A Walk through Candy History - True Treats Historic Candy

Candy Timeline

The Originals

The Originals

From Native American barks, to the first candy ever, to the sugars and sweets of the Bible. Healthy. Medicinal. Tasty. Symbolic.

Collections

  • Biblical Sugar Sampler:This collection contains a variety of sugars which are cited in the Bible – used for various purposes and in various ways, including – cane sugar, bee honey, sorghum drops, date sugar and many more. The story of the sugars, and their significance, are on the label with a quote from the Bible. A wonderful way to enjoy Biblical food history for you, your family and a gift for anyone else.
  • Cave Kitchen –What did early humans eat? One thing is for sure, they ate sweets and sugars. The originals weren’t as sassy as today’s assortments and never came wrapped. Think: roots, flowers, fruits, resins, and bugs. Yes bugs – no flavorings. You have to taste it to enjoy it. Contents may depend on availability.
  • Time Capsule: Geared especially for kids, this time capsule is filled with first-ever “Candy,” or what would later become candy, with a personal letter from Terri the Time Traveler. For the adventurous among us.

Individual Selections

 

 

1500s-1700s

 

Candied Peels and petals, chocolate sticks, sugar plums, & other sugary treats.

Many common fruits, nuts, and spices arrived in the 1500s to 1700s and brought with them new forms of confections…and all the symbolism that went with them.

Collections

  • 1700s Sweet Shop in A Box: An 18th Century sweet shop in a box, with a variety of sweets of the time, such as tea biscuits, cane and sorghum sugar, crystallized ginger, sugar plums, licorice root, stain glass and more.
  • 1700s Time Capsules: Now the perfect chance for kids to experience history in an entirely new way, with a time capsule filled with 18th century sugars and sweets, such as candied peels, Turkish delight, sugar plums, and stain glass. Most important, they’ll find a letter from the Time Traveler written just for them, telling them about each selection.
  • Antique Garden Collection Box: Candy came from medicine and medicine from plants. This box includes candy that evolved from antique gardens, those grown with care in the 1700’s and 1800’s, as well as orchards and the wild. Some originated in North America, many came from regions far beyond and are considered American today. Selections include horehound drops, licorice root, tree resin, peppermint stick, strawberry filled candy and many more – providing a full taste of sugars and sweets in a timeless box.
  • Revolutionary War Sweet & Sugars: A collection of the sugars and sweets soldiers and sailors ate in the Revolutionary War – from the government, packages from home, sutlers tents and bum boats, and foraging. A tag on the box contains an historic illustration on one side and the story of each item on the back. Let us not forget that, while the Continental Army was hungry – at times starving – the British had it worse. And that is only one reason why the Revolutionaries won the war.
  • Sugar Sampler: Enjoy the distinct taste of North American sugars, used as a medicine,  preservative, flavoring, and fermenting agent. There’s the 1700s style brown and white cane sugar, the primary reason for slavery, and alternatives abolitionists and others used: native maple sugar; sorghum grain; and raw beet sugar, today the most widely used sugar in the U.S.

Individual Selections

 

 

1800s

The Industrial Revolution brought a tidal wave of change in sweets.

The 1800s saw the growth and demolition of enslavement with its close connection to sugar cane; the introduction of new sugars promoted by abolitionist; and the massive shifts in foods due to the Industrial Revolution, including the candy we know today.

