National M&M Day

Evan-Amos / Public domain

October 13th is National M&M Day in the United States.

This is definitely one of the more commercialised days, as M&M's are a type of candy, or sweet, made by Mars. M&M's were, originally, a small piece of button shaped chocolate covered in a hard shell that now comes in a variety of colours. M&M's have the letter "M" printed on them and now includes similar products such as chocolate covered peanuts.

M&M's are not originally an American creation. They are based on the British Smarties; chocolate covered in a hard shell to prevent it from melting. Smarties in one form or another, and one name or another, have been around since at least 1882. Mars took the idea and, in 1941, made the very similar M&M; the branding was added to it later. British soldiers were seen eating Smarties and, indeed, the biggest initial customer for M&M's was the U.S. Army, as they were a way to allow soldiers to carry chocolate into tropical climates without melting.

Jump for Jelly Beans Day

Jump for Jelly Beans Day is on July 31st in the United States.

Jelly beans are a type of candy, or sweet, primarily made from sugar that have a candy shell surrounding a chewy centre.

Jelly beans are derived from the confection known as Turkish, or Greek, Delight. The first known appearance of jelly beans was during the American Civil War when a confectioner in Boston, William Schrafft, had people send the beans to soldiers. The first actual reference to them as jelly beans was substantially later, in 1905.

Jelly beans come in a wide range of flavours. There are some standard jelly bean types, which basically come in a range of fruit flavours, but there are also gourmet jelly beans.

Gourmet jelly beans, which are normally more expensive, come in a much wider range of flavours, including cocktails, soft drink, tropical fruit and berries. Jelly beans appeared in the Harry Potter series, as Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, which, allegedly, came in flavours including vomit, paper, earwax and dirt.

National Gummy Worm Day

July 15th is National Gummy Worm Day in the United States.

Gummy worms, which are also known as gummi worms, are one of a range of candies (sweets), rather than being an unusual way of preparing actual worms so that they are edible - candied insects and other things are common in some countries.

Gummy, or gummi, candy comes in a wide variety of different shapes and colours. Gummy worms are, not surprisingly, those that come in the shape of worms. These edible worms are made from a gelatin base and were originally made by the German company Haribo. The worms come in a range of different colours and can vary in size. In addition, they come with different coatings - sugary coatings being a popular one. These coatings can alter the flavour of the worms, as well as how sweet or sour they are.

National Pralines Day

National Pralines Day is on June 24th in the United States.

There are different types of pralines; one is a variety of sugar candy, the American type, whist similar, resembles fudge in texture as it also uses milk or cream, there is a type of chocolate cookie, or biscuit and there is also the Belgian praline.

Both types contain nuts; the sugar candy is made using whole or powdered nuts and sugar syrup, whilst the second variety contains either whole or powdered nuts.

Praline is believed to have been created in France in the 17th century and were originally whole almonds that were coated in caramelised sugar. Almonds are not the only nuts used to make pralines, as others, such as pecans, are also used. Praline is used as a filling in many chocolates.

Another variety is Belgian pralines, which are chocolates that are filled with a fondant centre.

National Candy Month

June is National Candy Month in the United States.

This is probably one of the most unhealthy, yet sweet, months around. Candies, which are also called sweets, are a type of confectionery that typically is made using large amounts of sugar, hence the unhealthy bit. There are sugar free types of candy around, made for diabetics, but the range of sugar free candy pales in comparison to that of regular types.

The original candies used honey as a sweetener, as this was prior to the discover of sugar. Honey candies have been discovered dating back thousands of years and were made by many ancient civilisations. Originally, these candies were generally just things that were coated in honey, such as fruit and flowers, but also including things like insects. Candies were also often prescribed to help with stomach problems, but started to spread to other uses as they became cheaper to make.

Every culture and country around the world has their own candies, and they come in a wide variety of different sizes, shapes and flavours. They may be individually wrapped, but this is not a requirement.

National Taffy Day

May 23rd is National Taffy Day in the United States.

This type of candy (or sweet) is also known as choes. The candy is related to toffee, but it tends to be softer - toffee being quite a firm, often brittle candy, whilst taffy is soft.

