The humble candy cane has been around for nearly four hundred years.
It
was during the seventeenth century when European Christians began the use of
Christmas trees as part of their Christmas celebrations and they began making
special edible decorations for their trees.
The
first of these decorations were cookies and sugar-sticks.
It
was very soon after the all-white candy canes were given out to children after
a nativity service that sweet makers both professional and amateur began making
the straight hard white sugar-sticks.
The
custom of clergymen handing out candy canes after Christmas services spread
throughout Europe and then later to America.
There
is an historical reference that a choirmaster at cologne cathedral bent a candy
stick into the shape of a shepherd’s crook as early as 1670.
The
canes remained all white and straight but sometimes the confectioners would add
sugar-roses to embellish the canes.
It
was at the start of the 20th century that the canes acquired their
familiar red stripes.
Great
religious significance has been bestowed upon the humble candy cane for example
the white indicates the purity of our lord, the three stripes represent the
holy trinity the red is for the blood of Christ and the crook on its top is for
the shepherds.
The
hardness of the candy represents the church's foundation on solid rock and the
peppermint flavor the use of hyssop, an herb referred to in the Old Testament.
And
last but by no means least if you turn the cane upside down you have a letter
“j” which, yes you’ve guessed it is for Jesus.
There
is no historical evidence to support these claims, quite the contrary, but they
are lovely thoughts.
Around
the same time as the stripe arrived so did the flavorings, Peppermint and
wintergreen and they have remained unchanged ever since.
During
the 1950’s a catholic priest called Gregory Keller is credited with invented a
machine which automated candy cane production.