Collections

  • 1800s Confectionery Shop in a Box: The 1800s were a time of tremendous upheaval, change, and transformation and sugars and sweets were part of them. This collection contains some of the most significant, from sorghum sugar, widely used throughout the nation, including as a cane sugar replacement for abolitionists, to late 1800’s circus peanuts, really used during circuses (and later the prototype for Lucky Charms cereal). Others include the 3-inch candy stick (1837), taffy (1880s), the Gibralter, the first commercial candy in the U.S. (1806), and many more.
  • 1800s Time Capsule: The 1800s were a dynamic time for foods of all sorts, and candy was no exception. In this time capsule, kids will experience these changes from the tasty and medicinal hard candies to the Circus Peanut, actually made for circuses in the late 1800s. Each one is described in a note from the Time Traveler.  Fun, educational and tasty.
  • Civil War Commissary in A Box: Civil War soldiers received food – including sweets and sugars – from numerous places: the government, packages from home, groups and associations, and sutler’s – disreputable merchants who followed the troops, selling over-priced, often hard-to-find foods. The sutlers prompted the U.S. government to open commissaries.
  • Penny Candy Store in A Box: Penny Candy came to life in the mid-1800s and has been around ever since. This collection contains 15 favorite penny candies enjoyed for decades and generations, from traditional candy sticks to Pixy Stix. Candy Buttons? Licorice Laces? Yes. Packed with Fun, Flavor and Memories. That’s why we say….”Memories Never Tasted So Sweet.”
  • Taffy Treasures: Salt water taffy, molasses pulls, and Turkish Taffy: hand-made, machine-made, stick-to-you-teeth, or melt-in-your-mouth, the taffy in this bag, mainly from the late 1800s, says it all.

Individual Selections

 

 

20th Century

The rise of candy we know today – from Candy Bars to Sponge Candy.

The 20th century launched an unprecedented age of candy made for kids, sent to soldiers at war, and reflecting everything from Prohibition to the Cold War. The colors were bright, the scent alluring, and the flavors out of this world.

Collections

  • Armed Forces Collection Box: An historic candy collection spanning the Revolutionary War through Wold War Two. Candies sent by family, provided by the government, purchased from sutlers, and foraged and found.
  • Bubble Gum Capsule: Thirty pieces of bubble gum, from big gum balls to tiny Dubble Bubble. Fun and festive, from the 1920s-1940s.
  • Caramel Gift Box: What’s inside this box? Caramels through the ages: the caramel and caramel marshmallow aka “caramel biscuit” circa 1883, made when caramels and marshmallows were new; Coconut Longboys and Goetze’s Caramel Creams, among the growing family of turn-of-century penny candies; the iconic Sugar Daddy, circa 1925; 1940s caramel cubes, perfectly square and perfectly  caramel; mid-1900s bourbon caramels and the baby of them all—bourbon caramels with salt.
  • Exclusive Chocolate Box: The best kind of gift for the chocolate lover. A sample of chocolates from the very first eaten by the ancient Olmecs through the 1700s, 1800s into the 1960s. The selection includes bars, bourbon balls, nonpareils, chocolate covered caramels, Swiss chocolate…all with a tag giving the story of each.  Each bite about culture, gardening, industry and like though the ages in the USA!
  • Fabulous Fandango: The youngest candies in our historic collection, these are fizzy, fiery, and fun, including Pop Rocks, Nik L’Nips and Fire Balls, to name a few. All high volume flavor, loaded with memories old and new.
  • Fabulous Jewelry Box: An exclusive and highly tasteful assortment of sugar gems and chocolate nuggets, a candy necklace, watch, bracelet and ring, accented by red candy lipstick. Always in good taste
  • Grandmother’s Purse Collection: The collection is made of memories, this bag contains the candy grandmas have dished out of their purses and grandpas out of their pockets. The selection based on comments from our customers and include Chic-O-Sticks, Lifesavers, NECCO wafers and plenty others.
  • Gummy Collection:The ultimate gummy collection for gummy lovers young and old! A flavorful mix of authentic 10th century Turkish delight and its descendants: gummy bears, gummy worms,  jelly beans, Swedish Fish, gum drops, and more.
  • Licorice Lovers Box: Licorice may have started as a root used as a tooth brush, medicine, and flavoring for thousands of years. But enter the 1800s and up and a fascinating line of licorice sweets emerged. This box contains a variety to sample and enjoy such as licorice Allsorts (1880s), Good n’ Plenty (1893), Licorice Laces (1920s), and chalk licorice, licorice wheels, licorice pastels and pipes from the 1940s up.
  • Pop-A-Lot:This collection would make flappers proud: a variety of 1920s lollipops, from the Dum Dum to the Sugar Daddy, with a few more-modern extras.
  • Princess Purses: Adorable plastic purses with a variety of candies no little lady can live without. Includes candy necklaces, candy lipstick, chocolate coins, and, of course, the Starlight Mints…and many more.

Individual Selections

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