Candy During the Civil War

Let me clarify my comments on Rock Candy:

Rock candy, or candied sugar, or crystallized sugar is one of the oldest forms of candy, and can be traced back to India and what is now Iran as early as the 9th Century. It is a perfectly authentic candy.

Rock Candy would have been sold at every major battle by hucksters.

This is one of the statements I take issue with. It may have been sold by sutlers, and shipped to the soldiers in care packages from home, sutlers were usually far behind the lines, and often were not even with the Army during active campaigning. The comment quoted above makes it sound as if there were vendors (ala modern sporting events) running around yelling 'get your rock candy here'. Justification for the quote being

All the visitor centers sell it.

Just doesnt hold water. Visitor Centers at battlefields are there for a reason. Interpret the events on the field, hopefully a small museum, and then the gift shop. The pupose of the Book/Gift shop is to make money, pure and simple. Thusly, not everything there is 100% authentic, and is often not even period correct, but touristy items meant more for kids than for serious historians. Yes they have wonderful books, and I have hit up the Kennesaw VC many times for some good volumes. But a battlefield visitor center does not a period correct vendor make.

Using the inventory of a battlefield visitor center does not justify an item. Research does. Rock candy would not be amiss in a box from home, and would be quite correct for a soldier to have. but to claim it was hawked at every major battle is going far afield.
 
Other Civil War period correct treats are Crystallized ginger, and turkish delight, available today commercially in the US by Liberty Orchards as aplets and cotlets http://www.libertyorchards.com/product/Aplets_and_Cotlets/Aplets_and_Cotlets. Lemon drops are good too. Most hard candies are ok. Chocolate should be avoided. Not only does it become a nasty icky gooey mess in the heat, but the chocolate we know today was not 'invented' (rather the process by which it is made) untill 1875. Prior to that chocolate was gritty and bitter. Swiss, English, & dutch manufacturers were making edible chocolate by 1849, but it didnt keep well in transatlantic transportation. Chocolate was more often drank, as hot chocolate (the common methode of taking chocolate in the 18th Century). Chocolate was also VERY expensive. It was not until 1903 that Milton Hershey made chocolate affordable and widespread in the States.

oops didnt realize Zou had posted about the Liberty Orchards already.
 
Let me clarify my comments on Rock Candy:

Rock candy, or candied sugar, or crystallized sugar is one of the oldest forms of candy, and can be traced back to India and what is now Iran as early as the 9th Century. It is a perfectly authentic candy.



This is one of the statements I take issue with. It may have been sold by sutlers, and shipped to the soldiers in care packages from home, sutlers were usually far behind the lines, and often were not even with the Army during active campaigning. The comment quoted above makes it sound as if there were vendors (ala modern sporting events) running around yelling 'get your rock candy here'. Justification for the quote being



Just doesnt hold water. Visitor Centers at battlefields are there for a reason. Interpret the events on the field, hopefully a small museum, and then the gift shop. The pupose of the Book/Gift shop is to make money, pure and simple. Thusly, not everything there is 100% authentic, and is often not even period correct, but touristy items meant more for kids than for serious historians. Yes they have wonderful books, and I have hit up the Kennesaw VC many times for some good volumes. But a battlefield visitor center does not a period correct vendor make.

Using the inventory of a battlefield visitor center does not justify an item. Research does. Rock candy would not be amiss in a box from home, and would be quite correct for a soldier to have. but to claim it was hawked at every major battle is going far afield.

Thanks for the clarification.... LOL.
 
When I was a kid, the old folks in their 80s talked about some candy called, and I'm not making this up, "hoarhound." They made me try some of it. It was the worst tasting stuff that ever passed itself off as candy that I ever had.
Horehound (no, really!!) is awful, awful stuff. I tasted some at camp once. It is like the nastiest cough drop ever invented.
 
The New England Confectionary Company (NECCO) debuted Sweethearts Conversation Hearts in the 1800s. They were originally called "motto hearts". Their precursor was a fortune cookie-like treat sold during the Civil war called a "cockle". The "cockle" had printed phrases rolled up inside its scallop-shaped shell. The printed message included such wistful thoughts as "Please send a lock of your hair by return mail".
 
