Candy During the Civil War

kate_09

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Iowa
512px-Necco_Wafers.jpg
Necco Wafers
Lkeers1415 [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons


I'm not sure if this is the right thread for this, and I apologize ahead of time if its not. I have been researching candies from the Civil War and have only come up with Necco Wafers. What else? I know they would have had some type of stick candy (like a candy cane of some sort) but other than those I'm stumped? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!

Kate
 
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For sure, ladies north and south knew how to make candy. Exactly what kind, I wouldn't know. Fudge, taffy and stuff like that wouldn't exactly be something a soldier could carry, but hard candy, like peppermint sticks might well have been.

Interesting question. Am looking for some answers.

Ole
 
Hoarhound candy is still available from at least one source of obscure, ancient soaps and candy and scents, so someone, somewhere, is still making it.

I prefer root-beer barrels and licorice, but hoarhound will do in a pinch. Seems there was some suggested medicinal value in it. (This is like talking about old comics, isn't it?)

Ole
 
Hoarhound candy is still available from at least one source of obscure, ancient soaps and candy and scents, so someone, somewhere, is still making it.

I prefer root-beer barrels and licorice, but hoarhound will do in a pinch. Seems there was some suggested medicinal value in it. (This is like talking about old comics, isn't it?)

Ole

Comics from an old comic. You do know your ancient candies, I'll give you that.
 
Thans for the link Zou. It's a really good site. I don't care if it's something they would have carried necessarily. We are having caramels (me and my mom are making them for the wedding) and instead of regular wedding mints we are doing necco wafers. They had a lot of hard candies I know, drops and such. What else would they have had for soft candy?
 
Civil War Historian did an entire write up on period candies a year or so ago; might be worth checking their site to see if the article is available online.

Pepermint humbugs & sticks, hoarhounds, various flavored lozenges, salt water taffy, Jordon Almonds aka sugared almonds. Mostly hard candies as chocalate wasn't really an option yet.
 
Thanks for all the help. I was wondering about salt water taffy and everything I have found seems to say that it was around in homes, not commercially. Kind of what I thought. Thanks Johann for the ideas. I couldn't find the article put the candy ideas really helped!
 
I was looking for horehound candy for my grandmother and found some in an old-fashioned candy store called Shane's in Philadelphia. I had some when I was a kid but didn't care much for it, but I remember she said she liked it, so I'm getting some this week. She's 98. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-horehound-candy.htm


Be sure she considers putting her teeth in first, assuming that is an opportunity.

Thank you for thinking of her and taking time to visit and let her know you care. Would that there were many more like you in this world.
 
Thanks, Larry, she might need her choppers at that. I called her last week and my aunt answered the phone and said "She's here in her chair eating pickled corn." I don't think she's lost a single brain-cell in her life, sharp as a tack. To add a Civil War note to this post, her great-grandfather and great-great uncles stood with Gen. McCausland in front of Lynchburg and kept David Hunter from doing his worst. Gen. McCausland got a gold sword out of it, my relatives got squat.
 
Thanks, Larry, she might need her choppers at that. I called her last week and my aunt answered the phone and said "She's here in her chair eating pickled corn." I don't think she's lost a single brain-cell in her life, sharp as a tack. To add a Civil War note to this post, her great-grandfather and great-great uncles stood with Gen. McCausland in front of Lynchburg and kept David Hunter from doing his worst. Gen. McCausland got a gold sword out of it, my relatives got squat.

I don't think I've ever eaten pickled corn. Maybe I should. Your reference to the reward your folks received from the war seems to parallel my own. Several of my ancestors were kings of England. All I have is a mortgage on a rocky half-acre lot which I had to initiate.
 
I was wondering if anyone would know anything about fruit leathers. Do you think that they would have had them back then? Simply put, they are a dried fruit puree that has been dried in the sun. Any thoughts?
 
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