
pop rocks were on your round? Um, I'm pretty sure
that I like googled like interesting brand stories or something
very pedestrian like that, and then I was like, Oh, yeah,
pop rocks, that was it. When you suggested it, I
immediately was like have we not already done this? Um, yeah,
(00:53):
it's a very fun one. I went through like a
very brief pop rocks phase that was mostly about the novels.
You of them, sure, but they're never been my candy
of choice, not on your top five list at all.
But I did, I did enjoy them and I liked
the sensation. Um, and when I was researching this one,
(01:16):
I did find so many fun experiments like science, experience
and that. I loved that kind of thing as a kid.
I love it now. So I'm sad I didn't have
that when I was younger. Yeah, there's just just lots,
lots you can do with them. Um, lots to kind
of think about as you Um, as you watch them
(01:39):
work or experience them work. Uh. Yeah, I also I
have a pervasive fondness for them. I I can't say
I remember what the flavor of them has ever been like,
but that sensation is oh so fun, so weird. Yes, Oh, yeah,
especially when you're a kid and like Oh yeah, yeah,
(02:01):
this candy is exciting, right, and you're like, I don't, like,
like you're you're you're a child. You don't have that
much experience with like Soda Pop, hopefully not with alcohol
at that point. And so, yeah, so anything that creates
such a such a strong sensation in your mouth, you're
just like, Oh yeah, that one again, twenty nine packets later. No,
(02:22):
I don't know, probably not. Well, I am going to
I'm going to the store soon, which is still kind
of a big announcement for me. Yeah, I know, right,
I know. I'm going to see if I can get
pop rocks there. I'm not I don't think I'll actually
buy them, but I'm just like, I don't even think
I can get them at my local grocery store. But
maybe I'm wrong. I don't know, I have no idea.
(02:44):
I have not looked for pop rocks and check out
in a very long time. I feel like they're probably
a target. Yeah, I think at a bigger store. I
got a pretty small one. Yeah, but I bet it
like a bigger where they have that like not just
the checkout aisle, but that kind of key, the bigger
checkout aisle. That's not the candy aisle. It's separate than that.
(03:05):
Some of you know what I'm talking about, that that
spontaneous purchase uh area. I bet that. I bet they
hang out around there a lot of times. Um. Well,
I'll report back, but in the meantime I guess this
brings us to walk question. Uh Huh. Pop rocks. What
(03:28):
are they? Well, pop rocks are a brand of hard
candy that comes in small granules like we pebbles or
gravel Um, that are flavored with fruit or whatever candy
flavors and contain pockets of pressurized carbon dioxide gas. When
the candy starts to melt in your mouth, those pockets
(03:50):
lose structural integrity and audibly burst open Um. But they're
so small that it's a pretty gentle sensation, just like
a like a popping tangle with a with a phizy sound,
like you're like you're listening to it, to a fresh
glass of soda pop that's just been poured. Yeah, it's
it's like eating a packet of dry soda pop. It's
(04:10):
it's weird, um right, like a like an unexpected even
if you know what you're getting into, like an unexpected
and delightful sort of way. Yeah, yeah, it's hard to
at least in my experience. I'm sure there are people
that would have a different experience in me, but even
if you've had them, it's hard to prepare yourself for
like Oh yeah, yeah, like every time it's just like Haa,
(04:33):
Oh wow, this is a very niche comparison. Um or
like like like similarly compared to a lot of my
other ones. But but I was trying to think of
what it feels like in an emotional way and I
was like it feels like watching what we do in
the shadows. It's it's a little bit unexpected and weird
(04:54):
but like delightful. But like every time you're you're like,
Oh man, I'm gonna do this, and then you're like
Oh heck, this is how inning. I love that. Yes,
they should slept that on their marketing. If they're smart,
pop rocks, what we do in the shadows, get in touched,
I mean obvious, obvious cross marketing opportunity. I want. That's
(05:21):
so much. Okay, alright, alright, alright, Um, the the pop
rocks brand does sell a bunch of flavors. Currently, those
are strawberry, watermelon, tropical punch, Blue Raz with two Zis, Um,
original cherry. They specify original grape, green apple, cotton candy
(05:42):
and a sugar free strawberry. Um. Then extreme flavors, including
sour apple and Sour Berry. Um, Oh and and blue raspberry. Yeah, Um.
Also a formulation that contains chewing gum, so like it's
bubblegum flavored, and it contains gum in the granules so that,
(06:03):
like you're, once the candy melts, you're left with a
mouthful of gum. Yeah, sorry to say it that way,
like so disappointed, but I feel that's just how I feel. Okay,
isn't it? or at one time, wasn't it called like
a incredit gum? Oh, heck I oh, it had. It
(06:25):
had some kind of it has some kind of marketing
term attached to it and I'm not remembering. I didn't
record it for this but all right, you can. You
can look it up if you need to. Um. They
also do have some seasonal releases including, Um, a formulation
that's coated in milk, chocolate, Um, a pumpkin patch orange
(06:45):
flavor and a candy cane flavor. Yeah, yes, I think
I have had the candy cane flavor, probably the most recently,
because people like to experiment with that on like baked
goods and in cocktails. Oh sure, yeah, and they're how
have been other flavors over time and and possibly availability
differs in Canada and Australia. In the UK, Um, I
(07:08):
saw for those countries specifically cola flavor and tooty fruity.
I don't know. Right in let us, yes, please, to
make pop rocks. You, Um, and actually not you, because
you probably need a lab for this. Uh, but you
the royal. You basically heat sugar and water and whatever
(07:30):
flavorings you're using until it all melts together and begins
to boil. Um. You then cook this mixture to somewhere
between what's called the soft crack to the hard crack stage. Um.
That's something around two D and Eighty Fahrenheit, or a
hundred thirty eight Celsius, meaning that you boil off enough
of the water that when the mixture comes back to
(07:51):
room temperature it'll be a hard solid, like a like
rock candy or like glass. Don't eat glass, I'm just saying.
It's all so an amorphous solid like rock candy. goode. Yeah,
any blood to help? Okay. So so you have your
(08:12):
you have your your sugar mixture, and then here is
where it gets crazy, hat to bend Bolen, because before
you let this sugar stuff cool back down to room temperature,
you see a lot in a chamber that also contains
carbon dioxide gas and then pressurize the chamber to like
Fifty Times like normal earth atmospheric pressure, something like six
(08:35):
pounds per square inch. Then you super cool the whole thing,
hardening it into a mass and trapping carbon dioxide bubbles
throughout the Matrix of sugar that you've got going. When
you open the chamber and release the pressure, the mass
will fracture into those we pebbles of candy with little
(08:57):
pressurized gas pockets trapped inside. It's so cool, Um, and
you can do this because at normal earth temperature and pressure,
dry sugar is hard. You've experienced this if you've ever
crunched on a grit of granulated sugar, maybe like on
(09:17):
the top of a Muffin, or if you've ever eaten
a lollipop or other hard candy, or if you've cracked
the crust on a chrome brulet. Sugar, hard sugar, hard,
dry sugar has the structural integrity to hold little pockets
of pressurized gas. But the thing about sugar, and this
is a thing that I love, is as a kitchen human,
(09:39):
sugar is very soluble in water. Makes for easy clean
up because it just melts away. But in terms of
pop rocks, what that means is that this hard substance
comes into contact with the moisture in your saliva, or
or any other liquid for that matter, Um and it'll
pretty quickly dissolve. Opening the little po gets of pressurized gas.
(10:02):
They expand quickly in the normal earth pressure of your
mouth Um, shattering the thin walls of the candy pockets,
creating the popping sensation on your tongue. Yep, so cool,
so weird. This is technically called in the patents Um
Gasified Candy. Nice, which is just not not a marketing term, though,
(10:31):
but Um. But that's, I strongly suspect, not the only
thing that's happening when you eat pop rocks. And okay,
we're going to go back to some of the stuff
that we talked about way back when in our carbonated Beverage,
Um Soda Fountain episode, because We're going to talk about
carbon dioxide, because it does a couple of really interesting
things in our mouths. Um. First of all, our tongues
(10:53):
have cells that contain this enzyme, that that that catalyzes
the hydration of carbon dioxide. So all that means for
our purposes today is that when we drink soda or
eat pop rocks, our mouths are beakers in which a
chemical reaction is happening. Um, and the end result of
(11:13):
that reaction is that some free protons are released and
they trigger some of our sour sensitive taste buds. Carbon
carbon dioxide tastes sour to us, a little bit. Huh. Yeay, okay, Um,
in a roundabout way, it doesn't itself taste sour, but
it creates a sour taste. Yeah, kind of like watering. Yeah,
(11:39):
almost sure. Yeah. Yeah. Also, research out of the University
of Southern California has indicated, the carbon dioxide bubbles trigger Um,
specialized pain related nerve cells in our nasal cavity, um,
the same ones at register the burn of like horse
erradish and mustard. Yeah. So, so that's why, if you're
(12:03):
drinking a soda, you get like just a little bit,
like a little bit of like a burning sensation, but
not it's not like bad burning, it's just just tingly. Yeah,
I think we talked about that in our Moscow mule
episode two. Soda, yeah, alcohol, and it creates kind of
that like yes, stinging. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but so I
(12:27):
didn't read about that specifically as it refers to pop rocks,
but I assume that a bubble of carbon dioxide is
a bubble of carbon dioxide one way or another, you know.
