124 Fun Facts About Halloween Candy

A Reese's cup pairs chocolate with which filling?

Peanut butter in a chocolate shell, invented in 1928 and now one of the biggest candy brands in the world.

M&M's advertising has long promised they melt in your mouth, not in your what?

Hand — the 1954 slogan 'melts in your mouth, not in your hand' sold the hard candy shell as chocolate you could carry around without mess.

Twix bars are made by which company?

Mars has made Twix since 1967. The company also owns Snickers, M&M's and Milky Way.

The brittle, flaky core of a Butterfinger is covered in what?

The coating is chocolate-flavoured rather than true chocolate, which is why the wrapper hedges its wording.

Which letter is stamped on every individual Skittle?

A lowercase s is printed on the hard sugar shell; Skittles were born in Britain in 1974 and reached the US in 1979.

Candy corn's flavour is built on honey, sugar and which other flavouring?

Honey, sugar and vanilla, held together with wax and cornstarch. It is essentially fondant in a costume.

Life Savers got their name because they look like what?

Clarence Crane's 1912 mints were pressed with a hole in the middle, which made them look like a life ring.

In which decade was candy corn first invented?

George Renninger of the Wunderle Candy Company came up with it in the 1880s, long before it became a Halloween fixture.

A 2025 US survey put total Halloween spending at roughly which figure?

$13.1 billion — the National Retail Federation's 2025 survey forecast a then-record total, up from $11.6 billion in 2024 and past the previous high of $12.2 billion set in 2023.

Snickers took its name from what?

A horse the Mars family owned — Snickers took the name of the family's favourite horse when Frank Mars launched the bar from his Chicago factory in 1930.

The two Ms in M&M's come from what?

Forrest Mars Sr. and Bruce Murrie, whose father ran Hershey. Production began in the United States in 1941.

Tootsie Roll was named after whom?

Leo Hirschfield named the sweet after his daughter Clara, whose nickname was Tootsie.

In the United States, Kit Kat is made under licence by which company?

Nestlé owns Kit Kat almost everywhere, but a licensing deal first struck in 1970 means Hershey makes the American bars.

The name PEZ is shortened from the German word for which flavour?

Peppermint — PEZ takes its letters from Pfefferminz, the German for peppermint; the first dispensers of 1949 looked like cigarette lighters and held an adult breath mint.

What did H. B. Reese do for a living before inventing his famous cup?

A former dairy farmer and shipping foreman, he created the cups on 15 November 1928.

Which colour of M&M's was withdrawn in 1976 over concerns about a food dye?

Worries about the dye amaranth pulled red from the bags for years, with orange taking its place until red returned.

Kit Kat was created in the 1930s by which British confectioner?

Rowntree's launched it in September 1935. Nestlé bought the company in 1988.

The Milky Way bar was named after what?

Not the galaxy. Frank Mars named his 1923 bar after a milkshake-style malted drink that was fashionable at the time.

The makers of Baby Ruth claimed the bar was named after whom?

Curtiss Candy said it honoured Ruth Cleveland, daughter of Grover Cleveland — a claim that conveniently avoided paying Babe Ruth.

What is the narrow paper strip poking out of a Hershey's Kiss wrapper called?

The plume has identified a genuine Kiss for over a century, and it is how you spot a counterfeit.

Sour Patch Kids were developed in which country?

Frank Galatolie created them in the early 1970s at Jaret International in Canada. Mondelez makes them now.

Jolly Rancher began life in which US state?

Bill and Dorothy Harmsen founded the company in 1949 and opened their first shop in Golden, Colorado. Hershey has owned it since 1996.

In mainland Europe, Twix was sold under a different name until 1991. What was it?

Generations of European shoppers knew it as Raider before the branding was unified.

Trick-or-treating grew out of 'guising', a house-to-house custom from which two countries?

Scotland and Ireland — guising, recorded there from the 16th century, had costumed children perform a song or verse at each door in exchange for food or coins.

In It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, what does Charlie Brown get while trick-or-treating?

A rock — in the 1966 special, while the other kids collect candy and gum, Charlie Brown's sack fills with rocks house after house, and his deadpan 'I got a rock' became the show's catchphrase.

What did children in Ireland traditionally say at the door instead of 'trick or treat'?

Help the Halloween party — the traditional Irish call at the door; 'trick or treat' itself only became common in Ireland and Scotland in the 2000s.

An 1895 record of Scottish guisers describes lanterns carved from which vegetable?

