July 2, 2025 • 9 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Candy corn. Black licorice. Circus peanuts. Chances are, you have a strong opinion about one or all of these three candies. For some, they're a nostalgic treat... for others, they belong in the trash. But chances are, you've never thought about how they came to be. Here to tell the story of America's three most controversial candies is a man simply known as the History Guy.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories. Our next story
comes to us from a man who's simply known as
the History Guy. These videos are watched by hundreds of
thousands of people of all ages over on YouTube. The
History Guy has also heard right here in our American Stories.
Let's take a listen to the History Guy as he
(00:30):
tells the story of three controversial candies. Take it away.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
From chocolate to suckers to gum drops. There's all sorts
of different kinds of candy, and everybody has their favorite.
But some candy seems to strike a stronger reaction than others.
In fact, some are so divisive that everyone seems to
have an opinion on them, whether they love them or
they hate them. Black licorice, circus peanuts, and candy corn
are perhaps the most delici of candies, yet each of
(01:01):
them has their own history that has allowed them to
perhaps surprisingly survive as a treat for generations. Boom. Black
licorice flavor comes from a plant, a legume, which is
widely distributed in Central and Western Asia, Europe, and North Africa. Specifically,
it comes from the plant's root, which has a sweetness
(01:22):
thirty to fifty times greater than sucrose. The word licorice
comes from a corruption of the original Greek term and
means sweet root. The root has been ingested in various
forms for millennia. In the earliest reference to it or
a similar plant comes from forty three hundred years ago,
in the writings of a Chinese emperor known to experiment
with plant remedies. The Chinese writings it could be used
(01:43):
as an antidote to toxins, to reduce pain, and is
a cure for various other complaints. It was known throughout
the medieval world as an herbal medicine. Its cultivation spread
throughout northern Europe, and around the eleventh century made its
way to England, particularly around Pontefract in Yorkshire. In German
and elsewhere where, it was added to beer, soon used
as a flavor additive in cake and bread. In the
(02:04):
Middle East and the Mediterranean, licorice was combined with honey
into lozenges as a medicine for sore throat, but by
then also is that kind of sweet. Netherlands to only
leads the world in licorice consumption, and sweet shops in
Amsterdam claimed to have been selling liquor sweets since seventeen
forty three. It was probably in the Netherlands where it
began being extruded, creating the classic twisted ropes we know today.
(02:26):
Napoleon was a particular fan, and he carried sticks to
chew to help settle his stomach. It's been suggested that
his love of liquorice even turned his teeth black, and
that he imbibed liquorice drink almost exclusively in his final days.
The nineteenth century saw an explosion of sweet production, and
at least thirteen factories produced many thousands of black liquoric
sweets every day in Pontefract. A September twenty seventeen edition
(02:48):
of Garden Illustrated notes that anecdotally, the death knell for
the cultivation of liquorice root in Pontefract was when American
gis introduced the British to chocolate candy during the Second
World War. In the Unit States, liquorice companies existed at
least since eighteen forty five, and later introduced more flavors
such as cherry and raspberry twist ropes like red vine
and twizzlers. These products have come to be called licorice
(03:10):
and red liquorice because it was the same shape, and
created the term black liquorice to refer to traditional liquorice
flavored candies. Liquorice flavored good in Plenty, possibly the oldest
branded candy in the United States, was first produced in
eighteen ninety three, but despite its history, the candy is
notably polarizing. A February twenty eighteen edition of The Washington
(03:31):
Post rites some have called it the devil in candy
for warm. BuzzFeed went published a quiz called we Know
if you like black Liquorice with just one question, and
it was a yes or no question. Are you eighty
years old? The Post notes that is surveyed by the
National Confectioners Association found that only three percent of people
said that liquorice was a favorite candy when they were
a child, and that on a five thirty eight ranking
(03:53):
of eighty six candies, good in Plenty came in dead last.
Yet black licorice soldiers On last August, the website Zippia
used Google Trends to examine fifty different popular candies and
how often each one is searched for within the United
States to determine the most popular Halloween candy in each state. Astoundingly,
Black Liquors came out as the most popular Halloween candy
(04:15):
in Colorado, and the flavor remains popular globally, not just
in candies, but in beers and alcohol such as Jegermeister,
Sambuca and Uzzo Liquorice flavoring is even present in Nike Will.
(04:35):
Perhaps just as divisive are the orange peanut shaped marshmallow
candies called circus peanuts for starters. The exact invention of
the candy is unknown. Candymaker Spangler has been making them
since the nineteen thirties and perfected their recipe in nineteen
forty one, while Wisconsin based Melster has been making them
since nineteen nineteen. We've tried to find out why they're
(04:57):
called circus peanuts, a spokesperson for Spangler Candy said in
a two thousand and three article in The North Bay Bohemian.