So I think that's also happening here. Um, I chemists
(12:48):
right in I. Yes, Um, although pop rocks was the
first brand of this type of popping candy to market, Um,
there are competitors like aftershocks, Um and uh, and there's
some other physic and candies that don't use compressed carbon
dioxide but rather a combination of sodium bicarbonate and an
(13:11):
acid that will combine in your mouth to create carbon
dioxide bubbles. Yeah, a little bit different, but still cool and,
like you said, Annie, because of the kind of like
interactive element you've got going here. Pop rocks. Pop Rocks
are considered a novelty candy, yeah, which I don't feel
(13:32):
like I have a firm grasp on what that means.
Like I have a vague understanding, but I assume it
means like, yeah, I can't get it with like the
Basic Candy Lineup. I have to kind of go out
of my way to find papera rocks. Yeah, I think
it's just kind of like like niche, nichely marketed, Um,
(13:54):
kind of specifically to kids and or adults who are nostalgic, Um,
and or like thrill seekers. Heavy scare quotes there. Yes,
I gotta get my operas. Oh No, Um, uh, the company, uh,
(14:15):
this brand is currently owned by a holding company called
Zeta Espiciale out of Spain. Um, but the brand itself
is based in Atlanta, where we are based. Like they
were our neighbors when our offices were in Buckhead and
we never knew what. Yeah, why didn't we? We could
have gotten some samples. Oh, my goodness we could have. Um.
(14:40):
They do license the candy to manufacturers of faked goods
and chocolates and ice cream products and even yogurts and
like breakfast cereals. Um. And, although these are not food products,
they also licensed out to makers of cosmetics like a
bath salts or bath bombs, Um, and pharmaceuticals like kids
vitamin supplements. Interesting, right, I love it. Okay, well, what
(15:08):
about the nutrition? UH, they're mostly sugar. Sugar is a treat.
Treats are nice. I will say a single packet is
only like a third to a half of an ounce
of candy, which is not a whole lot of sugar
in one go. So so that's that's that's pretty cool. Also,
they are of no danger to you at all. We're
going to get into that pretty extensively in the outline.
(15:30):
But they're not going to make your stomach explode at all. UH,
they might make you belch, MHM, the same amount of
belch that you would get from like half a can
of soda or less. Yes, yeah, yeah, we're gonna we
have a lot to say about that, because people have
long had a lot to say about that. They have. Yes,
(15:53):
Oh gosh, it is um, but before we do that,
we do have a couple numbers for you. Yeah, yeah,
according to the brand of Americans recognized pop rocks. Their Creator,
William Mitchell, held over seventy food related patents and apparently
in twenty nineteen. Um, I was looking for a world record,
(16:15):
as I usually do. Um, I didn't quite find one,
but in competitive eater Matt stoney tried to eat like
a bowl full of of pop rocks, like like three
D and fifty packets worth of pop rocks. M Uh,
but he only got like a third of the way through.
(16:35):
Oh Gosh. Yeah, I mean it's like you said, there's
not like there's a lot of them, but that sensation
is so it's very bracing. Yeah, yeah, I can't, I
can't imagine. Oh, and I used to be somebody. I
was that kid who's like how many words can I
put my man? Jeez, I don't think I ever tried
(16:57):
anything like that with pop rocks. Yikes. Um. But there
is a history of some rumors of people trying things
of pop rocks and we also have some more numbers
in our history section. We do. We do, and we
are going to get into all of that as soon
as we get back from a quick break for a
word from our sponsors and we're back. Thank you, sponsor. Yes,
(17:27):
thank you. Okay. So the invention of pop rocks is
a thing of Candy Lore. People like talking about it.
It is really fun Um and it starts with food chemist,
then at general foods, as previously mentioned by Lauren, named
William Mitchell, and just a little bit about him because
(17:49):
he seems like a fascinating guy. So Mitchell was born
in nineteen eleven in Minnesota, paid his way through his
chemistry degree with farm work and then proceeded to get
a job at the agricultural experiment station in Lincoln Nebraska,
which proceeded to have some kind of lab explosion that
left him was second and third degree burns over most
(18:10):
of his body. Wow, yeah, uh. At any rate, though,
he seemingly undaunted by this, was hired by General Foods
in one and would work with them for over thirty years,
through like World War Two and the space race, developing
products like like a tapioca substitute during World War Two
(18:32):
for Um, for for wartime related foods, Um also Tang
plus stuff like cool whip, powdered ed whites and quickset Jello. Yeah,
he was up to a lot of stuff. Yeah, Oh, yeah,
we've mentioned him before. UH, well, when it comes to
pop rockx, Mitchell was experimenting with some ingredients in an
(18:54):
attempt to create an instant soft drink in nineteen fifty six,
somewhere around it. That's the date most people use. Um,
the goal was to create a powder that could be
mixed with water to instantly create a tasty carbonated beverage,
so basically like carbonated Kool aid. Um. As part of
these experiments, he put some sugar flavoring in his mouth
(19:15):
and mixed it with this carbonated powder and to his surprise,
the Combo formed these sweet chunks, like small sweet chunks
that quote exploded and sizzled on his tongue as small
pops of carbonation were released thanks to the moisture and
heat of the saliva. Um. And so he's so excited
about this he invited all kinds of people to try
(19:36):
and he's like, Oh, look what I've discovered Um, and
they made a game out of who could swallow the
biggest chunk and he knew he was onto something. So
he filed a patent that same year and started refining
the recipe, coming up with a carbonated nugget candy composed
of sugar, Corn Syrup, lactose and a fruity flavoring that
(19:57):
popped and sizzled when eaten. Um. However, I did see
other sources that made it sound like he kind of
forgot about it, like he did this and then kind
of forgot about it other than making it as sort
of a wacky gift for friends and family. And another chemist,
food chemist, found the recipe several years later and revived it. Um.
(20:20):
But a lot of things I read said that Mitchell
did like make it and handed out into like parties
and stuff. So that's that's fun. Yeah, but the company
was at a loss with what to do with this
product and decades passed before they sold it. And that
only happened after a small subsidiary in Canada sold them
(20:44):
as a novelty product and, based on some sources I read,
it was after some of the people who worked at
that subsidiary had tried Mitchell's kind of like holiday candy.
Why aren't we selling yeah, this is brilliant. People would
pay for this. Let's go. Yes, pop rocks debuted to
the public in nineteen seventy four, seventy five or seventy six,
(21:04):
the date marries. I think it depends on where exactly
we're talking about, because it was pretty regional, okay, early on,
and it came in Cherry, grape and orange originally, and,
as company Legend has it, a group of grade schoolers
voted on the name. I feel like we've heard that
story a lot as well. But pop rocks was the
(21:25):
overwhelming winner. Uh. Five hundred million packets were sold over
an eighteen month period and the company raked in about
a hundred million dollars, which is over five hundred million
dollars in today's money, in profits in that first year,
despite a whole bunch of stuff working against them that
we're going to get into. Yeah, so they were doing well,
(21:48):
but production of this candy did prove to be a
challenge and it impacted the amount that they can make.
Um Workers had to wear suits to protect themselves from
scalding sugure. Is No joke. No, I'm afraid of it,
absolutely healthy fear. M Hmm. Then the product had to
be crushed. Allegedly, this led to at least one employee
(22:11):
losing a finger. I know. Um, there's also a couple
of stories about a shipments or multiple shipments of pop
rocks blowing the door off trucks because the trucks heat
turned on and like set them off. I guess, yeah, yeah, UM, okay.
