Everything you ever wanted to know about Candy...

I'm just starting Steve Almond's latest book Candyfreak, which is so far promising to be a very light hearted book that talks in depth about a favorite topic of mine: confection in all it's glory and wonder. But the more he talks about candy, the more curious I got about the history of various candy types, concoctions, and whatnot. Luckily, the National Confectioner's Association has me covered, with their fantastic Candy Website. The site is tons of fun to look at and to poke around on - I highly recommend looking at the various fun facts about specific candy types and in-depth histories of the various candy varieties. Some fun facts I learned about candy from my time on the site:

• America celebrates National Cotton Candy Day on December 7th
• The U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps commissioned various American chocolate manufacturers to provide 20 to 40 pound blocks of chocolate to be shipped to quartermaster bases. The blocks were chopped up into smaller pieces and distributed to doughboys in Europe. Eventually the task of making smaller pieces was turned back to the manufacturers. By the end of the war when the doughboys arrived home, the American candy bar business was assured. Why? Because the returning doughboys had grown fond of chocolate candy and now as civilians wanted more of the same. As a result, from that time on and through the 1920s, candy bar manufacturers became established throughout the United States, and as many as 40,000 different candy bars appeared on the scene.
• More than 35 million pounds of candy corn will be produced this year. That equates to nearly 9 billion pieces—enough to circle the moon nearly 4 times if laid end-to-end.
• At one time, conversation candies were made into many shapes including horseshoes, baseballs and watches
• Cotton candy was originally called fairy floss and named cotton candy in 1920
• Chewing gum has enjoyed a long history. Evidence of gum chewing dates back to prehistoric men and women who chewed on tree resin for enjoyment.
• Red is the most popular color of gummi candy
• Licorice is sometimes referred to as Spanish Juice or Sweet Wood
• The world’s largest lollipop was certified on June 25, 2002. It weighed 4,031 lbs (with stick), measured 18.9 inches thick and was more than 15 feet tall with stick (about as tall a a giraffe).
• Ancient Greeks believed mint could cure hiccups