We've asked people in this Begler family, We've asked historians
from Barnum and Bailey Circus, but no one knows. For
that matter, no one knows why they're orange or why
they're flavored like bananas, and various theories have been put
forward for their origins, including that they originated with traveling circuses,
(05:19):
but nothing has been conclusively proven. Author's Richard and Anna
Kate Cartel suggest in their two thousand and eight book
Food Bites, The Science of the Foods We Eat, that
the history of circus peanuts is clouded, perhaps because nobody
wants to admit that they're responsible for developing this much
maligned product. What is clear is that the treat hated
(05:39):
widely across the Internet, has an odd and enduring popularity,
has served at least one hundred and twenty years as
an apparently uniquely American treat. Owner of candy wholesaler Candy
Favorites even calls them not so much candy as a
marcana like black licorice. Marshmallows itself has a long history,
nating back to ancient Egypt, when it was made with
sad from the mallow plant commonly found in marshes, likely
(06:02):
mixed with honey and nuts, and often used medicinally. It
became a popular treat in the eighteen hundreds in France,
but increasing demand led them to find a new method
of making marshmallows using the starch mogul system, where cornstarch
could be put into molds and the water and sugar
mixes poured in. The traditional mallow is replaced with gelatine,
which created a stable product. Steve Kerr, a vice president
(06:24):
at Spangler, says they are the companies most difficult to
make candy because you've got all these variables coming together. Gelatine, sugar, water,
and corn syrup are the main ingredients, but the moisture
level is most important to achieve that unique texture. While
they're often so despised that people seem confused that they
even still exist, the Zippias survey found that circus peanuts
(06:44):
were the most popular Halloween candy in Oklahoma, and they've
had a more popular legacy in the form of breakfast cereal.
According to General Mills, John Hollahan came up with the
idea for Lucky Charms cereal when he chopped up circus
peanuts into cheerios, which led to the creation of mar
bits to the tiny marshmallow pieces that are their magic.
(07:05):
Like circus peanuts, candy corn's origins date to the eighteen hundreds.
There are some disagreement, however, it's usually said to have
been invented in Philadelphia by German immigrant Philip Wonderley. In
eighteen sixty five, Wonderley arrived in the United States and
in eighteen seventy one began making candy in Philadelphia, and
in eighteen seventy six was joined by George Renneger. According
to Wonderly's children, Reneger said to have invented butter cream,
(07:27):
or the material for candy corn, in eighteen eighty eight.
Renninger's early works were shaped like acorns, turnips, and pumpkins,
and the exact genesis of the candy corn is less clear.
Its popularity came later when Golitz Candy now known as
Jelly Belly, began producing them in eighteen ninety eight or
nineteen hundred. While it has always resembled a corn kernel,
it wasn't always known as candy corn, but instead as
(07:50):
chicken feed or chicken corn. Golitz claims it was so
successful that it carried them through the depression in two
World Wars and made up a significant part of their income.
But candy corn has its haters. A reviewer on the
website The Takeout describes the texture as Satan's earwax. Ranking
by bulk sales website says a candy corn is among
(08:11):
the top ten favorite candies in America, but when doing
a consumer survey of worst candy, candy corn ranked number one,
just ahead of circus peanuts, while the Zippia method found
candy corn to be the most popular hollowing candy in
West Virginia, and a twenty thirteen National Confectioners Association survey
found that it was the second most favorite candy behind
(08:31):
the overwhelming winner of chocolate. But despite the controversy, thirty
five million pounds of it are produced each year, some
nine billion pieces. So why do we keep these candies
around for generations even though they engender such bittriol. Well,
I mean, some people seem to legitimately like them. But
(08:52):
maybe we keep them around because they have such a
wonderful history. You could call that nostalgia, you could call
that addition, you could even call that provenance, or you
could simply acknowledge that history deserves to be remembered.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
And a terrific job on the production, editing and storytelling
by our own Greg Hengler, and a special thanks to
the History Guy. If you want more stories of forgotten history,
please subscribe to his YouTube channel, The History Guy. History
deserves to be remembered. It's a terrific channel. You know.
We're grateful that he partners with us on so many
(09:28):
of his stories. And what a story about, well, my
favorite candy, which is of course good in plenty, and
my daughter laughing the whole time listening to this segment
because she has told me repeatedly that only people over
one hundred years old, Edith and I take that as
a compliment. The story of the three most despised candies,
(09:51):
two of which I love because I love candy corn too.