And then there's this whole thing. They originally sold for
fifteen to cents a packet, Um, but this regional popularity
(22:37):
led to a markup as high as one dollar for
a packet. And some of that was from kids who
would buy it all up and sell it to their friends,
but some of it was from legit candy smuggling from
like truckers or other employees. Um. Here's a quote from
the New York Times from one day last month when
(22:58):
Justin Prison doorff was still nine years old, someone came
up to him at the exclusive collegiate school and gave
him a free sample of some pink granules. The next
time Justin wanted some of the granules, he had to pay.
The price was a dollar. More than a month had passed,
Justin is ten years old now. These days he is
popping regularly. Each week he buys a couple of envelopes
(23:21):
of a substance whose price tag on the streets figures
out to eighty dollars a kilo. In some places, according
to word reaching the manufacturers, it commands two dollars a kilo.
Oh my goodness, oh, I know. Oh, yes, I know,
and I mittel like commented on this and he was
so frustrated. He was like, if you're buying it for
(23:43):
more than fifteen cents, you're being robbed. He was just like,
I'm not happy about this whole situation. Um. And yes,
the company also had to grapple with public perception. Um,
though the product was extensively tested for safety, it still
made parents nervous, to the point that the F D
(24:04):
a set up a hotline in Seattle to feel these concerns.
Like the whole hotline was just then like pop rocks
are safe, okay, totally chill y'all, and a whole lotline.
But this didn't assuage everyone and kids started sharing horrific,
almost certainly made stories of eating pop rocks gone wrong. Um,
(24:29):
and it's funny reading about this, where they're like, you know,
kids just like to at that age. They just like
to tell these stories like uh, and pop rocks was
pretty new. It was a it was a novelty, it
was a new candy, and so these stories just started
spreading and soon after pop rocks had debuted, an urban
legend started spreading that little Mikey, who was the kid
(24:53):
from the life serial commercials Um, died after consuming a
combination of pop rocks and Coca Cola and the resulting
carbonation from the two products in his stomach exploded his stomach. Yeah, this,
this is not again. This is not going to happen.
It's flatly not going to happen. Um, no pun intended.
(25:15):
They're there. You can, in fact do an experiment at
home if you would like to, where if you if
you just take like a like a like a balloon,
like a balloon that you would blow up, put a
packet of pop rocks in there, seal the edges of
the balloon to a soda pop bottle and then just
dump the pop rocks into the Soda Pop and watch
whether or not the balloon inflates and explodes. It will
(25:38):
inflate shockingly little. It's it's, at the end of the day,
quite a boring experiment, Um, but it really demonstrates how
little gas is put off by this kind of thing.
So yeah, yes, but people believed it like this hold
of our like national, psyche like collective imaginations. Absolutely, Yes,
(26:01):
by as early as nineteen seventy nine, general foods was
trying to combat this rumor of Little Mikey or an
equally anonymous child Um ex floating because little Mikey, like
no one really knew who he was. Like everyone knew
who he was, but they didn't know his name or
anything about it. was just the random actor who was
(26:21):
random Commercial Mike likes it. Yeah, exactly, or yeah, another
kid that's like a friend of a friend, or like,
you can't verify the details. Um Dying because of pop
rocks and usually in combination with something else like Coca Cola,
Um and general foods. Obviously this is not a great
(26:43):
rumor to have about a product, but their profits. One
of the reasons they were so concerned about this was
their profits fell by two on the final quarter of
that same year when this rumor by the time they
were like, Oh Gosh, we've got to do something about
this rumor up and they tried all kinds of things,
including sending the Creator to explain the science of the
(27:06):
product across the country and he would assure folks that
it only produced. I saw a less than a half
or a tenth of the amount of gas as a
can of soda. So like half or less, but I
also saw a tenth. I think he kind of changed
his the number he was giving, but less than half
for sure, and perhaps way less than half. And, as
(27:27):
you said, like he was like at most it will
make you BURP, but you're gonna be fine. Yeah, right, Um.
The company also took out full page ads in forty
five major publications and sent fifty thousand letters to principles
all over the US, like the school principles. Yeah, like
(27:48):
don't worry, all the pop rocks are not going to
kill anyone. Yes, and on top of that, it didn't
help because, as you kind of alluded to, with this
sort of like New York Times article, it's making it
sound like pop rocks are drugs. Well, general foods launched
a spinoff product in the seventies called space dust, which
(28:09):
was basically pop rocks and powdered form, and it was
ill timed, Um and ill named. Rise of powdered drugs
and parents fears around that. Um, so the company changed
the name to cosmic candy, but it was soon, it
was too late. It was mm hmmm. Apparently, by the
(28:30):
end of the seventies, tons of pop rocks had been destroyed,
like three hundred million pouches, sometimes literally buried in the ground,
because the guy who's been really outspoken about this said
we didn't want kids finding it, so they were just
like bearing it. Heck, I know. And then, to add
(28:54):
further fuel to this rumor that pop rocks were dangerous
in some way, Um, they were taken off the shelf
in night three, which confirmed the truth and heavy quotes
of this legend in the minds of many like they're like,
ah see, they took it off the shelves, it must
be true. It is dangerous. Craft Foods purchased pop rocks
(29:16):
and started selling them under the New Name Action Candy.
That I believe they also sold through a company called
carbonated candy ventures. kind of like to add a step
of separation. Sure, UM, likely in part to leave behind
this gruesome story if they could, which, yes, as you said,
(29:37):
it is of course not true, but it is so persistent,
like it's like clockwork. About once a decade some version
of the story resurfaces, like I've heard it. And then
in two thousand one a couple sued basking and Robbins,
and they were claiming that their five year old daughter
was hospitalized after consuming pop rocks in the company's Shrek
(30:00):
Swirl Flavor ice cream. And then there was a related
story over rumored lawsuit around Mintos and coke that circulated
in two thousand and six. Both are not true, by
the way, but again it's like those kind of vague details,
like did you hear about? Like you don't know anything
other than the kind of headline bit and no details. Yeah, yeah,
you're like. Oh Man, my cousin's teacher said that. Yeah,
(30:22):
so I found this really interesting. John Gilchrist, or perhaps
is Gil Christ, the kid who played little Mikey, has
indeed commented on all of this Um. So here's the
quote from a twenty twelve Newsday story about him. Yes,
John Gilchrist enjoys life cereal and keeps it in his home. No,
he does not get a free lifetime supply. No, he
(30:44):
was not a particularly picky eater as a child. Yes,
he really is the guy who played one on TV.
Oh and one more thing. He is most certainly not dead.
The folklore is that I ate pop rocks at the
exploding candies and I drink a soda and my stomach
blew up, he said, recalling along ago urban legend. One
day in the late nineteen seventies, his mother summoned him
(31:05):
from a playground baseball game to tell him she had
received a call from a concerned friend who said, through tears,
I'm so sorry to hear about your son. Replied Mrs
Gil Christ, he just came home from school. How surreal.
I know that a friend could think. Yeah, be like
(31:27):
Oh no, Mrs Gil Christ. Um, the pop rocks official
company website or brand website does address this as well. UH,
in their in their F A Q section. Um, quote,
the actor who played little mikey lives today in a
completely unexploded form in New York. Oh, I love that. Um,
(31:53):
but yeah, as mentioned, this really this legend sticks around. Um,
so this whole thing was mentioned in the movie urban legends,
when a woman refuses to eat pop rocks and coke
when offered because she knows it kills people, including that
quote kid in the commercial. Uh. Yeah, so, thanks, snopes
(32:16):
for this whole breakdown. It was very, very helpful, um,
but also, like, there are some things that I just
remembered in relations to all of this. For one, mythbusters
even tested this whole thing a lot, along with Mintos,
mintos and coke, and pop ros and coke, and found it,
of course, to be false. Yeah, and that was in
their first episode. Like that's how pervasive this myth is.
(32:38):
There's a green day song called pop rox and coke,
and I've found this whole thing to be a really
fascinating study in how urban legends worked. Like I was
reading kind of the science of how this happened and
how so many people believed it. It's really interesting. Oh,
it's super fascinating. Um Uh. And it appears in the
urban legends related episode of Supernatural. Yes, yes, oh my gosh,
(33:03):
I love it so much. Listeners, if they are cultural
instances we're forgetting, let us know. Oh yeah, urban legends. Right,
I went on a whole candy man streak recently and really,
really interesting is it? If you say Oh, if you
say candy man, do you have to be looking in
a mirror? Yeah, you have to say it into a
(33:25):
mirror five times. Okay, I'm just making sure I'm looking out.
