[Sca-cooks] candy canes

[Christine Seelye-King]

So, how old is the peppermint cane? Is it period or just traditional?
Perhaps more of a Victorian thing? And where does the shape come from? Is
it, like the pretzel shape, to allow it to be hung for merchanting?
Hmmm. I wonder if the original candy cane *was* two strips of red and white
candy laid next to each other, perhaps either or both with peppermint oil
flavoring, and then twisted together and this core surrounded by the colored
striping is just a modern way to make an item similar to the traditional
one, but cheaper to produce in quantity.
Stefan

Well, according to that same site I sent the food info from a few days ago:
"Candy cane. Candy canes are replicas of shepherd's crooks. It was
children's candy originated by a Cologne cathedral choirmaster in the
1670's. It is ideal in form to hang on the branch of a Christmas tree."
(THE ORIGIN OF AMERICAN CHRISTMAS MYTH AND CUSTOMS
B. K. Swartz, Jr.  http://www.bsu.edu/web/01bkswartz/xmaspub.html )

however, I have seen other sources say that it is an American invention:

"Peppermint leaf and peppermint tea has long bene a part of Yule
celebrations for Pagans with its coolness symbolizing winter and its heat
symbolizing the Sun.  The candy cane, however, was invented by an American
confectoiner who based its form and appearance on Christian roots.  He
formed it of white to signify the virgin birth, then shaped it in a "J" to
represent Jesus.  The never-ending red stripe was to have symbolized the
blood shed on the cross.  In spite of the inventor's painstaking creativity
and religious devotion, though, the cane somehow wound up as a common
holiday symbol and treat - devoid of all Christian testimony and witness."
( Yule - A Celebration of Light & Warmth - Dorothy Morrison)

This text is a bit too New Age Pagan-centric for me to believe a lot of what
she says, (I don't have anything against new-age pagans, but this one at
least doesn't mind playing fast and loose with historical accuracy when
creating new traditions) and there are no sources to check (other than a
bibliography of books and websites - nothing attributed, though).  I've
found many things that are either really slanted or just plain wrong with
her stuff.

The website CandyUSA (http://www.candyusa.org/History/candycane.shtml)has
this version:
The Candy Cane Legend
The symbol of the shepherds’ crook is an ancient one, representing the
humble shepherds who were the first to worship the newborn Christ. Its
counterpart is our candy cane – so old as a symbol that we have nearly
forgotten its humble origin.

Legend has it that in 1670, the choirmaster at the Cologne Cathedral handed
out sugar sticks among his young singers to keep them quiet during the long
Living Creche ceremony. In honor of the occasion, he had the candies bent
into shepherds’ crooks. In 1847, a German-Swedish immigrant named August
Imgard of Wooster, Ohio, decorated a small blue spruce with paper ornaments
and candy canes.

It wasn’t until the turn of the century that the red and white stripes and
peppermint flavors became the norm. The body of the cane is white,
representing the life that is pure. The broad red stripe is symbolic of the
Lord’s sacrifice for man.

In the 1920s, Bob McCormack began making candy canes as special Christmas
treats for his children, friends and local shopkeepers in Albany, Georgia.
It was a laborious process – pulling, twisting, cutting and bending the
candy by hand. It could only be done on a local scale.

In the 1950s, Bob’s brother-in-law, Gregory Keller, a Catholic priest,
invented a machine to automate candy cane production. Packaging innovations
by the younger McCormacks made it possible to transport the delicate canes
on a scale that transformed Bobs Candies, Inc. into the largest producer of
candy canes in the world.

Although modern technology has made candy canes accessible and plentiful,
they’ve not lost their purity and simplicity as a traditional holiday food
and symbol of the humble roots of Christianity.