#CandyCane December 26

We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.

I am indebted to John Rancke on many levels. He has been a friend along with being a contributing blogger in 2018. In fact in 2018 we even got to talk about our tag team approach to writing.

John wrote a lot of great articles in 2018. He was enlightening, emotional, and informative especially about Christmas. I decided that I wanted to dedicate my Christmas week post to him by re-blogging his post about CANDY CANES.

Post by John Rancke

National Candy Cane Day is observed across the United States each year on December 26.
In 1844, a recipe for a straight peppermint candy stick, which was white with colored stripes, was published.

However, some stories tell of all white candy sticks in much earlier times. There are folklore tales of the origin of the candy cane, yet there is no documented proof of its real beginning. It has been mentioned in literature since 1866 and was first known to be mentioned in association with Christmas in 1874.

As early as 1882, candy canes have been hung on Christmas trees.

Enjoy these fun candy cane facts:
• The average candy can is 5 inches tall.
• While most candy canes are not sugar or calorie-free, they do not have any fat or cholesterol.
• Striped red and white candy canes were first introduced in 1900.
• The first machine to make candy canes was invented in 1921 by Brasher O. Westerfield. Until then, they were made by hand.

Watch how they are made today:

Traditionally the flavor for candy canes is peppermint, but there are a variety of flavors.
• Alain Roby, Geneva pastry chef, holds the Guinness World Record for the longest candy cane, measuring 51 feet long.

Legend has it that in 1670, the choirmaster at the Cologne Cathedral in Germany handed out sugar sticks among his young singers to keep them quiet during the long Living Creche ceremony. In honor of the occasion, he had the candies bent into shepherds’ crooks.

In 1847, a German-Swedish immigrant named August Imgard of Wooster, Ohio, decorated a small blue spruce with paper ornaments and candy canes. It wasn’t until the turn of the century that the red and white stripes and peppermint flavors became the norm.

In Indiana, a candy maker wanted to make a candy that could be a reminder of Jesus Christ, so he made the Christmas candy cane. He started off with a stick of pure white hard candy. The white color symbolized the virgin birth and the sinless nature of Jesus, and the hard candy symbolized the solid rock which was the foundation of the church, and firmness of the promises of God.
The candy maker made the candy in the form of a J, which represented the name of Jesus and the staff of the Good Shepherds. He then stained it with three stripes which showed the scourging Jesus received, and symbolized the blood shed by Christ on the cross. When you break the cane, it reminds us that Jesus’ body was broken for us.

But, the renowned Snopes. Com refutes all this info:

So who knows!! The best part about the candy cane is fat free and no cholesterol. I don’t eat them so feel free to have mine.

Those of use that grew up with a real Christmas tree would drag it out of the house the day after Christmas and put it on the street. Then we would go to our neighbors and drag their trees over with ours until we had a mound of old Christmas trees with sliver tinsel on them that we could build a Christmas Tree fort on the side of the road and we could harass cars as they drove up and down Cedar Street (where the big fire station is) in Lumberton.

It was fun growing up in Lumberton as a kid!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!…………….

JOHN THANKS FOR YOUR FRIENDSHIP