Turnips — an 1895 account describes Scottish masqueraders carrying lanterns cut from hollowed-out turnips and being rewarded with cakes, fruit and money.

What was candy corn originally called when production began in the late 1880s?

Chicken Feed — the Goelitz Confectionery Company, mass-producing candy corn from 1898, sold it in boxes marked 'Chicken Feed' with a rooster on the front.

Which company makes about 7 billion pieces of candy corn a year and dominates the Halloween market?

Brach's — owned by Ferrara, it makes around 7 billion pieces of candy corn a year and accounts for roughly 85 percent of Halloween-season candy corn sales.

On which date does the National Confectioners Association mark National Candy Corn Day?

October 30 — National Candy Corn Day falls the day before Halloween; US makers were turning out about 35 million pounds, almost 9 billion pieces, a year as of 2016.

Candy corn's red-and-green Christmas version, the same waxy kernels in festive colours, is sometimes called what?

Reindeer corn has a red end and a green centre; Brach's has also released a tailgate mix with hot dog and hamburger flavoured pieces.

What was the official original name of Reese's peanut butter treats, reflecting their price?

Penny Cups — Reese's 1928 peanut butter cups cost one cent each, hence the name; the H. B. Reese Candy Company had been founded in Hershey, Pennsylvania, in 1923.

Until 1990, the Mars bar with peanuts and caramel was sold in Britain and Ireland under what name?

A retro Marathon edition returned to Morrisons supermarkets for three months in 2019.

Under what name were Sour Patch Kids first sold in the 1970s?

Mars Men — Frank Galatolie's 1970s originals were shaped like little Martians; the sour gummies were renamed Sour Patch Kids in 1985 to ride the Cabbage Patch Kids craze.

Forrest Mars got the idea for M&M's after seeing soldiers eating Smarties during which war?

Spanish Civil War — Forrest Mars reportedly saw soldiers there in the 1930s eating chocolate pellets in a hard sugar shell; M&M's followed in 1941, sold at first only to the US military.

Which colour replaced tan M&M's in 1995?

Peanut M&M's, introduced in 1954, originally came only in tan.

Under what name was the four-finger Kit Kat launched in the UK in 1935?

Rowntree's Chocolate Crisp — the 1935 launch name, prompted by a York factory worker's suggestion for a snack a man could take to work in his pack up; it was renamed Kit Kat in 1937.

In which country was Twix first produced, in 1967?

United Kingdom — Twix was first made at Mars's Slough factory in 1967 and did not reach the United States until 1979.

Which slogan did Skittles introduce in 1994?

Taste the Rainbow — the slogan, created by the agency D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles in 1994, became one of the longest-running in candy advertising.

In 2016, Skittles temporarily changed its candies to what colour in support of Pride?

The packs explained they were giving up their rainbow for the month.

Tootsie Roll, launched in 1896, holds what distinction among American penny candies?

First to be individually wrapped — Tootsie Roll claims that 1896 distinction among penny candies, a wrapper that kept it clean in the candy jar; the company turns out roughly 64 million a day.

Which gumdrop candy did the Mason company launch in 1945?

Dots — Mason introduced the fruit-flavoured gumdrops in 1945; Tootsie Roll Industries bought the Mason company in 1972 and moved production to its Chicago plant.

What unusual ingredient does Tootsie Roll's original recipe call for?

Yesterday's leftover batch — Tootsie folds some of the previous day's Tootsie Roll mix into each new batch, a 'graining' process the company says links every roll back to the 1896 original.

In the classic Tootsie Pop commercial, which animal gives up counting licks and bites the pop after three?

An owl — Mr. Owl takes three licks, crunches the pop and announces 'three'; the ad first aired in 1970 and ran for decades, while real tests counted hundreds of licks.

The idea for the Tootsie Pop came when an employee licked what while eating a Tootsie Roll?

His daughter's lollipop — Tootsie's story has employee Luke Weisgram licking his daughter's lollipop while chewing a Tootsie Roll, then pitching the combination at the next ideas meeting; the Tootsie Pop debuted in 1931.

The American Milky Way bar is sold outside the United States under what name?

Mars bar — the nougat-and-caramel American Milky Way matches the Mars bar sold elsewhere, while the global Milky Way has no caramel and resembles the US 3 Musketeers.

In which US state did Frank Mars start the Mars candy business in 1911?

Washington — Frank Mars began making candy in his Tacoma kitchen in 1911, moving the business to Minneapolis in 1920 and to Chicago in 1929.

The 3 Musketeers bar originally came with three pieces in which flavours?

