Classic Summer Candies Never to be Missed
| BY NEAL ROTHSTEIN
As the sunshine starts getting warmer and the days get longer, we can’t help but anticipate the summer months ahead. But it’s not just the warmer weather and longer days that get us all excited. We also look forward to the extensive variety of summer candy that comes along with the season!
While candy is typically associated with the holidays like Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Easter and Christmas, summer should be just as important for those of us in the candy business. These treats give us a reason to share something sweet and memorable with our family and friends.
Perhaps it’s the freedom experienced by children during the summertime that gives us the heartfelt memories of enjoying a sweet treat. Since most kids don’t have to go to school for their summer break, they have more time to enjoy candy. When you think of all the popular summertime activities, candy is an integral part of many of them.
For kids on summer break, it’s almost as if the candy business is vital to their enjoyment. It’s also safe to say that a lot of your fondest childhood memories around the summertime probably involved candy of some sorts.
It doesn’t matter if you spent your days outside in the park, inside playing videogames, or watching a movie at the local theater, candy was right there with us the whole time. Who didn’t spend their summers riding your bike to the nearest soda fountain, ice cream parlor or the local candy store? Fun was our goal, and candy was a great way to get there!
No matter how you look at it, with all of this free time, (and lack of adult supervision) kids typically eat just as much candy during the summertime as they do any other time of the year.
There are a number of popular summer candy products to get you excited!
Salt water taffy, gummy bears, fruity hard candies and lollipops are quite possibly the quintessential summer candy picks for most people. People seem to just love these light, fruity flavors when it’s hot outside.
Chocolates are still quite delicious in the summertime. I mean, who could forget about s’mores around the campfire? But, chocolate probably isn’t as popular in the summer months because they have the tendency to melt so fast in the hot sun. If only we could just candy-coat everything like M&M’s are.
Since that’s probably not going to happen anytime soon, we’ll have to focus our efforts on enjoying some things that we can control. So let’s spend our time exploring some popular summer candy that everyone is sure to love!
Lollipops
We can’t think of another more perfect candy for the summertime than a good, old fashioned lollipop. Although the lollipop might not have been “invented” until 1908, people have enjoyed hard candy on a stick for a very long time. It is thought that our caveman ancestors used to collect honey from beehives with a stick. I bet those were some tasty sticks!
Luckily, today you don’t have to make your own lollipops this way. Redstone Foods features our very own brand of lollipop, the Wild West Pops. These pops take a while to enjoy, so they’re the perfect addition to your summer outing. Plus, if your kids are being too loud, give them one of these and we promise you won’t hear a peep out of them for a good long while!
The Wild West Pops are brightly-colored rainbow pops that come in a variety of shapes and sizes, all on a wooden stick and individually wrapped. These come twisted in corkscrew shapes, squares and circle swirl lollipops. Candy has never been more fun! These lollipops are also fat-free and gluten free, so you can enjoy them - even when you’re trying to maintain your sweet beach bod!
Salt Water Taffy
Taffy has to be on this list, because practically everyone has a fond summer memory of enjoying some fresh, soft taffy on a hot summer day. This candy has been a hit with beachgoers ever since it was invented in Atlantic City in the 1880’s.
Interestingly, the “salt water” part of the name has a pretty funny origin story.
One night, an ocean swell flooded the shop that sold taffy on the Atlantic City boardwalk. While the shop owner was cleaning up the mess the next day, he noticed his entire stock of taffy had been covered in sea water. When a little girl came in to buy some, he jokingly said: “Well, I have some saltwater taffy.” The mom heard about this and absolutely loved the name, so it stuck!
Is salt water taffy actually made with sea water?
This may be deceiving to some, but taffy definitely does not actually contain any ocean water. Most taffy recipes have salt and water added as ingredients somewhere in the production process, so technically the name still works.
While salt water taffy may have had its origins on the Atlantic coast, you can find it virtually everywhere nowadays!
One of our favorite summertime memories is getting taffy hurled at you during a 4th of July parade. Running around the parade route with the other kids, picking up pieces of taffy and other candy is definitely a highlight of many people’s childhood.
At Redstone Foods, we have a huge selection of taffy favorites from Taffy Town, Laffy Taffy, Sweet Taffy and more! These individually-wrapped treats come in a ton of flavors, colors and sizes. The only limit is your imagination.
Gummy Candies
Gummy candy is another perfect treat for the summertime. Like taffy, gummy candies are sweet and chewy and they can get really soft on hot summer days. Gummy candy is light, fruity and they really hit the spot. Regardless of whether it’s gummy bears, gummy sharks, gummy cola bottles, gummy worms or any other wildly different shape, it’s fun to enjoy them by the handful!
A bag of gummy bears is good for practically any summertime activity. For instance, sour gummy worms are my favorite companion on long road trips. You can share them with your passengers or sometimes, I just eat them all to myself! The combination of sweet and sour helps me stay awake and entertained as I watch the great American landscape pass me by.
The Albanese Sour Mini Neon Gummi Worms are my absolute “go-to” road snacks. They are fat-free, gluten-free and low in sodium, so I don’t feel too guilty when I eat the whole bag!
Licorice Ropes
Licorice is great all year long, but there’s just something about summertime that makes me reminisce about eating one of those extra-long licorice ropes at a baseball game. I cannot think of anything more quintessentially American than that.
When I think about the summers from my childhood, another fond memory is of going to the movie theater. Whether it was a matinee showing of an animated Disney classic, or if I was going to see Star Wars for the one hundredth time, I always got a pack of Red Vines and a cherry cola.
Did you know that if you bite the ends off of a Red Vine licorice stick, you’ll have yourself a candy straw? Well, now you know!
At Redstone Foods, we have a large selection of all your favorite summer candies. We also have an extensive selection of glass bottle sodas that are sure to help you and your customers beat the summer heat and create some sweet new memories.
Our customer service is second to none! Give us a call with any questions you have. We are always happy to help!