I don't want anything to happen to you or me. Thanks. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I wonder if a video camera counts that I just
had this conversation about bloody Mary. These are important questions,
because if so, I'm in trouble. I guess I'll ponder
(33:49):
that later, but if any listener, you have insight on this. Yeah,
I I have not watched all of the UH candy
man films, so I don't I don't know what and
how many are we up to now? It's okay, all right,
let's let's let's, let's back off of it, all right, cool,
sit back home and sit back and then. Uh. In
more recent years, when it comes to pop rocks, yes,
(34:12):
and alongside the cocktail renaissance here in the United States,
pop rocks have become a pretty popular cocktail ingredient. Um,
they've been showing up in foods too. Is mentioned at
the top in food republic listed thirty restaurants using pop
rocks on their menus, including previously mentioned Atlanta Restaurant Poor Calvin's. Um. Huh. Yeah,
(34:33):
and we're talking things like Sushi with pop rocks, fog raw,
lobster tail. Oh yeah, all kinds of things, because I
mean a lot of it was baked kids, but there
were there were plenty of savory things on there too. Sure,
as a little pop of Uhum, a little little pop
of acid. I guess probably, as long as you can
balance that sweetness with something. Yes, Um. And okay, we
(34:57):
this could be a whole episode, but I'm just gonna
conviense it because that's a whole other episode. But in
two chefs in New York were involved in a lawsuit
about the use of, quote, unique food combinations and unusual ingredients,
and the big ingredient question was pop rocks. Um. One
of the chefs claimed he'd been using them for years,
(35:18):
including in his two thousand nine appearance on the next
iron chef. Yeah, Um. And is it a modern DAY APHRODISIAC?
What what Modern Day APHRO D C Act? I Know
Lauren Molecular gastronomist, Heston Blumenthal, kind of think so. Um.
(35:39):
He set out to prove so in his twenty show,
Heston's recipes for romance, or the very least, he was
trying to prove that the sound of popping candy was deductive,
and the results he got, you know, seemed to people
find that sound pleasing. That was what I basically took. Okay, sure, yeah,
I do, like I was like read that and kind
(36:01):
of like marinated on it for a minute and uh,
and I think like it kind of reminds me of
some of the scenes in Um, in the film Tam
Popo Um, if y'all have ever seen that one. That
kind of ties just like the sensuality of food together
and and I and I you know, like whether it's
sexy or not is, I'm mean, up to you again,
hands up, defensively backing away. I wouldn't, wouldn't, I wouldn't
(36:24):
dare tell you how to feel about it. But Um, but,
but it is a sensation and it's an interesting one
at that. So yeah, yeah, I agreed. It was. It
was interesting. I'd recommend looking it up if you're curious,
because it was the reasoning given for it. I thought
it made sense to be again, yeah, I was kind
of like, I don't know if I would say that's
(36:44):
like sexy essential, but I get I get it, I
get it. Yeah, Oh, and then we gotta hand on this.
Um Pop rocks are, more accurately, popping crystals or an
ingredient in Taco bells menu item, the fire cracker Burrito,
(37:05):
offered in popping cheesy and popping spice. Someone. However, it
never made it out of the testing phase and was
quickly retired. Um also, apparently, oh gosh, we kind of
talk about this too someday, but apparently Taco bell is
kind of MM HMM, I don't want to say vague.
(37:27):
They don't always they're not always super clear about what
their ingredients are like. I think they have the proper
nutrition allergen information, but everybody was like these are pop rocks,
aren't they? And they would just be like no, they're
like talking about yes, exactly, but people were trying to
figure out like, Um, there are still some patents, like
(37:53):
there are a number of Um, what was was the
term gasified candies? Patents for gasified candies out there and
and some of them are are up, some of them
are you know, so so you can use a similar process, depending.
I mean check the patents. If you happen to have
the equipment to do this. Don't get in trouble on
(38:13):
my account, but yeah, I check the patents. I cannot
get over how much I do not want to eat
something called popping cheesy. To be honest, it gives me
I feel a little threatened by the name and I'm
not sure it kind of makes me want to like
hunch in on myself and back up. I'm not sure.
(38:36):
So I get it. I get you. Yeah, something. Yeah,
it feels like a character from like a nineties Sitcom
who's going to show up like like Steve a Shammy,
with a skateboard, being all like hello, fellow kids, and
something's immediately off. You're like, oh no, I can't trust
popping cheesy. There's another character for a long awaited radio series.
(39:04):
Oh dear, we need to ask superproducer Dylan, who is
a notable Taco Bell Ficionado, what his thoughts are on
on this. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, if, if, if, any
of y'all have strong opinions about it, please, please, let
us know. Yes, yes, and if any of YOU HAPPEN
TO HAVE LAB R be in any way connected to
(39:29):
the pop rocks universe, let us know that as well. Yeah,
that would be so cool. That would be so cool.
Oh my goodness. Well, in the meantime, I think that's
what we have to say about pop rocks. Phone now
it is. We do have some listener mail for you, though,
and we are going to get into that as soon
as we get back from one more quick break for
(39:49):
a word from our sponsors. We're back thank you sponsoring. Yes,
thank you, and we're back with I see. I knew
(40:16):
that one was gonna be tricky and also, I could sense,
you're very rightful, feeling that this one was going to
be a little rocky. Yeah, there there was some trepidation
going into that. We all knew pop rocks was gonna
be who knows where it could go, but all of
it was going to be a bit of a challenge,
at a risk a little frightening. There you go. That's
(40:38):
that's just okay. That's I think we did something. Yes,
we did something. Yeah, we did something. Now for a segue.
I'm very excited to use, speaking of Afrodizi X, Julia wrote. Um,
I saw this and one of my friends books of
folk magic, and I need you to witness this iconic spell.
(41:02):
Sexual Prowess. Potion to chickpeas to enhance Mele sexual prowess.
One soaked chickpeas and water. They will swell. Two when
they are completely soft and swollen, strain out the chickpeas
and drink the water. This allegedly makes a man so
viral he can to flower seventy two virgin cows in
one night. Julia continues the wording of it is so
(41:26):
funny and in case you're ever looking for a use
person leftover Aqua Faba, look no further. Wow, it was fun.
Julius sent to a scan of the page and, uh,
it was pretty good. I could see some of the
other recipes in there. I liked the fun. I like
the whole situation alright, but yeah, it was quite funny
(41:50):
to afrodisiac mentions in the pop rockx episode. Not what
I was looking looking for. You never know, you never
know where it's gonna take you. That's true. Thank you.
That's very strange. Heck, Um Ariel wrote. I always look
forward to a new episode of Savor and the lively
conversations you have about so many different food topics. As
(42:14):
I know you want to make sure you're pronouncing things correctly,
I wanted to pass on the correct pronunciation for Oregon.
They continue. In your most recent episode on Massalid Chai,
you noted the brand Oregon shy, which is delicious, but
pronounced it Oregon. The correct pronunciation is Oregon. Wanted to
pass that on in case you ever decided to make
(42:34):
an episode about one of the State's many foods, including
Marion Berries. Gooey duck or hazelnuts and didn't want an
army of Oregonians blowing up your inbox. We can be
a little touchy about it. Smiley face, thanks for looking out.
We don't want that. Yes, Oh, and now I'm paranoid
that I didn't say or or or going did. Oh,
(42:57):
I don't know Oregonians what I just say. I don't
I'm not always listening to myself. Ah, heck, well, it's
gonna be okay, Lauren, um I. I hope I haven't
offended anybody. Um, working, working on it every day. Always, always,
feel free to send in corrections. Yes, yes, and all
(43:19):
those topics sound great. Oh, yeah, yeah, I also did
Google how to pronounce Goody Duck just to make sure
I had it right, which I have never heard of.
So I man interested. You are way more interested than
you even know. They're bizarre. Okay, Oh, cool, alright, awesome. Well,
(43:40):
that's exciting. Uh and, as always, exciting to hear from
you listeners. Thanks to both of these listeners for writing in.
If you would like to write to us, you can
our emails hello at Savor Pot Dot Com. We're also
on social media. You can find us on twitter. FACEBOOK
and Instagram at Savor pod, and we do hope to
hear from you. Savor is production of my heart radio.
For more casts from my heart radio, you can visit
(44:01):
the I heart radio APP, apple podcasts or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows. Thanks, as always to our superproducers,
Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening
and we hope that lots more good things are coming
your way
Hello and welcome to savor production of iheartradio. I'm Annie
Reese and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today we have an
episode for you about pop rocks. Yes, I'm very excited
for this one. Yeah, Oh, it's so it's so weird.
