The candy market was a racially differentiated one. Patrick's Day and July Fourth – into candy holidays. They tried to turn a handful of holidays – George Washington's birthday, St. They desperately wanted to level out demand, so that they could sell candy year round. "But this meant that candy makers' business was highly seasonal. "At the beginning of the 1920s, Easter and Christmas were easily associated with candy," says Merleaux. "They organized into industry associations, did cooperative national advertising campaigns, shared market information, used data generated by government-employed statisticians, and promoted modern business practices."Īnd one of the main thrusts of these collaborative campaigns was making more holidays candy-centric. "The confectioners were model clients of the Department of Commerce," says Merleaux. One man who played a pivotal role in developing candy retail during this era was Herbert Hoover – not as president, but in an earlier role as head of the Department of Commerce. "This helped spread the candy habit beyond the women and children who had previously been assumed to be the main consumers," Merleaux says. soldiers had returned from WWI with a sweet tooth, thanks to candy included in their wartime rations. "People at the time often said that candy and soda consumption was increasing because of Prohibition," Merleaux tells The Salt. ![]() ![]() The iconic candy corn – those "inch-high" treats "roughly mimicking the appearance of corn kernels" - first appeared in stores during this decade, according to The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets.Īnd then there was Prohibition: Basically, folks were swapping one vice – alcohol – for another. Doughnuts, taffy and apples draped in caramel sauce began to be jettisoned in favor of store-bought candy. With urbanization, higher wages and low unemployment, households began to buy more processed food. As the 1920 Census registered, it was the first time a majority of the U.S. Several factors lay the groundwork for the rise of "Big Retail Candy" that decade. But it was a boon for the candy business." "This was a mess for farmers in the mainland United States, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and elsewhere. "Sugar was suddenly very, very cheap," says historian April Merleaux, whose new book, Sugar and Civilization, explores the cultural politics of sweetness. The result: a glut of sugar that led to a steep crash in prices. Sugar trade routes that had been disrupted during World War I were once again open for business. The roots of America's candy boom lie in the 1920s. And it turns out the story of how this and other sweet treats came to dominate the ghoulish holiday is a bittersweet one – in which enterprise and racism are as intertwined as the layers of a rainbow lollipop. It was a pivotal decade in the rise of America's retail candy business.Ĭandy corn is as ubiquitous at Halloween as tiny witches and skeletons knocking on neighborhood doors. Women operate a gum-wrapping machine, circa 1923.
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