Today, candy brands compete almost entirely on taste, texture, and flavor intensity. From extreme sour coatings to single-origin dark chocolate, modern candy is engineered to deliver an immediate sensory reward. In the mid-to-late 20th century, however, a huge segment of the candy industry operated on a completely different business model: the interactive novelty candy. For … Read more
In the summer of 1941, as the United States prepared for entry into World War II, a new candy hit American assembly lines. It didn’t look like the heavy chocolate bars of the era, and it wasn’t sold in traditional grocery stores. Packed into narrow cardboard tubes, the entire initial run was bought by the … Read more
Search for the origin of Salisbury Steak, and you will run into a web of confident misconceptions. You may read that it was invented purely as a Civil War treatment for dysentery, served as a bland, unseasoned lump of meat. It’s also claimed that it was created as an “offshoot” of the German Hamburg steak, … Read more
The whole point of kettle corn isn’t actually about popping the corn itself. The trick is to successfully infuse sugar and salt into the kernels at the exact same time. So, it seems entirely logical to ask. What does a giant, heavy kettle have to do with it? Well, if you’ve ever tried to recreate … Read more
Bakers had the gift of gab in the early 20th century. Bakery trade sheets and recipe books from the 1920s and 30s, contain plenty of recipes for sweet rolls called “pecan rolls,” “cinnamon twists,” and “honey-coated rolls.” These were all essentially the same thing with additional ingredients. Add some pecans, some raisin, etc. to a … Read more
The difference between a standard potato chip and a kettle-cooked chip is obvious. Kettle chips are thicker and crunchier. But beyond that, what is truly different about them? The internet delivers the usual romanticized marketing lore. Indeed, the phrase “kettle cooked” conjures up images of a rustic, giant iron cauldron bubbling over an open wood … Read more