Taffy is made from a mix of butter (vegetable oil can be used as a substitute), sugar, colourings and flavourings. This is is then boiled and stretched until small bubbles permeate the mixture. Once cooked, the taffy is then rolled out, cut into small pieces, and usually kept in waxed paper to keep it soft. Taffy is popular in fruit flavours, but molasses and unflavoured are also popular.

A popular seaside treat in the United States is salt water taffy. Although this taffy does contain both salt and water, it isn't actually made from saltwater.

In the UK, taffy is known as "chews" or "fruit chews."

National Jelly Bean Day

National Jelly Bean Day is on April 22nd in the United States.

Jelly beans are small, bean shaped candies (or sweets) that consist of a gel interior surrounded by a candy shell. The main ingredient in them is sugar (or similar ingredients), and they come in a variety of, mostly bright, colours.

The Turkish dessert known as Turkish delight (or, in Greece, Greek delight) is believed to be the inspiration for jelly beans, but the modern candy didn't come into existence until during the American Civil War.

There are now gourmet jelly bean manufacturers, such as Jelly Belly, which make the beans in many more flavours than the original ones (which tended to be just fruit or spice) including drinks (some of which are "alcoholic" although the beans are not), popcorn and bubblegum. The colours of the jelly beans generally correspond to the flavour.

National Gumdrop Day

National Gumdrop Day is on February 15th in the United States.

Gumdrops are a type of colourful sweet (candy). They are made from gelatine or pectin and tend to come in bright colours. Individually quite small, they are shaped like a truncated cone and are covered in sugar. They taste of different fruits, with the colour of the gumdrop intending to represent the flavour.

With their small size and bright colours, as well as being eaten like any other candy, gumdrops are also popularly used in baking and other related crafts to decorate other foods.

As well as the fruit flavoured gumdrops, there are also spice drops. These look the same as gumdrops, but they are instead flavoured with spices rather than fruit, which tend to have sharper flavours.

National Peanut Brittle Day

January 26th is National Peanut Brittle Day in the US.

Brittle itself is a type of hard sugar candy known around the world in many countries and under different names. Although it was only called brittle in the late 19th century, the confection itself has been around much longer.

Brittle typically has nuts embedded in it, with different types being popular in different areas. In the United States the most popular type of brittle is peanut brittle - although peanuts are not actually nuts but legumes.

Brittle is made by heating a mixture of sugar and water to the hard crack stage (300 °F/149 °C) and mixing in the nuts. Other ingredients may also be added at this point. Whilst still hot, the mixture is poured out onto a hot surface and cooled. After cooling it is broken into pieces.

National Chocolate Candy Day

December 28th is National Chocolate Candy Day in the United States.

Chocolate may not always be considered to be a candy (or sweet) but it is, as the term can be used to describe any type of sweet confection - even bittersweet chocolate.

There are so many different types of chocolate candies that they seem to be in an entire category by themselves - and, in fact, can be treated that way. This definition includes items such as chocolate bars (of whichever of the many types) and truffles, but excludes white chocolate (as this is not considered to be true chocolate). It can include all the rather vague items too which are covered in chocolate, which can mean anything that is dipped in chocolate, or uses it.

The most popular types of chocolate candies are probably the chocolate candy bars, which come wrapped and can include just about anything. Boxes of chocolates too are popular, especially at this time of the year.

National Candy Cane Day

December 26th is National Candy Cane Day in the United States.

Candy canes are what they sound like - a piece of candy in the shape of a cane (or walking stick, or shepherd's crook if you prefer).

It's not known precisely when these were invented. There is a story dating them back to the latter half of the seventeenth century in Germany, which ties them in with giving sweets (candy) to children during Mass in the shape of a shepherd's crook to remind them of the shepherds who attended Jesus. This is probably false.

There is a definite recipe for candy canes published in the middle of the 19th century, and was associated with Christmas - an association it still bears - a few decades later.

The traditional candy cane is a short, red and white striped hard candy pole with a hook on the end. It has been hung on Christmas trees for decades now, so the day after Christmas is an ideal time to eat them - they are no longer really needed for decoration by this point.