On our American Stories,
And we continue with our American stories. Our next story
comes to us from a man who's simply known as
the History Guy. These videos are watched by hundreds of
thousands of people of all ages over on YouTube. The
History Guy has also heard right here in our American Stories.
Let's take a listen to the History Guy as he
(00:30):
tells the story of three controversial candies. Take it away.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
From chocolate to suckers to gum drops. There's all sorts
of different kinds of candy, and everybody has their favorite.
But some candy seems to strike a stronger reaction than others.
In fact, some are so divisive that everyone seems to
have an opinion on them, whether they love them or
they hate them. Black licorice, circus peanuts, and candy corn
are perhaps the most delici of candies, yet each of
(01:01):
them has their own history that has allowed them to
perhaps surprisingly survive as a treat for generations. Boom. Black
licorice flavor comes from a plant, a legume, which is
widely distributed in Central and Western Asia, Europe, and North Africa. Specifically,
it comes from the plant's root, which has a sweetness
(01:22):
thirty to fifty times greater than sucrose. The word licorice
comes from a corruption of the original Greek term and
means sweet root. The root has been ingested in various
forms for millennia. In the earliest reference to it or
a similar plant comes from forty three hundred years ago,
in the writings of a Chinese emperor known to experiment
with plant remedies. The Chinese writings it could be used
(01:43):
as an antidote to toxins, to reduce pain, and is
a cure for various other complaints. It was known throughout
the medieval world as an herbal medicine. Its cultivation spread
throughout northern Europe, and around the eleventh century made its
way to England, particularly around Pontefract in Yorkshire. In German
and elsewhere where, it was added to beer, soon used
as a flavor additive in cake and bread. In the
(02:04):
Middle East and the Mediterranean, licorice was combined with honey
into lozenges as a medicine for sore throat, but by
then also is that kind of sweet. Netherlands to only
leads the world in licorice consumption, and sweet shops in
Amsterdam claimed to have been selling liquor sweets since seventeen
forty three. It was probably in the Netherlands where it
began being extruded, creating the classic twisted ropes we know today.
(02:26):
Napoleon was a particular fan, and he carried sticks to
chew to help settle his stomach. It's been suggested that
his love of liquorice even turned his teeth black, and
that he imbibed liquorice drink almost exclusively in his final days.
The nineteenth century saw an explosion of sweet production, and
at least thirteen factories produced many thousands of black liquoric
sweets every day in Pontefract. A September twenty seventeen edition
(02:48):
of Garden Illustrated notes that anecdotally, the death knell for
the cultivation of liquorice root in Pontefract was when American
gis introduced the British to chocolate candy during the Second
World War. In the Unit States, liquorice companies existed at
least since eighteen forty five, and later introduced more flavors
such as cherry and raspberry twist ropes like red vine
and twizzlers. These products have come to be called licorice
(03:10):
and red liquorice because it was the same shape, and
created the term black liquorice to refer to traditional liquorice
flavored candies. Liquorice flavored good in Plenty, possibly the oldest
branded candy in the United States, was first produced in
eighteen ninety three, but despite its history, the candy is
notably polarizing. A February twenty eighteen edition of The Washington
(03:31):
Post rites some have called it the devil in candy
for warm. BuzzFeed went published a quiz called we Know
if you like black Liquorice with just one question, and
it was a yes or no question. Are you eighty
years old? The Post notes that is surveyed by the
National Confectioners Association found that only three percent of people
said that liquorice was a favorite candy when they were
a child, and that on a five thirty eight ranking
(03:53):
of eighty six candies, good in Plenty came in dead last.
Yet black licorice soldiers On last August, the website Zippia
used Google Trends to examine fifty different popular candies and
how often each one is searched for within the United
States to determine the most popular Halloween candy in each state. Astoundingly,
Black Liquors came out as the most popular Halloween candy
(04:15):
in Colorado, and the flavor remains popular globally, not just
in candies, but in beers and alcohol such as Jegermeister,
Sambuca and Uzzo Liquorice flavoring is even present in Nike Will.
(04:35):
Perhaps just as divisive are the orange peanut shaped marshmallow
candies called circus peanuts for starters. The exact invention of
the candy is unknown. Candymaker Spangler has been making them
since the nineteen thirties and perfected their recipe in nineteen
forty one, while Wisconsin based Melster has been making them
since nineteen nineteen. We've tried to find out why they're
(04:57):
called circus peanuts, a spokesperson for Spangler Candy said in
a two thousand and three article in The North Bay Bohemian.