We do love these brand ones and uh, this one's great. Yes,
not currently a sponsor. Um. was there any particular reason
(00:30):
pop rocks were on your round? Um, I'm pretty sure
that I like googled like interesting brand stories or something
very pedestrian like that, and then I was like, Oh, yeah,
pop rocks, that was it. When you suggested it, I
immediately was like have we not already done this? Um, yeah,
(00:53):
it's a very fun one. I went through like a
very brief pop rocks phase that was mostly about the novels.
You of them, sure, but they're never been my candy
of choice, not on your top five list at all.
But I did, I did enjoy them and I liked
the sensation. Um, and when I was researching this one,
(01:16):
I did find so many fun experiments like science, experience
and that. I loved that kind of thing as a kid.
I love it now. So I'm sad I didn't have
that when I was younger. Yeah, there's just just lots,
lots you can do with them. Um, lots to kind
of think about as you Um, as you watch them
(01:39):
work or experience them work. Uh. Yeah, I also I
have a pervasive fondness for them. I I can't say
I remember what the flavor of them has ever been like,
but that sensation is oh so fun, so weird. Yes, Oh, yeah,
especially when you're a kid and like Oh yeah, yeah,
(02:01):
this candy is exciting, right, and you're like, I don't, like,
like you're you're you're a child. You don't have that
much experience with like Soda Pop, hopefully not with alcohol
at that point. And so, yeah, so anything that creates
such a such a strong sensation in your mouth, you're
just like, Oh yeah, that one again, twenty nine packets later. No,
(02:22):
I don't know, probably not. Well, I am going to
I'm going to the store soon, which is still kind
of a big announcement for me. Yeah, I know, right,
I know. I'm going to see if I can get
pop rocks there. I'm not I don't think I'll actually
buy them, but I'm just like, I don't even think
I can get them at my local grocery store. But
maybe I'm wrong. I don't know, I have no idea.
(02:44):
I have not looked for pop rocks and check out
in a very long time. I feel like they're probably
a target. Yeah, I think at a bigger store. I
got a pretty small one. Yeah, but I bet it
like a bigger where they have that like not just
the checkout aisle, but that kind of key, the bigger
checkout aisle. That's not the candy aisle. It's separate than that.
(03:05):
Some of you know what I'm talking about, that that
spontaneous purchase uh area. I bet that. I bet they
hang out around there a lot of times. Um. Well,
I'll report back, but in the meantime I guess this
brings us to walk question. Uh Huh. Pop rocks. What
(03:28):
are they? Well, pop rocks are a brand of hard
candy that comes in small granules like we pebbles or
gravel Um, that are flavored with fruit or whatever candy
flavors and contain pockets of pressurized carbon dioxide gas. When
the candy starts to melt in your mouth, those pockets
(03:50):
lose structural integrity and audibly burst open Um. But they're
so small that it's a pretty gentle sensation, just like
a like a popping tangle with a with a phizy sound,
like you're like you're listening to it, to a fresh
glass of soda pop that's just been poured. Yeah, it's
it's like eating a packet of dry soda pop. It's
(04:10):
it's weird, um right, like a like an unexpected even
if you know what you're getting into, like an unexpected
and delightful sort of way. Yeah, yeah, it's hard to
at least in my experience. I'm sure there are people
that would have a different experience in me, but even
if you've had them, it's hard to prepare yourself for
like Oh yeah, yeah, like every time it's just like Haa,
(04:33):
Oh wow, this is a very niche comparison. Um or
like like like similarly compared to a lot of my
other ones. But but I was trying to think of
what it feels like in an emotional way and I
was like it feels like watching what we do in
the shadows. It's it's a little bit unexpected and weird
(04:54):
but like delightful. But like every time you're you're like,
Oh man, I'm gonna do this, and then you're like
Oh heck, this is how inning. I love that. Yes,
they should slept that on their marketing. If they're smart,
pop rocks, what we do in the shadows, get in touched,
I mean obvious, obvious cross marketing opportunity. I want. That's
(05:21):
so much. Okay, alright, alright, alright, Um, the the pop
rocks brand does sell a bunch of flavors. Currently, those
are strawberry, watermelon, tropical punch, Blue Raz with two Zis, Um,
original cherry. They specify original grape, green apple, cotton candy
(05:42):
and a sugar free strawberry. Um. Then extreme flavors, including
sour apple and Sour Berry. Um, Oh and and blue raspberry. Yeah, Um.
Also a formulation that contains chewing gum, so like it's
bubblegum flavored, and it contains gum in the granules so that,
(06:03):
like you're, once the candy melts, you're left with a
mouthful of gum. Yeah, sorry to say it that way,
like so disappointed, but I feel that's just how I feel. Okay,
isn't it? or at one time, wasn't it called like
a incredit gum? Oh, heck I oh, it had. It
(06:25):
had some kind of it has some kind of marketing
term attached to it and I'm not remembering. I didn't
record it for this but all right, you can. You
can look it up if you need to. Um. They
also do have some seasonal releases including, Um, a formulation
that's coated in milk, chocolate, Um, a pumpkin patch orange
(06:45):
flavor and a candy cane flavor. Yeah, yes, I think
I have had the candy cane flavor, probably the most recently,
because people like to experiment with that on like baked
goods and in cocktails. Oh sure, yeah, and they're how
have been other flavors over time and and possibly availability
differs in Canada and Australia. In the UK, Um, I
(07:08):
saw for those countries specifically cola flavor and tooty fruity.
I don't know. Right in let us, yes, please, to
make pop rocks. You, Um, and actually not you, because
you probably need a lab for this. Uh, but you
the royal. You basically heat sugar and water and whatever
(07:30):
flavorings you're using until it all melts together and begins
to boil. Um. You then cook this mixture to somewhere
between what's called the soft crack to the hard crack stage. Um.
That's something around two D and Eighty Fahrenheit, or a
hundred thirty eight Celsius, meaning that you boil off enough
of the water that when the mixture comes back to
(07:51):
room temperature it'll be a hard solid, like a like
rock candy or like glass. Don't eat glass, I'm just saying.
It's all so an amorphous solid like rock candy. goode. Yeah,
any blood to help? Okay. So so you have your
(08:12):
you have your your sugar mixture, and then here is
where it gets crazy, hat to bend Bolen, because before
you let this sugar stuff cool back down to room temperature,
you see a lot in a chamber that also contains
carbon dioxide gas and then pressurize the chamber to like
Fifty Times like normal earth atmospheric pressure, something like six
(08:35):
pounds per square inch. Then you super cool the whole thing,
hardening it into a mass and trapping carbon dioxide bubbles
throughout the Matrix of sugar that you've got going. When
you open the chamber and release the pressure, the mass
will fracture into those we pebbles of candy with little
(08:57):
pressurized gas pockets trapped inside. It's so cool, Um, and
you can do this because at normal earth temperature and pressure,
dry sugar is hard. You've experienced this if you've ever
crunched on a grit of granulated sugar, maybe like on
(09:17):
the top of a Muffin, or if you've ever eaten
a lollipop or other hard candy, or if you've cracked
the crust on a chrome brulet. Sugar, hard sugar, hard,
dry sugar has the structural integrity to hold little pockets
of pressurized gas. But the thing about sugar, and this
is a thing that I love, is as a kitchen human,
(09:39):
sugar is very soluble in water. Makes for easy clean
up because it just melts away. But in terms of
pop rocks, what that means is that this hard substance
comes into contact with the moisture in your saliva, or
or any other liquid for that matter, Um and it'll
pretty quickly dissolve. Opening the little po gets of pressurized gas.
