Category Archives: Bulk Candy News

Bulk candy comes in many different shapes and sizes. Giant chocolate candy bars and tiny pieces of chewing gum are made by mom and pop companies and massive international corporations alike. These are some news articles and stories that run the full gamut of the bulk candy range. Find out about the latest trends in salt water taffy and jelly beans. See what philanthropic works candy companies like M&Ms and Hersheys are involved in. Get the latest news on the world of bulk candy here.

Candy for our Troops

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Supporting our troops is an important role for all civilians in this country. No one knows what our boys (and young women) need more than a Fort Benning, Ga. Organization that encourages donations of items, like candy in bulk, that come highly recommended from our troops abroad.

Candy for the troops

Goodies For Our Troops is led by founder and co-director Dawn Pletcher who organizes the collection and packaging of the goodies. Their stated mission is actually to help not only those military families that are living overses, but also those who themselves live at Fort Benning. Everything form boxer shorts and deodorant to canned fruits and, of course, candy.

When asked to list some of the top needs for the troops, candy items frequently came up. Most likely they cannot find abroad the candy they are used to in America. Items like Tootsie Roll midgees, Fun Size M&Ms, and Reese’s Pieces were mentioned along with good old milk chocolate candy bars and hard candy lollipops. Bulk candy and other comforts from home can help boost morale and help remind them that the people back home are thinking of them and support them.

Other food items that cracked the most popular list are beef jerky, Oreo cookies, chicken and tuna salad. Those go along with health products like hand sanitizer, travel sized body wash, disposable razors and foot aids as highly requested. Entertainment products like DVDs and video games are also in high demand, but fall a little further down the list than these other, more essential items.

Goodies For Our Troops does a great job and could always use your support in donations or other ways. If you are in the Fort Benning area and would like to contribute or would like to have someone you know added to the military recipients list, contact Dawn Pletcher at Goodies@ptd.net.

Keep up the good work, Dawn!

Also check out their page on Facebook
image credit: from their Facebook page.
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Colorado Candy Man Runs for Office, Fights Taxes on Candy

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The cost of food has gone up a lot in recent years. Basic ingredients, like sugar, are more expensive than ever and candy makers all over America are feeling the pinch. So when the state of Colorado decided to raise taxes on candy, Rick Enstrom knew what he had to do. Get elected to State Congress.

Colorado Bulk Candy Man Runs for Congress

What better way to overturn these candy taxes than to join the ranks of the legislators and de-legislate the tax. Of course, that’s not Mr. Enstrom’s entire campaign platform (though we would still support him if it were!), but his family connection to a toffee company in Colorado cannot be overlooked among the circumstances of this election.

A few years back, when the new tax was first introduced, Mr. Enstrom spoke up for small candy businesses across Colorado not only as a small businessman himself but as a member of the Nation Confectioners Association. His derision of the law brought him a lot of attention at the time.

The opportunity to run for office presented itself when the legislative maps in his county were re-drawn according to a law passed by the opposition party. Since the district has been changed, the former representative decided to run for the Senate, leaving a vacancy that Mr. Enstrom no doubt saw as his opportunity to change the candy oppressors’ laws of the land!

Though we like to play up his savvy candy business experience, Mr. Enstrom has been an elected official in the past. At the age of 24, he became the youngest person ever to be elected a County Commissioner in Colorado. He followed that up with a stint as the State Wildlife Commissioner. So he has been in politics before. And his position on education reads like a passionate one.

We salute you, Rick Enstrom. May candy men and women all over be elected to office and promote a love for candy from sea to shining sea!

Colorado Statesman

Jelly Bean Refrigerator – How Many Can It Hold?

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Who doesn’t want a refrigerator filled with Jelly Beans? When LG presented their latest refrigerator at the recent CES (“Consumer Electronics Show”?), they must have known my family was on the market for a new fridge. They filled it with a billion jelly beans!

jelly beans in a refrigerator

Ok, not quite a billion, but 264,863 is a very large number of jelly beans. Colorful, sweet and delicious, these candies are not normally kept in the ol’ ice box, but if you were to want to do just that, this LG appliance can hold an awfully lot of them. …as this photo from Gizmodo illustrates.