Chocolate, strawberry and vanilla — the 1932 bar held three small nougat pieces in those flavours; wartime sugar restrictions in the 1940s left only the chocolate piece.

What did a 3 Musketeers bar cost when it launched in 1932?

Five cents — the 1932 bar was sold as the biggest chocolate bar a nickel could buy, which is why it came as three small pieces rather than one.

In which year was the Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar first sold?

1900 — Hershey sold his first milk chocolate bar that year, six years after founding the Hershey Chocolate Company in 1894 as an offshoot of his Lancaster Caramel Company.

What did the founder of Hershey see at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition that changed his business?

German cocoa-processing machines — Hershey bought the Lehmann chocolate-making machinery from Dresden exhibited at the 1893 Chicago fair, installed it in Lancaster and began coating his caramels in chocolate.

Why can't the coating on a Butterfinger legally be called chocolate?

It contains no cocoa butter — Butterfinger's coating uses palm and palm-kernel oils instead, and US labelling rules reserve the word chocolate for coatings whose fat is cocoa butter, hence 'chocolatey'.

Which cartoon character famously advertised Butterfinger from 1988 to 2001?

Bart Simpson — 'Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger' ran from 1988 to 2001, starting before The Simpsons had its own series; Shirley Temple had plugged the bar in the 1934 film Baby Take a Bow.

In which year did Peter Paul introduce the Almond Joy bar?

1946 — Peter Paul added Almond Joy, milk chocolate over coconut with two almonds, as a post-war sibling to its dark-chocolate Mounds bar of 1920.

During World War II, what share of Mounds bar production did the US military buy by 1944?

80% — by 1944 the US military was buying 80% of Mounds output, about 5 million bars a month, for ration kits.

Nerds were launched in 1983 under which candy brand name?

Willy Wonka — Nerds appeared in 1983 under Sunmark's Willy Wonka Candy Company banner, a brand Nestlé owned from 1988 until 2018.

What are US Smarties called north of the border, to avoid a clash with Nestlé's chocolate Smarties?

Rockets — Smarties Candy Company sells its chalky tablet rolls as Rockets in Canada, where Nestlé's chocolate Smarties hold the name; the rolls are made in Union, New Jersey, and Newmarket, Ontario.

SweeTarts were invented in 1962 under the direction of the CEO of which company?

Sunline Inc. — its chief executive J. Fish Smith had SweeTarts developed in 1962 from the tart Pixy Stix formula, and they launched in 1963 in cherry, grape, lemon, lime and orange.

What is the Commonwealth English name for a candy apple?

Toffee apples — the British and Commonwealth name; Halloween and Bonfire Night both fall just after the apple harvest, which is why the treat belongs to autumn.

William W. Kolb reportedly invented the red toffee apple in 1908 while experimenting with what?

Red cinnamon sweets for Christmas — Newark confectioner William W. Kolb was testing a red cinnamon candy for the Christmas trade in 1908, dipped apples in it and sold them from his shop window.

Under what name is the Sour Patch gummy brand sold in France?

Very Bad Kids — Mondelez sells Sour Patch Kids under that name in France, with the same sour-sugar coating over a soft gummy centre.

What was the first Jolly Rancher business, opened in Golden, Colorado, in 1949?

Ice cream sold poorly in winter, so the Harmsens added chocolate and a hot cinnamon taffy stick.

Under what name was Starburst introduced in the UK in 1959?

Opal Fruits — the 1959 UK name, suggested by competition winner Peter Pfeffer for a £5 prize; the sweets were renamed Starburst in Britain in 1998.

What percentage of Twizzlers made each year are strawberry flavoured?

70% — Hershey says strawberry makes up about 70 percent of the Twizzlers it produces, and only the black ones contain real licorice extract.

What flavour were the original Red Vines when the American Licorice Company introduced them in the 1920s?

Raspberry — American Licorice Company's first red twists of the 1920s were raspberry-flavoured 'Raspberry Vines'; the 'Original Red' flavour followed in 1952 with a slight formula change.

Why did I. C. Bahr choose the name Dum Dums for the lollipops in 1924?

Any child could say it — Akron Candy's sales manager I. C. Bahr picked Dum Dums in 1924 as a name the youngest customer could pronounce; about 12 million are made each day in Bryan, Ohio.

Who has made Dum Dums in Bryan, Ohio, since buying the brand in 1953?

Spangler Candy Company — the Bryan, Ohio firm bought Dum Dums from Akron Candy in 1953; its unlabelled 'Mystery Flavor' pop comes from the point where one batch's flavour blends into the next.

