There’s nothing more exciting to eat than popping candy. When you put it in your mouth, you’ve no idea whether you’ll experience a little fizz and tingle or more of an explosion! Popping candy is great to use in all sorts of recipes or you can just eat it the old-fashioned way. Whether you like sour lollies, Australian lollies, American candy or anything else, popping candy is one sweet treat that’s always good to have in the kitchen cupboard.
Popping candy causes explosions on your tongue. And, it’s unique pop, fizz and crackle are down to how it’s made. So, let’s find out more.
How is popping candy made?
Believe it or not but popping candy is made is a very similar way to normal boiled lollies. Flavouring, sugar, water and corn syrup are mixed and heated until the water boils away. If this mixture was then put to one side and allowed to cool, you’d have regular hard sweets. However, popping candy is made by exposing the mixture to 40 times normal atmospheric pressure high-pressure carbon dioxide gas. Bubbles then form and as the mix cools down, the pressure is released causing it to shatter into lots of hard little rock-like pieces. Each little piece is filled with high-pressure pockets. So, when you eat the candy, or place it on your tongue, it melts and releases the little pressurised bubbles. And, this is why popping candy explodes in your mouth. Amazing! We wonder who first came up with the idea?
The history of popping candy
Way back in 1956, William A. Mitchell was working for General Foods of America. The chemist created popping candy, but it took until 1975 until consumers saw it on shop shelves. Interestingly, in those days there was a rumour circulating that if you mixed coke with popping candy, you would either choke or your stomach would blow up! Of course, this wasn’t true but General Foods were forced to send out open letters to schools and parents as well as setting up roadshows to dispel the myth!
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