The candy cane
originated from a straight, pure white sugar stick. The
cane shape and mint flavor were added later. The history
of the candy cane in its white form starts in 1670 when
a choirmaster at cologne Cathedral in Germany used the
sugar sticks to keep the younger singers quiet during
the Living Creche ceremony. The ceremony was long and
the children would get antsy otherwise. To make the candy
symbolic of the season, the choirmaster bent the sugar
sticks into a cane shape, making the candy represent the
Shepard's crook.
In 1847, August Imgard, an immigrant from Germany, inspired
the Christmas spirit in Wooster, Ohio by decorating a
spruce tree with paper ornaments and candy canes. At this
time, the candy cane was still pure white. Its cane shape
easily hangs on the bough of a luscious evergreen tree and
can be removed for friends and loved ones to enjoy its sweet
taste during the holiday.
About fifty years later, a man by the name of Bob McCormack
from Albany, began adding the traditional red stripes
and delightful peppermint, spearmint or wintergreen flavoring
to the candy cane as he made the holiday candy for his
friends, family and local community. Bob McCormack's
brother-in-law, Father Gregory Keller, invented a candy
cane making machine which allowed the candy cane to be
enjoyed by a wider range of people. Thus became Bob's
Candies, the largest maker of the candy cane world wide.