The Baby Ruth bar was refashioned in 1920 from which earlier Curtiss candy?

Kandy Kake — Otto Schnering's Curtiss Candy Company reworked its Kandy Kake bar into Baby Ruth in 1920, then promoted it by dropping bars by parachute over Pittsburgh in 1923.

How did the Hollywood Candy Company's peanut-and-caramel bar get the name Payday in 1932?

It was first made on the day staff were paid — Hollywood Candy's Frank Martoccio turned out the first bars on a 1932 payday and the name stuck; Hershey has owned Payday since 1996.

What is the centre of a Whoppers candy made from?

Malted milk — a Whopper is a ball of malted milk in a chocolate-flavoured coating; the forerunner, sold from 1939 by Overland Candy, was called Giants.

The York Peppermint Pattie is named after a city in which US state?

Pennsylvania — Henry Kessler's York Cone Company of York, Pennsylvania, which had sold ice cream cones and waffles, introduced the pattie in 1940.

In what year did Hershey's Kisses stop being wrapped by hand and get their paper plume?

1921 — machine wrapping replaced hand wrapping that year and the paper plume was added to mark genuine Kisses apart from copycats.

Which company advanced $3 million to finance the 1971 Willy Wonka film in exchange for candy rights?

Quaker Oats — the food company put up about $3 million for the 1971 film to launch a Wonka candy line, then sold the Willy Wonka brand to Sunmark in 1980.

What is printed on the outside of every Laffy Taffy wrapper?

The jokes mix fan submissions with popular puns found through research.

The powdered candy wrapper of a Pixy Stix is designed to resemble what?

The powder is poured straight into the mouth from the paper or plastic tube.

The sweet-and-sour powder later sold in straws was originally a penny drink mix under what name?

Fruzola Jr. — Sunline's 1940s penny drink powder; when children kept eating it dry from the packet, the company repackaged it as a candy called Pixy Stix in the early 1950s.

Which American candy, first made in 1847, went back into production under Spangler in 2020?

Necco Wafers — the chalky discs date from 1847, when Oliver Chase's lozenge cutter started the business that became Necco; Necco's 2018 bankruptcy halted them until Spangler relaunched the wafers in 2020.

Which flavour of Necco Wafer is the purple one?

Clove — Necco's purple wafer is clove; the other seven are lemon, lime, orange, chocolate, cinnamon (white), wintergreen (pink) and licorice (black).

Mary Jane candy, first sold in 1914, is a taffy made from peanut butter and what?

Boston was a centre of the molasses trade, so many local candy makers used it.

Bit-O-Honey, introduced in 1924, is a honey-flavoured taffy containing which nut?

Almonds — Bit-O-Honey, launched by Chicago's Schutter-Johnson Company in 1924, is a honey-flavoured taffy studded with almond bits and was once sold as a bar of six segments.

The Charleston Chew, created in 1922, was named after what?

It was founded by stage actor Donley Cross and his friend Charlie Fox.

What did L.S. Heath do for a living before buying a confectionery shop for his sons in 1913?

Schoolteacher — Lawrence S. Heath taught school before buying a Robinson, Illinois confectionery for his sons Bayard and Everett; their toffee, almond and milk chocolate Heath bar followed in 1928.

What crunchy ingredient replaced the nuts in Hershey's Krackel bar in 1941?

Crisped rice — Krackel launched in 1938 with almonds and later peanuts, but in 1941 Hershey dropped the nuts for crisped rice; the full-size bar was discontinued in 1997 and lived on in Hershey's Miniatures.

Why did Mr. Goodbar launch in 1925 under the fictitious 'Chocolate Sales Corporation'?

Milton Hershey disliked peanuts on his brand — wary of putting the Hershey name on a peanut bar, the company sold Mr. Goodbar from 1925 under the invented 'Chocolate Sales Corporation', a front devised by William Murrie.

What was added to the Whatchamacallit bar in 1987?

A layer of caramel — Hershey added caramel between the peanut-flavoured crisp and the coating in 1987, nine years after the 1978 launch; ad writer Patricia Volk coined the bar's name.

Which company introduced Mike and Ike in 1940?

Just Born — the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania firm launched the fruit-flavoured chews in 1940; even the company says it does not know where the name Mike and Ike came from.

The name Haribo is an abbreviation of founder Hans Riegel and which German city?

Bonn — HAns RIegel BOnn; Riegel founded the firm in a Bonn backyard kitchen in 1920, reportedly with a sack of sugar, a copper kettle and a marble slab as his capital.