We've asked people in this Begler family, We've asked historians
from Barnum and Bailey Circus, but no one knows. For
that matter, no one knows why they're orange or why
they're flavored like bananas, and various theories have been put
forward for their origins, including that they originated with traveling circuses,
(05:19):
but nothing has been conclusively proven. Author's Richard and Anna
Kate Cartel suggest in their two thousand and eight book
Food Bites, The Science of the Foods We Eat, that
the history of circus peanuts is clouded, perhaps because nobody
wants to admit that they're responsible for developing this much
maligned product. What is clear is that the treat hated
(05:39):
widely across the Internet, has an odd and enduring popularity,
has served at least one hundred and twenty years as
an apparently uniquely American treat. Owner of candy wholesaler Candy
Favorites even calls them not so much candy as a
marcana like black licorice. Marshmallows itself has a long history,
nating back to ancient Egypt, when it was made with
sad from the mallow plant commonly found in marshes, likely
(06:02):
mixed with honey and nuts, and often used medicinally. It
became a popular treat in the eighteen hundreds in France,
but increasing demand led them to find a new method
of making marshmallows using the starch mogul system, where cornstarch
could be put into molds and the water and sugar
mixes poured in. The traditional mallow is replaced with gelatine,
which created a stable product. Steve Kerr, a vice president
(06:24):
at Spangler, says they are the companies most difficult to
make candy because you've got all these variables coming together. Gelatine, sugar, water,
and corn syrup are the main ingredients, but the moisture
level is most important to achieve that unique texture. While
they're often so despised that people seem confused that they
even still exist, the Zippias survey found that circus peanuts
(06:44):
were the most popular Halloween candy in Oklahoma, and they've
had a more popular legacy in the form of breakfast cereal.
According to General Mills, John Hollahan came up with the
idea for Lucky Charms cereal when he chopped up circus
peanuts into cheerios, which led to the creation of mar
bits to the tiny marshmallow pieces that are their magic.
(07:05):
Like circus peanuts, candy corn's origins date to the eighteen hundreds.
There are some disagreement, however, it's usually said to have
been invented in Philadelphia by German immigrant Philip Wonderley. In
eighteen sixty five, Wonderley arrived in the United States and
in eighteen seventy one began making candy in Philadelphia, and
in eighteen seventy six was joined by George Renneger. According
to Wonderly's children, Reneger said to have invented butter cream,
(07:27):
or the material for candy corn, in eighteen eighty eight.
Renninger's early works were shaped like acorns, turnips, and pumpkins,
and the exact genesis of the candy corn is less clear.
Its popularity came later when Golitz Candy now known as
Jelly Belly, began producing them in eighteen ninety eight or
nineteen hundred. While it has always resembled a corn kernel,
it wasn't always known as candy corn, but instead as
(07:50):
chicken feed or chicken corn. Golitz claims it was so
successful that it carried them through the depression in two
World Wars and made up a significant part of their income.
But candy corn has its haters. A reviewer on the
website The Takeout describes the texture as Satan's earwax. Ranking
by bulk sales website says a candy corn is among
(08:11):
the top ten favorite candies in America, but when doing
a consumer survey of worst candy, candy corn ranked number one,
just ahead of circus peanuts, while the Zippia method found
candy corn to be the most popular hollowing candy in
West Virginia, and a twenty thirteen National Confectioners Association survey
found that it was the second most favorite candy behind
(08:31):
the overwhelming winner of chocolate. But despite the controversy, thirty
five million pounds of it are produced each year, some
nine billion pieces. So why do we keep these candies
around for generations even though they engender such bittriol. Well,
I mean, some people seem to legitimately like them. But
(08:52):
maybe we keep them around because they have such a
wonderful history. You could call that nostalgia, you could call
that addition, you could even call that provenance, or you
could simply acknowledge that history deserves to be remembered.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
And a terrific job on the production, editing and storytelling
by our own Greg Hengler, and a special thanks to
the History Guy. If you want more stories of forgotten history,
please subscribe to his YouTube channel, The History Guy. History
deserves to be remembered. It's a terrific channel. You know.
We're grateful that he partners with us on so many
(09:28):
of his stories. And what a story about, well, my
favorite candy, which is of course good in plenty, and
my daughter laughing the whole time listening to this segment
because she has told me repeatedly that only people over
one hundred years old, Edith and I take that as
a compliment. The story of the three most despised candies,
(09:51):
two of which I love because I love candy corn too.
On our American Stories,
Host
Lee Habeeb
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