THE FIRST MAKER OF CANDY

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 75, 21 December 1928, Page 20

THE FIRST MAKER OF CANDY

In a story called “The Truth About Candy,” which was distributed by one of the exhibitors at the second National Exposition of the Candy, Ice Cream, and Allied Industries, held recently in New York, the bee was credited with being the first candy maker. Tracing the history of candy-making from its origin the account follows:—

“There is a romance about every business in the world. Trace the origin of ordinary things of life, common articles we use and eat and wear, back through all their processes of manufacture to their humble beginnings, and there is a Story as rare as ever was woven by the fiction writer.

“Probably the strangest story of all is the origin of candy. Who was the first candy-maker? None other than that most industrious and conscientious of workers, the bee. In honey primitive man not only discovered something that was pleasing to the palate, but that contained heat and energy-producing elements for the human body. “Physicians among the ancient Greeks and Romans utilised the bee’s honey in preparing their medicines. In fact, the manufacture of candy traces its origin back to the days of Hippocrates, father of medicine, who lived in the fifth century B.C. In those days doctors’ remedies for human ills consisted of doses of bitter herbs,. In order to tickle the palate of his rich patients, Iloppoerates smeared a little honey on the edge of the cup containing the potion, and later on coated his pills with similar substances, thus comforting his patients and, no doubt, also increasing his fees. “Little did Hippocrates think that he was destined to go down to fame, not only as the father of medicine, but as one of the originators of the art of candymaking. “From this quaint origin the candy industry has progressed to such an extent that it is now one of the world’s leading industries. Its production involves labour in all parts of the world, and employs every means of transportation known to man.”