Which Swedish candy maker created Swedish Fish for the US market in the late 1950s?

Malaco — the Malmö-based company created the wine-gum fish for the American market in the late 1950s; in Sweden they are sold as pastellfiskar.

Emil J. Brach spent his $1,000 savings on a storefront candy shop, the Palace of Sweets, in which city in 1904?

Chicago's North Avenue was home to Brach's Palace of Sweets, started with a single kettle; the company went on to become the country's biggest maker of candy corn.

Which Italian group bought Nestlé's US candy business for $2.8 billion in 2018?

Ferrero — the Nutella maker paid $2.8 billion for Nestlé's US confectionery brands, including Butterfinger and Baby Ruth, in 2018, folding most of them into its Ferrara Candy subsidiary.

A 1985 poll found what share of parents feared Halloween candy sabotage?

60% — a 1985 ABC News/Washington Post poll found six in ten parents feared Halloween candy tampering, though sociologist Joel Best found no proven case of a child killed by a stranger's Halloween candy.

Mass-produced circus peanuts are orange but taste of which fruit?

They date to the 19th century as unwrapped penny candy in five-and-dime stores.

Razzles start as a candy and turn into what when chewed?

Chewing gum — Razzles, introduced by Fleer in 1966, start as a hard fruit candy that turns into bubble gum as you chew; the name came from a planned Razzleberry flavour that was never made.

Bazooka bubble gum, launched in 1947, was most likely named after what?

A rocket-propelled weapon — Topps launched Bazooka in 1947, two years after the war that made the bazooka anti-tank weapon famous; the weapon had itself been named after comedian Bob Burns's homemade horn.

What was Walter Diemer's job at Fleer when he invented Dubble Bubble gum in 1928?

Accountant — Walter Diemer was a 23-year-old accountant at Fleer in Philadelphia who tinkered with gum recipes in his spare time; Fleer's earlier try, 1906's Blibber-Blubber, had been too sticky to sell.

What was the Now and Later brand name meant to suggest to customers?

Eat some now, save the rest — the Phoenix Candy Company of Brooklyn chose the name in 1962 to suggest eating a few taffy squares at once and keeping the others for later.

Warheads sour candy was invented in 1975 in which country?

Taiwan — Warheads were created there in 1975 and only reached the United States in 1993, imported by The Foreign Candy Company of Hull, Iowa.

Why did Topps engineer Frank Richards invent the Ring Pop in 1977?

To stop his daughter sucking her thumb — Topps engineer Frank Richards designed the 1977 Ring Pop so she would have a candy jewel on her finger instead; the hard-candy gem sits on a plastic ring.

What gas is trapped inside Pop Rocks to make them crackle?

Carbon dioxide — the candy is cooked with pressurised carbon dioxide that stays trapped in tiny bubbles and fizzes out as it dissolves; General Foods chemist William Mitchell patented the idea in 1961.

Fun Dip was originally sold in the 1940s under what name?

Lik-M-Aid — Fun Dip sold under that name from the 1940s as loose flavoured sugar; the 1970s rebrand added the edible Lik-A-Stix candy sticks.

What are the two main ingredients of a Zagnut bar?

Peanut butter and toasted coconut — Zagnut has a crunchy peanut butter core rolled in toasted coconut with no chocolate; the D. L. Clark Company, maker of the Clark bar, launched it in 1930.

Which company introduced the Zero bar in 1920?

Hollywood Candy Company — the Minneapolis firm launched the Zero bar in 1920, a caramel, peanut and almond nougat under a white fudge coating; it passed to Hershey with Leaf's brands in 1996.

What was the Sugar Daddy caramel pop originally called when it was created in 1925?

The name changed in 1932 to suggest 'a wealth of sweetness'.

The Nik-L-Nip name combines the candy's original price with what?

Its resemblance to mini liquor bottles — the wax bottles cost a nickel and a 'nip' is a tiny bottle of liquor; you bite off the top and drink the fruity syrup inside.

Which candy was first produced by Philadelphia's Quaker City Confectionery Company in 1893?

Good & Plenty — the pink-and-white candy-coated licorice pieces date from 1893 at the Quaker City Confectionery Company in Philadelphia, making them one of the oldest branded candies in America.

The word 'dud' in Milk Duds refers to what?

Failed attempts to make them round — Hoffman and Company of Chicago set out in 1928 to make perfectly spherical chocolate-covered caramels, could not, and called the lumpy results 'duds'.

