fgazette.com Community news site for Union Parish Louisiana
Dum-Dums are turning 100 this year.
That’s right. The little candy that inspired so many childhood sugar rushes is a century old – and I’ve been helping celebrate the occasion. Maybe you’d like to get on board.
I found out by accident that Dum-Dums are centenarians. I was looking for a fun song to use in physical warm-ups for my chorus, and I discovered that June was National Candy Month. What better song to use than “Lollipop” by the Chordettes? (Not to be confused with “Dum Dum” by Brenda Lee.)
Well, one thing led to another, and because my chorus mates like to partake of whatever food we’re singing about (the vocal warmup “Chocolate Cookie” comes to mind), I hurried to the store to purchase lollipops. As you may have guessed, Dum-Dums ended up in my shopping cart. I couldn’t find those classic little bitty flat suckers that once dominated our childhood forays into sweetness, but I’m sure the spherical Dum-Dums are better anyway.
That shopping trip was when I learned about Dum-Dums’ big birthday bash. A note signifying the sweet treat’s big year is printed on current packages. But it wasn’t until last week that I noticed we can vote for our favorite Dum-Dum flavor.
I’ve been busy since then. I’ve voted on four different browsers and recently discovered that if I wait long enough, I can vote multiple times on each platform. (Shhhhh!) My favorite flavor – Cherry – is only in eighth place, and the upstart Cotton Candy is in first with 21,169 votes. Others in the top tier are Cotton Candy, Blu Raspberry, Mango Peach, Butterscotch, Lemon-Lime, Cream Soda, Fruit Punch, Bubble Gum, Mystery and Tropical Freeze.
By the way, are you familiar with what the Mystery flavor really is? Its secret was safe for a while, but it was finally revealed that its production comes about because instead of shutting machinery down between runs and totally emptying out the previous batch’s flavor, sometimes the company just starts the next one, so that two flavors run together. So you could end up with, say, Cherry-Root Beer or Blueberry-Watermelon. It’s up to you to figure it out.
Now, a hundred years is quite a feat for anything, especially a morsel of candy, so as usual, I got curious and did a bit of research about both Dum-Dums and U.S. candy in general.
Dum-Dums were first made by the Akron Candy Co. in Bellevue, Ohio. A company executive chose the name because it was easy for children to say and remember.
Spangler Candy purchased Dum-Dums from Akron in 1953 and moved the operation to Bryan, Ohio – now known as the Lollipop Capital of the World – where it’s been ever since. The first year, 84 million Dum-Dums were produced in seven different flavors. Recent figures show that 12 million Dum-Dums are manufactured daily, and more than 25 flavors can be found on the company website.
Going back further in history, the oldest American-made candy is Good & Plenty (didn’t realize their insides are licorice), first produced in 1893. Other oldies but goodies are Necco Wafers (never heard of them), first produced in 1847, also a Spangler product; Tootsie Rolls, a favorite since 1896; Goo Goo Clusters, made in Nashville since 1912; and Bit-O-Honey, also with Spangler, introduced in 1924.
But back to Dum-Dums. Pinterest shows us the modest little candy can form aesthetically pleasing lollipop trees, wreaths and more. So now we know what our next centerpiece will be, right?
And a web search reveals that the city of Bryan’s water tower won the national Tank of the Year contest in 2023. The tower is painted to resemble eight 65-foot-tall Dum-Dums, each representing a popular flavor. A photo op area is available nearby. Sweet!
Anyone for a road trip?
xxx