The 31 cubic feet refrigerator is the largest capacity fridge in the LG lineup and also holds other foods like milk, lettuce and frozen tacos. Not that my kids care much about those things. Now that they’ve seen this fridge, I think we’re pretty sure they’re pulling jelly beans off the warehouse shelf right now with a forklift…

If you would like to buy this fridge, check it out at LG’s website, and check out our bulk jelly beans page to fill it up.

Image and story from Gizmodo

Jelly Belly’s Top 20 Flavors, A Highly Technical Review

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Who knows more about the taste of jelly beans than kids, right? Why listen to some adult who is probably trying to sell you something, when you can get your data directly from the source. These two girls break it down like the pros they are.

The girl on the right got a box of assorted Jelly Belly jelly beans for her birthday and is putting them to good use here by sharing her candy ratings and reviews with the world (and her friend).

Starting with very Cherry (they loved it) and going all the way down to black licorice (disgusting!), these girls go one by one through the top 20 flavors of Jelly Belly’s and tell you what you should think about each one. Their brutal honesty can only be truly appreciated by watching the full video.

And once you do, you’ll know that these girls pull no punches and give it to you as straight up as possible. When they love it, they are professional and approving, and when it is not their cup of tea, they frown and fake puke and look personally offended by the taste of the candy in their mouth.

A brief excerpt from their review of the Toast Marshmallow flavor jelly bellys illustrates the genius of their descriptions:

“it kinda looks like poop, like, mixed with pee”

You can’t buy that kind of honesty.

Check out their video on YouTube, and get all your favorite Jelly Belly flavors from ACandyStore.com

Candy Bar

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Gooey, crunchy or chewy everybody loves a candy bar and everyone has a favorite. Candy bars epitomize indulgence and fun and maybe that is why even as adults, we continue to play with different ideas about candy bars. For example some industrious people have gotten together to create the worlds largest bar which weighed in at 5 tons or nearly 10 000 pounds. And the the town ate it!

candy bar

Other interesting candy bar facts and trivia:

  • Frank and Ethel Mars introduced the Snickers bar in 1929. They named it after the family horse.
  • The Snickers Marathon bar is designed to be a cross between a candy bar and an energy bar. It is fortified with vitamins and minerals.
  • The most valuable chocolate bar in the world is a 100-year old Cadbury’s chocolate bar worth $680 dollars
  • The most chocolate bars eaten in one minute is shared at three and was achieved by Pat Bertoletti and Joey Chestnut in San Diego, California, on 22 July 2010
  • The largest chocolate bar mosaic is 101.29 ft2 made with 700 bars of Green & Black’s chocolate by Sir Peter Blake in on 16 November 2009.

 

Different types of candy bars

It seems a lot of people are finding some pretty creative reasons to eat candy bars. It’s not surprising; there are over 120 different types of candy bar for sale in the world today.  That may seem like a lot but not when you consider that at the start of the 20th century there were literally thousands of bars being made by small companies.
Most of those small suppliers have since been purchased by the larger companies we know and love. The favorite candy bars of the smaller companies were usually retained and the rest foregone in favor of the most popular candy bars.

Ancient Candy

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Candy in one form or another has been around for thousands of years. Honeycomb was probably the first ready made candy of the earliest humans. From then forward honey was and continues to be a favorite natural confectionary sweetener. Early Egyptians also favored honey as a sweetener and often used it to sweeten fruit and nuts, such as dates and almonds, to create the first Egyptian confectionaries.

Romans used honey to create candy too. Ancient recipes have been preserved which indicate that the Romans used boiled nuts and honey, sprinkled with ground sesame, as a candy treat. This would have been the precursor to modern nougat. Pine nut candy was the confectionary of choice in medieval courts (in the early days of candy it was a luxury of the rich). This candy was made from a mixture of breadcrumbs, cane sugar, honey, ginger and pine nut kernels. This would have been similar in flavor and texture to the Roman treat.