Reese's Pieces became hugely popular after appearing in which 1982 film?

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial — Elliott lures the alien with a trail of Reese's Pieces in Spielberg's 1982 film, reportedly after Mars declined to let M&M's be used; the candy had only launched in September 1978.

Which 1917 peanut butter crunch bar was the first American multi-ingredient bar to succeed nationwide?

Clark Bar — D. L. Clark's 1917 Pittsburgh bar of peanut butter crunch in milk chocolate, shipped to troops in the First World War, is credited as the first combination bar to succeed nationwide.

Which cough-drop company launched the 5th Avenue bar in 1936?

Luden's — the Reading, Pennsylvania cough-drop maker introduced the peanut butter crunch bar in 1936; Hershey bought Luden's candy brands, including 5th Avenue, in 1986.

Rolo chocolates were first made in 1937 in which English city?

Norwich — Mackintosh's made the first Rolos at its Norwich factory in 1937; the brand's famous British slogan asked whether you loved anyone enough to give them your last Rolo.

Toblerone's triangular shape is said to be inspired by which mountain?

The Matterhorn — the Swiss peak pictured on the packaging is the shape's popular inspiration; Theodor Tobler launched the bar in Bern in 1908, blending 'Tobler' with 'torrone', the Italian word for nougat.

Andes mints were named after their founder tweaked which original shop name?

Andy's Candies — Andrew Kanelos opened his Chicago shop under that name in 1921, then renamed it Andes after finding men disliked giving boxes bearing another man's name.

The Goo Goo Cluster, created in Nashville in 1912, is considered the first what?

Combination candy bar — the Standard Candy Company's 1912 mix of marshmallow nougat, caramel and peanuts in milk chocolate is called the first combination bar; the name is thought to mimic a baby's first words.

In which year did Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF begin?

1950 — a Philadelphia Sunday-school class began collecting coins in decorated milk cartons that Halloween, raising $17 for UNICEF; the orange collection boxes later went nationwide.

Soul cakes were traditionally given to 'soulers' who went door to door offering to do what?

Pray for the dead — on All Souls' Day soulers went door to door offering prayers for the household's dead in return for soul cakes, a custom recorded in England from the medieval period.

Edible sugar skulls made for the Day of the Dead are known by what Spanish name?

Alfeñiques — the Day of the Dead sugar skulls are moulded from alfeñique, a sugar paste, then decorated with coloured icing and often given a living friend's name on the forehead.

The carved Halloween lantern's name is linked to an Irish legend about which character?

Stingy Jack — in the Irish tale he tricks the Devil, is barred from both heaven and hell, and is doomed to roam the earth with a coal in a hollowed turnip as 'Jack of the Lantern'.

The word Halloween comes from a Scots contraction of what phrase?

All Hallows' Eve — 'Hallow-e'en' is the Scots form of All Hallows' Even, with 'even' (evening) shortened to e'en; it is the night before All Hallows' Day, 1 November.

The word gobstopper comes from 'gob', British slang for what?

Mouth — 'gob' is British slang for the mouth, so a gobstopper is a sweet big enough to stop it; Roald Dahl's memoir Boy recalls the 1924 'Great Mouse Plot' with a jar of gobstoppers.

Haribo founder Hans Riegel's 1922 Dancing Bear, ancestor of the gummy bear, was inspired by what?

Trained bears at street festivals — the dancing bears paraded at fairs and markets were Riegel's model for the 1922 Tanzbär, a taller, thinner figure than the Goldbear that replaced it in 1960.

Werther's Original caramels are owned by which German confectionery company?

August Storck — the family firm from Werther in Westphalia launched the caramels in 1909 and named them after the town; in Germany they are sold as Werthers Echte.

Junior Mints were introduced in 1949 by the James O. Welch Company, based in which city?

Cambridge, Massachusetts — James O. Welch founded his candy company there in 1927, making Sugar Babies, Pom Poms and, from 1949, Junior Mints; Tootsie Roll Industries bought the brands in 1993.

Which Chicago company introduced the Oh Henry! bar in 1920?

Williamson Candy Company — the Chicago firm launched Oh Henry!, a peanut, caramel and fudge bar, in 1920, said to be named after a boy who hung around its shop flirting with the girls.

Which candy did Y&S Candies, founded in 1845 as Young & Smylie, introduce in 1929?

Twizzlers — Y&S Candies of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, founded in 1845 as Young & Smylie, introduced the twists in 1929; Hershey bought Y&S in 1977.