National Hard Candy Day

December 19th is National Hard Candy Day in the United States.

As can be determined from the name, hard candy is a type of candy, or sweet, that is hard. They are also commonly known as boiled sweets. Hard candies are intended to dissolve slowly in the mouth

Hard candy is made by boiling a sugar syrup, which can be made from different sugars - fructose, sucrose, glucose, or other sugars - 160°C (320 °F) and then cooling it. The boiled syrup, as it reaches room temperature, becomes stiff and brittle. The finished product is almost completely sugar, although sugar-free variants do exist.

Boiled sweets are not simply boiled and cooled in their manufacture. Flavourings and colourings would be added to the sugar after it is boiled, and the resulting mixture can be made into individual confections. Before it cools it can be moulded, rolled or folded into other shapes, one of which is the traditional British seaside confection called rock.

Many early hard candies were actually medicinal in use, especially for sore throats. Sucking on a boiled sweet can help a sore throat anyway, and prescriptions would also be made more palatable by adding them to hard candies - sugar-coating them, in other words. Throat lozenges are still made into hard candies, although these are sugar-free these days, which use a sugar substitute as well as an artificial sweetener, such as aspartame, but most boiled sweets are no longer medicinal in nature, and there are many different types, shapes and flavours available.

National Candy Day

November 4th is National Candy Day in the United States.

Candy, also known as sweets, covers a wide range of sweet confections that use sugar as one of the main ingredients. Sugar substitutes and artificial sweeteners are also used in sugar-free varieties.

Sweets have been around for millennia, although the earliest forms of candy used honey as a sweetener, rather than sugar. The earliest sweet confections usually involved dipping an item in honey. Commonly used foods treated in this way were fruits and flowers, but other things such as nuts and, occasionally, insects were also covered in honey. Some candy available today is still made in this manner, but sugar is normally used nowadays. Sugar from sugar cane started being used over 2,000 years ago, and different types of sugar are now used today.

Sugar candy comes in many different types, from hard boiled sweets to brittle to soft and chewy. The amount of sugar can also vary, with some types being almost completely made from sugar. Candy can also include chewing gum and even chocolate. In sugar based candy, the sugar is dissolved in water or milk to make sugar syrup which is then used as the base. Colourings and flavourings of all types are also added.

Most countries and cultures have their own types of candy. In the past, candy has been used as a medicine but these days it is almost always used as a treat food. The high percentage of sugar in most sweets can cause problems, both with weight gain and with damage to teeth.

National Candy Corn Day

October 30th is National Candy Corn Day in the US.

Candy corn is a food that is strongly associated with Halloween, when the majority of it is sold, so to have a national day for it just before Halloween itself does make sense.

Despite its name, candy corn is not made from pieces of corn, although it does contain corn syrup. It may sound like a relative of popcorn, but it is in fact nothing like it.

As well as the aforementioned corn syrup, candy corn is made from water, sugar, carnauba wax (a wax made from a type of palm tree leaf) as well as fondant and marshmallow. In appearance, the finished product looks like a kernel of corn, which is where the name comes from, although they are bigger. Each piece of candy corn has three colours, with a yellow band at the broad end, a white band at the pointed tip and an orange centre. They were first created by George Renninger in the late 19th century in Philadelphia.

There are other variants to the standard yellow/orange/white version, such as one intended for Thanksgiving and another for Christmas, and even a carrot flavoured one for Easter.

National Good and Plenty Day

National Good and Plenty Day is on October 24th in the United States.

This is one of the more specific, unofficial and commercial national days, as the sole purpose for its existence is to sell a specific type of candy (sweet).

Good & Plenty are a type of liquorice sweet that is today owned by Hershey. They are cylinders of black liquorice that are covered in a hard candy shell; the shell of Good & Plenty comes in two different colours, pink and white.

The sweets were not original produced by Hershey, but Hershey wound up owning the company that produced them in 1996, and they apparently are the oldest branded sweet in the United States, dating back to Philadelphia in 1893.

There is a similar, British candy, called the liquorice comfit or the liquorice torpedo.