(10:02):
They expand quickly in the normal earth pressure of your
mouth Um, shattering the thin walls of the candy pockets,
creating the popping sensation on your tongue. Yep, so cool,
so weird. This is technically called in the patents Um
Gasified Candy. Nice, which is just not not a marketing term, though,
(10:31):
but Um. But that's, I strongly suspect, not the only
thing that's happening when you eat pop rocks. And okay,
we're going to go back to some of the stuff
that we talked about way back when in our carbonated Beverage,
Um Soda Fountain episode, because We're going to talk about
carbon dioxide, because it does a couple of really interesting
things in our mouths. Um. First of all, our tongues
(10:53):
have cells that contain this enzyme, that that that catalyzes
the hydration of carbon dioxide. So all that means for
our purposes today is that when we drink soda or
eat pop rocks, our mouths are beakers in which a
chemical reaction is happening. Um, and the end result of
(11:13):
that reaction is that some free protons are released and
they trigger some of our sour sensitive taste buds. Carbon
carbon dioxide tastes sour to us, a little bit. Huh. Yeay, okay, Um,
in a roundabout way, it doesn't itself taste sour, but
it creates a sour taste. Yeah, kind of like watering. Yeah,
(11:39):
almost sure. Yeah. Yeah. Also, research out of the University
of Southern California has indicated, the carbon dioxide bubbles trigger Um,
specialized pain related nerve cells in our nasal cavity, um,
the same ones at register the burn of like horse
erradish and mustard. Yeah. So, so that's why, if you're
(12:03):
drinking a soda, you get like just a little bit,
like a little bit of like a burning sensation, but
not it's not like bad burning, it's just just tingly. Yeah,
I think we talked about that in our Moscow mule
episode two. Soda, yeah, alcohol, and it creates kind of
that like yes, stinging. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but so I
(12:27):
didn't read about that specifically as it refers to pop rocks,
but I assume that a bubble of carbon dioxide is
a bubble of carbon dioxide one way or another, you know.
So I think that's also happening here. Um, I chemists
(12:48):
right in I. Yes, Um, although pop rocks was the
first brand of this type of popping candy to market, Um,
there are competitors like aftershocks, Um and uh, and there's
some other physic and candies that don't use compressed carbon
dioxide but rather a combination of sodium bicarbonate and an
(13:11):
acid that will combine in your mouth to create carbon
dioxide bubbles. Yeah, a little bit different, but still cool and,
like you said, Annie, because of the kind of like
interactive element you've got going here. Pop rocks. Pop Rocks
are considered a novelty candy, yeah, which I don't feel
(13:32):
like I have a firm grasp on what that means.
Like I have a vague understanding, but I assume it
means like, yeah, I can't get it with like the
Basic Candy Lineup. I have to kind of go out
of my way to find papera rocks. Yeah, I think
it's just kind of like like niche, nichely marketed, Um,
(13:54):
kind of specifically to kids and or adults who are nostalgic, Um,
and or like thrill seekers. Heavy scare quotes there. Yes,
I gotta get my operas. Oh No, Um, uh, the company, uh,
(14:15):
this brand is currently owned by a holding company called
Zeta Espiciale out of Spain. Um, but the brand itself
is based in Atlanta, where we are based. Like they
were our neighbors when our offices were in Buckhead and
we never knew what. Yeah, why didn't we? We could
have gotten some samples. Oh, my goodness we could have. Um.
(14:40):
They do license the candy to manufacturers of faked goods
and chocolates and ice cream products and even yogurts and
like breakfast cereals. Um. And, although these are not food products,
they also licensed out to makers of cosmetics like a
bath salts or bath bombs, Um, and pharmaceuticals like kids
vitamin supplements. Interesting, right, I love it. Okay, well, what
(15:08):
about the nutrition? UH, they're mostly sugar. Sugar is a treat.
Treats are nice. I will say a single packet is
only like a third to a half of an ounce
of candy, which is not a whole lot of sugar
in one go. So so that's that's that's pretty cool. Also,
they are of no danger to you at all. We're
going to get into that pretty extensively in the outline.
(15:30):
But they're not going to make your stomach explode at all. UH,
they might make you belch, MHM, the same amount of
belch that you would get from like half a can
of soda or less. Yes, yeah, yeah, we're gonna we
have a lot to say about that, because people have
long had a lot to say about that. They have. Yes,
(15:53):
Oh gosh, it is um, but before we do that,
we do have a couple numbers for you. Yeah, yeah,
according to the brand of Americans recognized pop rocks. Their Creator,
William Mitchell, held over seventy food related patents and apparently
in twenty nineteen. Um, I was looking for a world record,
(16:15):
as I usually do. Um, I didn't quite find one,
but in competitive eater Matt stoney tried to eat like
a bowl full of of pop rocks, like like three
D and fifty packets worth of pop rocks. M Uh,
but he only got like a third of the way through.
(16:35):
Oh Gosh. Yeah, I mean it's like you said, there's
not like there's a lot of them, but that sensation
is so it's very bracing. Yeah, yeah, I can't, I
can't imagine. Oh, and I used to be somebody. I
was that kid who's like how many words can I
put my man? Jeez, I don't think I ever tried
(16:57):
anything like that with pop rocks. Yikes. Um. But there
is a history of some rumors of people trying things
of pop rocks and we also have some more numbers
in our history section. We do. We do, and we
are going to get into all of that as soon
as we get back from a quick break for a
word from our sponsors and we're back. Thank you, sponsor. Yes,
(17:27):
thank you. Okay. So the invention of pop rocks is
a thing of Candy Lore. People like talking about it.
It is really fun Um and it starts with food chemist,
then at general foods, as previously mentioned by Lauren, named
William Mitchell, and just a little bit about him because
(17:49):
he seems like a fascinating guy. So Mitchell was born
in nineteen eleven in Minnesota, paid his way through his
chemistry degree with farm work and then proceeded to get
a job at the agricultural experiment station in Lincoln Nebraska,
which proceeded to have some kind of lab explosion that
left him was second and third degree burns over most
(18:10):
of his body. Wow, yeah, uh. At any rate, though,
he seemingly undaunted by this, was hired by General Foods
in one and would work with them for over thirty years,
through like World War Two and the space race, developing
products like like a tapioca substitute during World War Two
(18:32):
for Um, for for wartime related foods, Um also Tang
plus stuff like cool whip, powdered ed whites and quickset Jello. Yeah,
he was up to a lot of stuff. Yeah, Oh, yeah,
we've mentioned him before. UH, well, when it comes to
pop rockx, Mitchell was experimenting with some ingredients in an
(18:54):
attempt to create an instant soft drink in nineteen fifty six,
somewhere around it. That's the date most people use. Um,
the goal was to create a powder that could be
mixed with water to instantly create a tasty carbonated beverage,
so basically like carbonated Kool aid. Um. As part of
these experiments, he put some sugar flavoring in his mouth
(19:15):
and mixed it with this carbonated powder and to his surprise,
the Combo formed these sweet chunks, like small sweet chunks
that quote exploded and sizzled on his tongue as small
pops of carbonation were released thanks to the moisture and
heat of the saliva. Um. And so he's so excited
about this he invited all kinds of people to try
(19:36):
and he's like, Oh, look what I've discovered Um, and
they made a game out of who could swallow the
biggest chunk and he knew he was onto something. So
he filed a patent that same year and started refining
the recipe, coming up with a carbonated nugget candy composed
of sugar, Corn Syrup, lactose and a fruity flavoring that
(19:57):
popped and sizzled when eaten. Um. However, I did see
other sources that made it sound like he kind of
forgot about it, like he did this and then kind
of forgot about it other than making it as sort
of a wacky gift for friends and family. And another chemist,
food chemist, found the recipe several years later and revived it. Um.
(20:20):
But a lot of things I read said that Mitchell
did like make it and handed out into like parties
and stuff. So that's that's fun. Yeah, but the company
was at a loss with what to do with this
product and decades passed before they sold it. And that
only happened after a small subsidiary in Canada sold them
(20:44):
as a novelty product and, based on some sources I read,
it was after some of the people who worked at
that subsidiary had tried Mitchell's kind of like holiday candy.
Why aren't we selling yeah, this is brilliant. People would
pay for this. Let's go. Yes, pop rocks debuted to
the public in nineteen seventy four, seventy five or seventy six,
(21:04):
the date marries. I think it depends on where exactly
we're talking about, because it was pretty regional, okay, early on,
and it came in Cherry, grape and orange originally, and,
as company Legend has it, a group of grade schoolers
voted on the name. I feel like we've heard that
story a lot as well. But pop rocks was the
(21:25):
overwhelming winner. Uh. Five hundred million packets were sold over
an eighteen month period and the company raked in about
a hundred million dollars, which is over five hundred million
dollars in today's money, in profits in that first year,
despite a whole bunch of stuff working against them that
we're going to get into. Yeah, so they were doing well,
(21:48):
but production of this candy did prove to be a
challenge and it impacted the amount that they can make.
Um Workers had to wear suits to protect themselves from
scalding sugure. Is No joke. No, I'm afraid of it,
absolutely healthy fear. M Hmm. Then the product had to
be crushed. Allegedly, this led to at least one employee
(22:11):
losing a finger. I know. Um, there's also a couple
of stories about a shipments or multiple shipments of pop
rocks blowing the door off trucks because the trucks heat
turned on and like set them off. I guess, yeah, yeah, UM, okay.
