The history of sweets and candies is narrowly linked to the history of sugar.
Man has always had a natural taste for sweetness. Our first ancestors were already found of the sweet taste of honey that they collected from beehives.
Around 500 BC Persians discovered sugar cane. They kept their precious secret until the 4th century when Alexander The Great brought sugar cane from his campaign. Sugar cane crops spread in the Mediterranean countries. However, we must wait the 12th century and the Crusades for sugar cane to conquest the Christian world. Marketed by the Venetians, sugar is considered as a spice with curative properties and is sold at expensive prices by apothecaries. The rich society discovers luxury confectioneries like candied fruits, jams or marzipan that they enjoy as digestives after their meals.
In 1747 a German scientist, Sigismund Marggraf, discovers the sweetening properties of sugar beets. This will help reducing the price of sugar in Europe. Thanks to the creativity of manufacturers, sugar confectioneries will know a prolific period where many traditional sweets that consumers still enjoy today will be created.
After the Second World War, industrialization gives a second wind to sugar confectionery manufacturing. Industries rely on their imagination to propose new forms, textures and tastes.
2000BC
invention of Egyptian candy
Around 500 BC
Persians discovered sugar cane. They kept their precious secret until the 4th century when Alexander The Great brought sugar cane from his campaign. Sugar cane crops spread in the Mediterranean countries. However, we must wait the 12th century and the Crusades for sugar cane to conquest the Christian world. Marketed by the Venetians, sugar is considered as a spice with curative properties and is sold at expensive prices by apothecaries. The rich society discovers luxury confectioneries like candied fruits, jams or marzipan that they enjoy as digestives after their meals.
18th Century
A German scientist, Sigismund Marggraf, discovers the sweetening properties of sugar beets. This will help reducing the price of sugar in Europe. Thanks to the creativity of manufacturers, sugar confectioneries will know a prolific period where many traditional sweets that consumers still enjoy today will be created.
19th Century
Technological advances and the availability of sugar opened up the market. The new market was not only for the enjoyment of the rich but also for the pleasure of the working class. The candy store became a staple of the child of the American working class. Penny candies epitomized this transformation of candy. Penny candy became the first material good that children spent their own money on.
The invention of the candy press (also known under the surprising name of a toy machine) made it possible to produce multiple shapes and sizes of candy at once.
The modern marshmallow is invented
confectioners began to use a revolving steam pan to assist in boiling sugar. This transformation meant that the candy maker was no longer required to continuously stir the boiling sugar. The heat from the surface of the pan was also much more evenly distributed and made it less likely the sugar would burn.
20th Century
Invention of the loly pop by George Smith
Gummi candy Bears.
Candy-coated chocolates, take a journey to the solar system aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia