Tinsel, baubles, an angel on top of the tree - and the unmistakable red-and-white swirl of candy canes. They’re a classic Christmas icon, but how did a simple sugar stick get its twisty shape and peppermint zing? From humble beginnings to holiday staple, the story of candy canes is a sweet surprise with a twist. Stick around as we unwrap the story behind this legendary holiday treat.
What are Candy Canes?
Everyone knows what candy canes are, right? They’re the quintessential Christmas sweet made from sugar and food colouring. They’re usually white with red stripes (or maybe red with white stripes), but they can be made in any combination of colours under the sun. They're most often flavoured with peppermint, and they’re shaped like a walking stick. In fact it’s hard to imagine Christmas without candy canes hanging from the tree.
Like chocolate eggs at Easter, candy canes shout Christmas as loudly as Die Hard movies (OK, an argument for another time) and mince pies! It’s not surprising then that almost two billion are made every year, with more than 90% sold in the four weeks leading up to the yuletide celebrations. So just how did this Christmas icon come to be? Let’s unwrap the sweet-toothed truth.
Were Candy Canes Created in Cologne?
The simple answer is that it’s highly unlikely, but as the saying goes, why let the truth get in the way of a good story. In fact the invention of candy canes appears to have been lost to history, but the most popular story about their creation comes from the city of Cologne in western Germany and its magnificent cathedral.
There are two popular versions of this tale, both set in 1670. In one, the cathedral’s choirmaster, desperate to keep the congregation’s children quiet during the long Christmas Eve service, asked a local confectioner for straight sugar sticks, then requested a crook at one end so he could link them to the shepherds in the Nativity story. In the other, he supposedly handed the same bent sugar sticks to the choirboys to stop them fidgeting and whispering during services.
While these yuletide tales make for a good yarn, historians have found no mention of them in contemporary records, and no written references before the mid-twentieth century. So it’s probably more festive folklore rather than documented fact.
From Wetzlar to Wooster
If we fast-forward 177 years, we get to the story of Augustus Imgard, who moved from his birthplace of Wetzlar in Germany to Wooster in Ohio sometime in the 1840s. The story goes that in 1847, he cut down a blue spruce tree from a local forest, put it in his house and decorated it with paper ornaments, nuts, kuchen - the famous German cake - and candy canes. He was even believed to have had a local metalworker make him a tin star for the top of the tree. People from all over town came to see his ‘Christmas tree’ which he mounted on a revolving box.
While it’s unlikely he introduced the concept of the Christmas tree to America, the National Confectioners Association does think he was the first to adorn one with candy canes.
A sweet epilogue to his story is the pine tree beside his grave in the local cemetery, which locals decorate with lights every Christmas in his honour.
Why are Candy Canes Flavoured with Peppermint?
Like the Cologne Cathedral story, there seems to be a number of urban myths associated with the flavour of candy canes. The first is that peppermint is a natural animal deterrent, and candy canes with the strong aroma of peppermint were enough to keep rodents and cats away from damaging the tree.
Another oft-told tale which may have some basis in truth is that in the nineteenth century, the people who made sweets were the same people who made medicines, known as apothecaries. We know them today as pharmacists. It was said they added peppermint to medicinal lozenges made with unpalatable mixtures of bitter herbs to make them taste better.
Yet another story suggests that peppermint’s cool, fresh taste is somehow festive and reminiscent of winter, but which one is true is anyone’s guess, perhaps it’s an amalgamation of all of them.
The Evolution of Candy Canes
It wasn’t until the start of the twentieth century in the USA that candy canes became the mass-produced sweet treat we know today. In around 1919, Robert ‘Bob’ McCormack, a confectioner from the southern state of Georgia, began mass-producing them by hand for the local kids. This venture became Bob’s Candies, one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of candy canes, and the first to wrap them in cellophane.
Further innovation took place in the 1920s, when the Bunte brothers of Chicago - Ferdinand and Gustav - filed a patent for an automated candy cane machine, though it’s unclear if this gained widespread adoption. Regardless, it wasn’t until the 1950s that a machine was invented which actually twisted the cane with the red and white stripes, curved the crook, and cut it to very precise lengths. It was invented by Bob McCormack’s brother-in-law, a man by the name of Gregory Keller, and the machine was known as the Keller Machine.
Keller was a seminary student in Rome and would spend his summers working at Bob’s Candies. He became an ordained Catholic priest serving the Diocese of Little Rock in Arkansas, and he patented his invention in 1960.
The basic principles of the Keller Machine are still used today, but where things have moved on from Keller is precision and integration. His bending-and-forming concept is now built into high-speed, computer‑controlled systems that can twist, cut, bend and wrap thousands of canes an hour with consistent size, stripe pattern and minimal human handling.
Fast forward to today, and here at Food Network, we’ve got some great candy cane recipes that you can try yourself, including candy cane cookies, chocolate cheesecake candy cane bars, and a grownups-only candy cane cocktail!