And then there's this whole thing. They originally sold for
fifteen to cents a packet, Um, but this regional popularity
(22:37):
led to a markup as high as one dollar for
a packet. And some of that was from kids who
would buy it all up and sell it to their friends,
but some of it was from legit candy smuggling from
like truckers or other employees. Um. Here's a quote from
the New York Times from one day last month when
(22:58):
Justin Prison doorff was still nine years old, someone came
up to him at the exclusive collegiate school and gave
him a free sample of some pink granules. The next
time Justin wanted some of the granules, he had to pay.
The price was a dollar. More than a month had passed,
Justin is ten years old now. These days he is
popping regularly. Each week he buys a couple of envelopes
(23:21):
of a substance whose price tag on the streets figures
out to eighty dollars a kilo. In some places, according
to word reaching the manufacturers, it commands two dollars a kilo.
Oh my goodness, oh, I know. Oh, yes, I know,
and I mittel like commented on this and he was
so frustrated. He was like, if you're buying it for
(23:43):
more than fifteen cents, you're being robbed. He was just like,
I'm not happy about this whole situation. Um. And yes,
the company also had to grapple with public perception. Um,
though the product was extensively tested for safety, it still
made parents nervous, to the point that the F D
(24:04):
a set up a hotline in Seattle to feel these concerns.
Like the whole hotline was just then like pop rocks
are safe, okay, totally chill y'all, and a whole lotline.
But this didn't assuage everyone and kids started sharing horrific,
almost certainly made stories of eating pop rocks gone wrong. Um,
(24:29):
and it's funny reading about this, where they're like, you know,
kids just like to at that age. They just like
to tell these stories like uh, and pop rocks was
pretty new. It was a it was a novelty, it
was a new candy, and so these stories just started
spreading and soon after pop rocks had debuted, an urban
legend started spreading that little Mikey, who was the kid
(24:53):
from the life serial commercials Um, died after consuming a
combination of pop rocks and Coca Cola and the resulting
carbonation from the two products in his stomach exploded his stomach. Yeah, this,
this is not again. This is not going to happen.
It's flatly not going to happen. Um, no pun intended.
(25:15):
They're there. You can, in fact do an experiment at
home if you would like to, where if you if
you just take like a like a like a balloon,
like a balloon that you would blow up, put a
packet of pop rocks in there, seal the edges of
the balloon to a soda pop bottle and then just
dump the pop rocks into the Soda Pop and watch
whether or not the balloon inflates and explodes. It will
(25:38):
inflate shockingly little. It's it's, at the end of the day,
quite a boring experiment, Um, but it really demonstrates how
little gas is put off by this kind of thing.
So yeah, yes, but people believed it like this hold
of our like national, psyche like collective imaginations. Absolutely, Yes,
(26:01):
by as early as nineteen seventy nine, general foods was
trying to combat this rumor of Little Mikey or an
equally anonymous child Um ex floating because little Mikey, like
no one really knew who he was. Like everyone knew
who he was, but they didn't know his name or
anything about it. was just the random actor who was
(26:21):
random Commercial Mike likes it. Yeah, exactly, or yeah, another
kid that's like a friend of a friend, or like,
you can't verify the details. Um Dying because of pop
rocks and usually in combination with something else like Coca Cola,
Um and general foods. Obviously this is not a great
(26:43):
rumor to have about a product, but their profits. One
of the reasons they were so concerned about this was
their profits fell by two on the final quarter of
that same year when this rumor by the time they
were like, Oh Gosh, we've got to do something about
this rumor up and they tried all kinds of things,
including sending the Creator to explain the science of the
(27:06):
product across the country and he would assure folks that
it only produced. I saw a less than a half
or a tenth of the amount of gas as a
can of soda. So like half or less, but I
also saw a tenth. I think he kind of changed
his the number he was giving, but less than half
for sure, and perhaps way less than half. And, as
(27:27):
you said, like he was like at most it will
make you BURP, but you're gonna be fine. Yeah, right, Um.
The company also took out full page ads in forty
five major publications and sent fifty thousand letters to principles
all over the US, like the school principles. Yeah, like
(27:48):
don't worry, all the pop rocks are not going to
kill anyone. Yes, and on top of that, it didn't
help because, as you kind of alluded to, with this
sort of like New York Times article, it's making it
sound like pop rocks are drugs. Well, general foods launched
a spinoff product in the seventies called space dust, which
(28:09):
was basically pop rocks and powdered form, and it was
ill timed, Um and ill named. Rise of powdered drugs
and parents fears around that. Um, so the company changed
the name to cosmic candy, but it was soon, it
was too late. It was mm hmmm. Apparently, by the
(28:30):
end of the seventies, tons of pop rocks had been destroyed,
like three hundred million pouches, sometimes literally buried in the ground,
because the guy who's been really outspoken about this said
we didn't want kids finding it, so they were just
like bearing it. Heck, I know. And then, to add
(28:54):
further fuel to this rumor that pop rocks were dangerous
in some way, Um, they were taken off the shelf
in night three, which confirmed the truth and heavy quotes
of this legend in the minds of many like they're like,
ah see, they took it off the shelves, it must
be true. It is dangerous. Craft Foods purchased pop rocks
(29:16):
and started selling them under the New Name Action Candy.
That I believe they also sold through a company called
carbonated candy ventures. kind of like to add a step
of separation. Sure, UM, likely in part to leave behind
this gruesome story if they could, which, yes, as you said,
(29:37):
it is of course not true, but it is so persistent,
like it's like clockwork. About once a decade some version
of the story resurfaces, like I've heard it. And then
in two thousand one a couple sued basking and Robbins,
and they were claiming that their five year old daughter
was hospitalized after consuming pop rocks in the company's Shrek
(30:00):
Swirl Flavor ice cream. And then there was a related
story over rumored lawsuit around Mintos and coke that circulated
in two thousand and six. Both are not true, by
the way, but again it's like those kind of vague details,
like did you hear about? Like you don't know anything
other than the kind of headline bit and no details. Yeah, yeah,
you're like. Oh Man, my cousin's teacher said that. Yeah,
(30:22):
so I found this really interesting. John Gilchrist, or perhaps
is Gil Christ, the kid who played little Mikey, has
indeed commented on all of this Um. So here's the
quote from a twenty twelve Newsday story about him. Yes,
John Gilchrist enjoys life cereal and keeps it in his home. No,
he does not get a free lifetime supply. No, he
(30:44):
was not a particularly picky eater as a child. Yes,
he really is the guy who played one on TV.
Oh and one more thing. He is most certainly not dead.
The folklore is that I ate pop rocks at the
exploding candies and I drink a soda and my stomach
blew up, he said, recalling along ago urban legend. One
day in the late nineteen seventies, his mother summoned him
(31:05):
from a playground baseball game to tell him she had
received a call from a concerned friend who said, through tears,
I'm so sorry to hear about your son. Replied Mrs
Gil Christ, he just came home from school. How surreal.
I know that a friend could think. Yeah, be like
(31:27):
Oh no, Mrs Gil Christ. Um, the pop rocks official
company website or brand website does address this as well. UH,
in their in their F A Q section. Um, quote,
the actor who played little mikey lives today in a
completely unexploded form in New York. Oh, I love that. Um,
(31:53):
but yeah, as mentioned, this really this legend sticks around. Um,
so this whole thing was mentioned in the movie urban legends,
when a woman refuses to eat pop rocks and coke
when offered because she knows it kills people, including that
quote kid in the commercial. Uh. Yeah, so, thanks, snopes
(32:16):
for this whole breakdown. It was very, very helpful, um,
but also, like, there are some things that I just
remembered in relations to all of this. For one, mythbusters
even tested this whole thing a lot, along with Mintos,
mintos and coke, and pop ros and coke, and found it,
of course, to be false. Yeah, and that was in
their first episode. Like that's how pervasive this myth is.
(32:38):
There's a green day song called pop rox and coke,
and I've found this whole thing to be a really
fascinating study in how urban legends worked. Like I was
reading kind of the science of how this happened and
how so many people believed it. It's really interesting. Oh,
it's super fascinating. Um Uh. And it appears in the
urban legends related episode of Supernatural. Yes, yes, oh my gosh,
(33:03):
I love it so much. Listeners, if they are cultural
instances we're forgetting, let us know. Oh yeah, urban legends. Right,
I went on a whole candy man streak recently and really,
really interesting is it? If you say Oh, if you
say candy man, do you have to be looking in
a mirror? Yeah, you have to say it into a
(33:25):
mirror five times. Okay, I'm just making sure I'm looking out.