Way back in post no.7, Ole mentions licorice. There is not much talk of it afterwards. Is licorice, ( salt or sweet), not considered to be candy in the U.S. As it is still very popular here, although less so nowadays than perhaps turn of the century (1899/1900 that is).
 
Way back in post no.7, Ole mentions licorice. There is not much talk of it afterwards. Is licorice, ( salt or sweet), not considered to be candy in the U.S. As it is still very popular here, although less so nowadays than perhaps turn of the century (1899/1900 that is).
Licorice is definitely candy, although it has a strong taste that many people dislike. It is not sweet, and Americans today tend to prefer sugary sweetness in their candy.
 
Personally I love licorice candy. I like licorice drops or gummies ( I always buy these Scotty Dog Licorice gummies at Christmas). But my favor since a child is Good and Plenty which is a narrow cylinder of sweet licorice coated in a hard candy shell to form a capsule shape. They come in an assortment of bright pink and white and are in a purple box.

Good and Plenty was first produced by the Quaker City Confectionary Company in Philadelphia in 1893. It is now owned by Hershey Foods.

I always recall going to the movie theatre with my Grandmother and she would always buy me a box of Good and Plenty. Such wonderful memories.
 
My mother likes Good 'n' Plentys, too. But now, so few people eat them that when you buy a box, they tend to be stale...
 
Rolled or folded in "white" paper for commercially produced confections... or a fabric poke sack for home-made confections.... This would go for candy, nuts, medical treatments... if you want to get fancy about it, try wrapping your twist in a funnel shape the way nuts and snow-cones are sold today.

Period white paper is slightly less "white" than the bright white we can accomplish today... but not so yellow as to be "cream" or "ivory." It is laid paper. Try Southworth
If you are in a real pinch, you might use un-printed newsprint... such as delicate items are wrapped in to come home from the store today.

And if your dress is made correctly, you can put your wrapped or sacked confections in your pocket.
 
One of the oldest candy companies in America is Whitman's. It was started in 1842 by Stephen Whitman in Philadelphia. It was originally a "confectionery and fruiterer shoppe" on the Philadelphia waterfront. Whitman's was first popular with traveling sailors and their wives. They would bring him imported fruits, nuts, and cocoa from their trips. Mr. Whitman would make the popular European confections that people loved in that era.

The first prepackaged Whitman candy was produced in 1854. It was a box of sugar plums adored with curlicues and rosebuds. Whitman began advertising in newspapers shortly before the beginning of the Civil War. The business thrived. In 1866 an entire building at 12th and Market Streets in Philadelphia was taken over by the Company. Chocolates were introduced in 1877.

The famous selling Sampler was introduced in 1912. This marked the first use of cellophane by the candy industry. Whitman's is now part of the Russell Stover Candies Company.

If you still look at an old ad , it says "Whitman's Chocolates Made in Philadelphia U.S.A. since 1842 by Stephen F. Whitman & Son, Inc.
 
Donna, I love you! You are a complete wealth of information! Your posts are totally interesting and I really enjoy them. :smile: I'm really begiing to develpo an interest in Civil War food history because of you.

And Glorybound, thanks for posting that ad; the slogan is awesome. "A Fighting Food", indeed! Whitman's Chocs are really good; I love getting the Mini-Samplers for Valentine's Day and my mom always makes sure I get one. Well worth the carb and calorie splurge! :smile:
 
I'd like to see an ad for hoarhound. "Comes with patch 'n powder. Don't like the taste? Jest load 'er into yer musket an' blaze away!"
 
My dad loves licorice - I've been partial to licorice allsorts! Around here they make marionberry licorice - but Webfoots will put marionberries in anything!

I've had licorice root, which looks and tastes like wood chips. It's a curious thing - who sat down and said I think I can make some really good candy out of this stuff! :confused:
 
There is a good brand of licorice they sell here with some name that references Australia. LOL. The pieces are always nice and fresh.
 
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