Meanwhile in the ancient dynasties of the East the art of candy blowing was begun during the Tang Dynasty of the first century. In this process the confectioner/artist lifts a caramel mixture onto a stick which is formed into a single open ended funnel with sides dabbed with wheat flour to prevent sticking the sides together. The open end is then closed and the ends pulled into the shape of a thread-like spout. Air is blown into the spout and as the funnel expands into a sugar bubble, it is quickly shaped into the animal of choice. All this has to be done in a matter of seconds before the sugar hardens and loses its pliability. The finished product is stained with food coloring to create the features of an animal.

Meanwhile many North American Indian tribes had candy from the first century onwards. Tree sap and the bark inner layers were particularly popular as chewing gum as well as fruit seeds and plant stalks. Catkins mixed with animal fat were also a well loved treat.

All of these favored first candies bear a resemblance to some of those still preferred today. Honey continues to be an excellent choice of sweetener and of course nuts and seeds are staples of the candy makers, even of the 21st century. It would be fair to say though, that the ancients would certainly have envied the vast selection and assortment of candies available in modern times. While we may think we have come along way in the presentation of candy as well, it is arguable that no one has ever outdone the candy blowers’ animal creations, in either the past or today.

A Lesson in Gobstoppers

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Gobstoppers to teach science, what a concept! The entire class is given a gobstopper to suck and told that they are sucking away the layers of the planet. The first layer is the earths crust, easily recognized as gone from the gobstopper when the outer color of the blue planet is breached and the students have revealed the outer mantle. This layer is thicker than the earths crust and represented by a change in color which changes again when the student reaches the inner mantle.

At this stage the students have learnt the three outer layers of the planet and are associating this experience with sucking on candy. The lesson is appealing to the tactile, auditory and visual learners in the class which means every student is getting this in the learning style that suits their character, and the geology lesson isn’t over yet. The students now reach the outer core, again represented by a change in color, the gobstopper globe is now approximately half the size it was when it was whole and the texture of the core is softer than the mantle.

As the student sucks nearer to the center the globe will continue to become softer and change in color and soon students will come to the inner core of the globe and their gobstopper. Here the texture of the gobstopper and the earth globe becomes soft and malleable. In the earth globe that is because the temperature has risen to 10 000 degrees Celsius. In the gobstopper it is simply because the delicious gummy center, and the end of the lesson, has been reached. Who is the first student in the class that can say what this inner core is made of and why it is softer and hotter than the outer core?

Shipping Candy

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Shipping candy is an art that requires wholesalers to have very specific methods in place in order to ensure that bulk candy shipments find their destinations in the same state they left the warehouse. In extreme temperatures this is not always an easy feat. Both candy wholesalers and retailers could tell stories of entire shipments that have melted, molded or faded into unrecognizable globs of goo. Candy is also heavy and so the cost of shipping over any distance will often run into ridiculously high amounts. Most retailers will look for a company that offers flat rate shipping to ameliorate that problem, even when special packaging for temperature is required.

That’s why retailers appreciate candy companies who spend the time and expense required to ship candy that always arrives as fresh and perfect as it was when it left the shop floor. Often this effort will garner customer loyalty even when competition is fierce in the industry. That’s because most retailers know that building a reliable relationship with a consistently competent candy wholesaler is not easy. It is a time consuming process, often encumbered with many trials and errors before the right company is found.

To achieve freshness that survives the delivery process it is imperative for candy wholesalers to streamline processes to ensure that candy is stored for a very short period, and that it is kept at the correct temperatures through every step of the candy shipping process. On hot days that will mean the candy wholesaler will have to take the time to pack the candy and or chocolate on ice and to ensure that warehouse temperatures are kept moderate. That kind of attention to detail isn’t something every candy wholesaler is willing to offer so, when you find one that will, they’re worth their weight in gold – or should I say sugar.