I don't want anything to happen to you or me. Thanks. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I wonder if a video camera counts that I just
had this conversation about bloody Mary. These are important questions,
because if so, I'm in trouble. I guess I'll ponder
(33:49):
that later, but if any listener, you have insight on this. Yeah,
I I have not watched all of the UH candy
man films, so I don't I don't know what and
how many are we up to now? It's okay, all right,
let's let's let's, let's back off of it, all right, cool,
sit back home and sit back and then. Uh. In
more recent years, when it comes to pop rocks, yes,
(34:12):
and alongside the cocktail renaissance here in the United States,
pop rocks have become a pretty popular cocktail ingredient. Um,
they've been showing up in foods too. Is mentioned at
the top in food republic listed thirty restaurants using pop
rocks on their menus, including previously mentioned Atlanta Restaurant Poor Calvin's. Um. Huh. Yeah,
(34:33):
and we're talking things like Sushi with pop rocks, fog raw,
lobster tail. Oh yeah, all kinds of things, because I
mean a lot of it was baked kids, but there
were there were plenty of savory things on there too. Sure,
as a little pop of Uhum, a little little pop
of acid. I guess probably, as long as you can
balance that sweetness with something. Yes, Um. And okay, we
(34:57):
this could be a whole episode, but I'm just gonna
conviense it because that's a whole other episode. But in
two chefs in New York were involved in a lawsuit
about the use of, quote, unique food combinations and unusual ingredients,
and the big ingredient question was pop rocks. Um. One
of the chefs claimed he'd been using them for years,
(35:18):
including in his two thousand nine appearance on the next
iron chef. Yeah, Um. And is it a modern DAY APHRODISIAC?
What what Modern Day APHRO D C Act? I Know
Lauren Molecular gastronomist, Heston Blumenthal, kind of think so. Um.
(35:39):
He set out to prove so in his twenty show,
Heston's recipes for romance, or the very least, he was
trying to prove that the sound of popping candy was deductive,
and the results he got, you know, seemed to people
find that sound pleasing. That was what I basically took. Okay, sure, yeah,
I do, like I was like read that and kind
(36:01):
of like marinated on it for a minute and uh,
and I think like it kind of reminds me of
some of the scenes in Um, in the film Tam
Popo Um, if y'all have ever seen that one. That
kind of ties just like the sensuality of food together
and and I and I you know, like whether it's
sexy or not is, I'm mean, up to you again,
hands up, defensively backing away. I wouldn't, wouldn't, I wouldn't
(36:24):
dare tell you how to feel about it. But Um, but,
but it is a sensation and it's an interesting one
at that. So yeah, yeah, I agreed. It was. It
was interesting. I'd recommend looking it up if you're curious,
because it was the reasoning given for it. I thought
it made sense to be again, yeah, I was kind
of like, I don't know if I would say that's
(36:44):
like sexy essential, but I get I get it, I
get it. Yeah, Oh, and then we gotta hand on this.
Um Pop rocks are, more accurately, popping crystals or an
ingredient in Taco bells menu item, the fire cracker Burrito,
(37:05):
offered in popping cheesy and popping spice. Someone. However, it
never made it out of the testing phase and was
quickly retired. Um also, apparently, oh gosh, we kind of
talk about this too someday, but apparently Taco bell is
kind of MM HMM, I don't want to say vague.
(37:27):
They don't always they're not always super clear about what
their ingredients are like. I think they have the proper
nutrition allergen information, but everybody was like these are pop rocks,
aren't they? And they would just be like no, they're
like talking about yes, exactly, but people were trying to
figure out like, Um, there are still some patents, like
(37:53):
there are a number of Um, what was was the
term gasified candies? Patents for gasified candies out there and
and some of them are are up, some of them
are you know, so so you can use a similar process, depending.
I mean check the patents. If you happen to have
the equipment to do this. Don't get in trouble on
(38:13):
my account, but yeah, I check the patents. I cannot
get over how much I do not want to eat
something called popping cheesy. To be honest, it gives me
I feel a little threatened by the name and I'm
not sure it kind of makes me want to like
hunch in on myself and back up. I'm not sure.
(38:36):
So I get it. I get you. Yeah, something. Yeah,
it feels like a character from like a nineties Sitcom
who's going to show up like like Steve a Shammy,
with a skateboard, being all like hello, fellow kids, and
something's immediately off. You're like, oh no, I can't trust
popping cheesy. There's another character for a long awaited radio series.
(39:04):
Oh dear, we need to ask superproducer Dylan, who is
a notable Taco Bell Ficionado, what his thoughts are on
on this. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, if, if, if, any
of y'all have strong opinions about it, please, please, let
us know. Yes, yes, and if any of YOU HAPPEN
TO HAVE LAB R be in any way connected to
(39:29):
the pop rocks universe, let us know that as well. Yeah,
that would be so cool. That would be so cool.
Oh my goodness. Well, in the meantime, I think that's
what we have to say about pop rocks. Phone now
it is. We do have some listener mail for you, though,
and we are going to get into that as soon
as we get back from one more quick break for
(39:49):
a word from our sponsors. We're back thank you sponsoring. Yes,
thank you, and we're back with I see. I knew
(40:16):
that one was gonna be tricky and also, I could sense,
you're very rightful, feeling that this one was going to
be a little rocky. Yeah, there there was some trepidation
going into that. We all knew pop rocks was gonna
be who knows where it could go, but all of
it was going to be a bit of a challenge,
at a risk a little frightening. There you go. That's
(40:38):
that's just okay. That's I think we did something. Yes,
we did something. Yeah, we did something. Now for a segue.
I'm very excited to use, speaking of Afrodizi X, Julia wrote. Um,
I saw this and one of my friends books of
folk magic, and I need you to witness this iconic spell.
(41:02):
Sexual Prowess. Potion to chickpeas to enhance Mele sexual prowess.
One soaked chickpeas and water. They will swell. Two when
they are completely soft and swollen, strain out the chickpeas
and drink the water. This allegedly makes a man so
viral he can to flower seventy two virgin cows in
one night. Julia continues the wording of it is so
(41:26):
funny and in case you're ever looking for a use
person leftover Aqua Faba, look no further. Wow, it was fun.
Julius sent to a scan of the page and, uh,
it was pretty good. I could see some of the
other recipes in there. I liked the fun. I like
the whole situation alright, but yeah, it was quite funny
(41:50):
to afrodisiac mentions in the pop rockx episode. Not what
I was looking looking for. You never know, you never
know where it's gonna take you. That's true. Thank you.
That's very strange. Heck, Um Ariel wrote. I always look
forward to a new episode of Savor and the lively
conversations you have about so many different food topics. As
(42:14):
I know you want to make sure you're pronouncing things correctly,
I wanted to pass on the correct pronunciation for Oregon.
They continue. In your most recent episode on Massalid Chai,
you noted the brand Oregon shy, which is delicious, but
pronounced it Oregon. The correct pronunciation is Oregon. Wanted to
pass that on in case you ever decided to make
(42:34):
an episode about one of the State's many foods, including
Marion Berries. Gooey duck or hazelnuts and didn't want an
army of Oregonians blowing up your inbox. We can be
a little touchy about it. Smiley face, thanks for looking out.
We don't want that. Yes, Oh, and now I'm paranoid
that I didn't say or or or going did. Oh,
(42:57):
I don't know Oregonians what I just say. I don't
I'm not always listening to myself. Ah, heck, well, it's
gonna be okay, Lauren, um I. I hope I haven't
offended anybody. Um, working, working on it every day. Always, always,
feel free to send in corrections. Yes, yes, and all
(43:19):
those topics sound great. Oh, yeah, yeah, I also did
Google how to pronounce Goody Duck just to make sure
I had it right, which I have never heard of.
So I man interested. You are way more interested than
you even know. They're bizarre. Okay, Oh, cool, alright, awesome. Well,
(43:40):
that's exciting. Uh and, as always, exciting to hear from
you listeners. Thanks to both of these listeners for writing in.
If you would like to write to us, you can
our emails hello at Savor Pot Dot Com. We're also
on social media. You can find us on twitter. FACEBOOK
and Instagram at Savor pod, and we do hope to
hear from you. Savor is production of my heart radio.
For more casts from my heart radio, you can visit
(44:01):
the I heart radio APP, apple podcasts or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows. Thanks, as always to our superproducers,
Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening
and we hope that lots more good things are coming
your way
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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