Candy canes a minty sweet Christmas tradition
Along with Christmas tunes sneaking onto the airwaves between pop hits and gingerbread lattes featuring prominently on coffee shop menus, candy aisles filled with red-and-white striped sweets are a tell-tale sign that the holidays have arrived.
“The candy cane’s just always been there,” said Dede King, a mother of eight who lives in Centerville. “You go to a party, it’s there. You sit on Santa Claus’ lap, he gives you one. No matter what other things are brought out at Christmastime, the candy cane remains prominent as what you always remember.”
Not only are peppermint candies the treat of the season, they’re steeped in tradition and lore. One legend claims the candy cane originated in Germany in 1670, when the Cologne Cathedral choirmaster commissioned a local candy maker to manufacture sugar sticks to keep kids quiet during the Christmas Eve ceremony.
The story goes that the choirmaster requested the candy be white, to symbolize Christ’s sinless life, and crooked to signify the shepherds that visited him at birth (the imagery justified handing out candy in church).
The sugary confection arrived in the U.S. sometime in the late 1800s. Some credit German-Swedish immigrant August Imgard with popularizing the candy cane: In 1847, Imgard spruced up his Christmas tree by hanging white candy canes alongside paper ornaments – and the trend spread throughout Wooster, Ohio.
The first mention of “stick candy” was recorded at the 1837 Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association exhibition. While “The Complete Confectioner, Pastry-Cook, and Baker” published a recipe for red-and-white peppermint sticks in 1844, the first mention of the term “candy cane” didn’t appear until 1866, in a short story published in Ballou’s Monthly Magazine.
Both the original stick candy and the candy cane are available year-round at Sweets by Mrs. C, a Christmas-themed sweets and ice creamery in Monongahela. Every day of the year, people are welcome to order peppermint ice cream – which sells well in spring, summer, fall and especially winter – or to grab a candy cane on the way out the door.
“Being an all-year-round Christmas store, we always keep candy canes out. They’re just next to the register on our little bakery display cases,” said Heidi Hoffman, who owns the shop.
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The candy canes are free, something many visitors don’t realize, and a secret Hoffman shares to the delight of young customers.
“When they’re being good, I tell them Mrs. Claus told me to make sure that when I see good little boys and girls, to give them a candy cane,” Hoffman said.
She hands over a candy cane, gratis, and “their eyes light up,” she said.
Those who don’t love the pepperminty taste of candy canes gravitate toward Sweets by Mrs. C’s sweet, fruity and sour stick candies (flavors include butterscotch and root beer, bubble gum and blueberry, lemon, green apple and grape).
Recently, candy canes have adopted the stick candy’s approach to flavor.
In 1995, Starburst released a line of candy canes that taste just like the mouthwatering chews the brand is beloved for. Other big brands have followed suit. There are Lifesaver and Nerds candy canes, and more tempered wintergreen ones, too. While it may be gray in Southwestern Pennsylvania in December, one can taste the rainbow with a pack of Skittles-flavored candy canes, opt for a breakfast-themed treat with Froot Loop or Fruity Pebbles candy canes, or double up dessert with Funfetti-flavored candy canes.
The spiciest snacker might indulge in a Hot Tamale candy cane, while the die-hard Pittsburgh Picklefest-goer will dill-light in pickle-flavored candy canes. Other candy cane flavors that actually exist include ketchup, ham, pizza and rotisserie chicken. There’s also gravy, mac and cheese and wasabi candy canes, for good measure.
“We have went as far as the Oreo ones before. They (my kids) didn’t like them. They said that candy canes shouldn’t be a chocolate sort of flavor,” King said, adding with a laugh, “Honestly, I would probably like the pickle ones before I like a peppermint one because I like pickles.
King said every now and again her children indulge in cherry candy canes, but it’s the classic peppermint ones that play a large role in their Christmas tradition: When Santa Claus visits Christmas Eve or early Christmas morning, he leaves a trail of candy canes around the living room.
“He comes down the chimney. There’s a candy cane that will be laying on the hearth; that’s his first step into the house,” King said. “There is a trail that goes back and forth, almost like they’re falling out of his pockets while he’s pulling gifts out. When he goes to drink his milk and eat his cookies, he also sits and munches on a candy cane. He accidentally gets them in his milk. He’s kind of messy.”
iStock via Getty Images Plus
iStock via Getty Images Plus
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Before heading out to neighboring houses, Santa, King said, trims the family’s stockings and Christmas tree in peppermint candy canes.
“That adds the magic to the tree,” King said.
King concedes she isn’t a fan of peppermint candy canes, unless they’re a garnish in her hot chocolate, but said the red and white striped candy features prominently in her childhood memories, and is happy to pass along the tradition to her children. She also noted that the lasting impact of candy canes at Christmastime may stem from the meaning others make of the crooked stick candy.
“Later on, they started bringing up how, when you turn the candy cane upside down, it’s the ‘J’ that has to do with Jesus and the legend of the candy cane,” King said. “Since that’s the meaning of Christmas, it would seem appropriate that they would turn the candy cane upside down. One direction it has to do with Santa Claus, the other direction it has to do with Jesus. There is a true meaning and then there are the fun traditions.”