Candy Containers and Cookie Jars

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Just about everyone loves candy but some people are particularly fond of what the candy comes in. There are numerous collectors of candy containers and cookie jars (which include cookie containers) and in fact there are a plethora of books written on the subject. The most notable well written prose on the subject of candy containers and cookie jars are these:

Album of Candy Containers by Jennie D. Long.
Complete American Glass Candy Containers Handbook/With Supplement by George Eikelberner.
Collectors Guide to Candy Containers: Identification and Values by Douglas Dezso and Leon and Rose Poirier. Over 500 color pictures of all kinds of candy containers.
Collectors Encyclopedia of Cookie jars Book III by Fred, Herndon, and Joyce Roerig.
Collector’s Encyclopedia of Cookie Jars, Book II, by Fred Roerig, Joyce Roerig.

    For those who love the rich combination of candy and history there are some interesting reads for you as well.

    Candyfreak by Steven Almond
    The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars by Joel Glenn Brenner

      The psychology of candy has long been a source of interest to candy makers, parents and psychologists alike. While we all know that candy calls to mind associations, usually pleasant and often from childhood, books have been written which actually profoundly describe the impact that candy can have in some people’s lives. For one such story which is both well written and entertaining read:

      Candy and Me (A Love Story) by Hilary Liftin

        In addition to books for candy and history lovers and collectors of candy containers and cookie jars, there are conventions, website blogs, chat rooms, clubs and trade fairs all dedicated to these hobbies and interests. The fascinating world of candy extends far beyond our personal favorite titbits.

        Confectionary, Chocolate and Candy Expos

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        For those whom the love of candy extends from a personal passion to a professional enterprise it is expo season. Over the next few months candy makers, lovers and retailers will host expos all over America. The public and pundits alike will learn about candy and chocolate, discover brands and types they had never heard of and listen to keynote speakers address the latest trends and prospects in the world of candy and chocolate.

        The next Chocolate World Expo show is just around the corner and will take place in New Jersey on Sunday, March 6, at the Meadowlands Expo Center in Secaucus, New Jersey. The Expo Center is part of the Harmon Meadow complex that includes seven hotels, major office buildings, movie theaters, and major retail establishments. The show will as always, offer tastings and sales of gourmet chocolates, baked goods, specialty foods, wines and more. The show is a favorite of both industry people and the public.

        For candy lovers, PEZ in particular, but there is much more than just PEZ at this convention, there is the 13th Annual Northeast PEZ Collectors Gathering on April 7, 8 and 9, 2011 at the Holiday Inn Stamford Downtown, Connecticut. This show is a must for candy lovers and its fun for everyone. Some of the featured events on this year’s agenda include a PEZ scavenger hunt, room hopping as well as the usual raft of workshops and seminars.

        The 2011 Sweets and Snacks Expo, sponsored by the National Confectioners Association, is the largest confectionery, cookie and snack show in the Americas. The EXPO features nearly 500 companies showcasing the most confectionery and snack products in one place making it the most valuable, time-effective event in the industry. Exhibitors at the EXPO are manufacturers of chocolate, candy, gum, cookies/biscuits; sweet snacks, nuts and savory (salty) snack goods. You will also find every other confection imaginable represented on the trade show floor, from the classic selections consumers buy year after year, to the hundreds of new products introduced. The show runs from May 24 to 26 at McCormick Place, Chicago.

        The Philadelphia National Candy Gift and Gourmet Show is sponsored by the Retail Confectioners Association of Philadelphia (RCAP). The show focuses on the sharing of information and knowledge about candy making and retailing among Philadelphia area confectioners. Over the years, the local focus has expanded and the RCAP currently has over 300 active and associate members throughout the United States and Canada. Today these candy makers and suppliers still share information to maintain very high quality chocolate and hard candy. This show runs from September 11 – 13, 2011 at the Atlantic City Convention Center.

        Whether you are in the industry or a product lover, trade shows are interesting and fun and an amazing way to find out about, and sample, new candy and chocolate and trends.