Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Rockets or Smarties?

If you grew up in Canada, you know the difference between Rockets and Smarties. Or do you? Here's a hint: the Ce De Candy Company makes both. Feeling a little confused? We can help: Rockets are the pressed hard candy we know and love in Canada in the clear and red wrapper, but in the United States, they're called Smarties (we won't even get into the "other" Smarties this time...)!

Their name aside, Rockets (we're in Canada, afterall) are made right here in Canada! In fact, the Newmarket, Ontario plant works 24 hours a day to produce these little pocket-sized treats. All the Rockets produced between the two manufacturing facilities each year would circle the globe three times - and they're only 1cm across! And did you know that Rockets have been in production since 1949, but can trace their lineage back to England in 1928 and a little company, Matlow Bros.Ltd. One of the brothers came to North America in 1949 with the mission of making and selling their popular candies. "Smarties" lore has it that he came with "only two wrapping machines, a rented facility and a lot of ingenuity"

Regardless of what path they took to make it to our loot bags, we're so pleased to have the ever-present white, yellow, pink, orange, purple and green concave discs all year round!

The Wikipedia entry actually has a great little comparison of the American and Canadian-made Rockets (they're labelled Smarties, but we think you'll know what we're talking about!), showing the slight colour variations that the true candy afficiando would appreciate:

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Wednesday, October 21, 2009

No trick - just treat!

In the spirit of all things spooky, we've been digging into candy's scary past to come up with some eerily interesting facts to get you in the Trick Or Treat-ing mood!

More than 93% of children don costumes and head out for a night of trick-or-treating.

Did you know October 30th is National Candy Corn Day? That's right - this treat invented in the 1880s is a Halloween staple. More than 35 million pounds are going to be produced this year. According to Farley's & Sathers, one of the major candy corn manufacturers, if all the candy corn and mellowcreme pumpkins they produce yearly were lined up end-to-end they would circle the globe four times!

41% of all adults admit to sneaking treats from the bowl on Halloween night while 90% of parents admit to sneaking treats from their kids' sugary haul.

30% of children sort their collected candy before digging in!

The best way to keep your stash from going stale is to store all your candy in a cool, dry place, out of direct sunlight and away from hidden heat sources (look for the heating vent before tossing your loot-laden pillow case under the bed!).


Check out more fantastic facts and Halloween safety tips at the National Confectioners Association and, as always, Ottawa Police Services has all the information you need for a fun and safe Halloween!

And here's the best tip of all: We love Halloween at The Candy Store! Come dressed in a costume on October 31st and trick-or-treat with us!


This weekend's cupcake flavours:
Black & White: Belgian dark chocolate cake with vanilla frosting and chocolate sprinkles

Carrot: pure carrot cake with walnuts and pineapple, vanilla cream cheese frosting and walnuts on top.

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Friday, October 9, 2009

New Friends and Good Times

We've had a lot of fun this week and with Cornucopia on the way, we're expecting the trend to continue! At the beginning of this week, Diane, the owner of The Candy Store had a one-on-one morning with Chris Stewart. Don't know who Chris Stewart is? Tsk tsk. He's the creator and overall mad genius behind Candy Critic, an immensely popular guide to the good, the bad and the odd in the candy world. And the most exciting part is that Chris is based in Ottawa! We invited Chris to come hang out at The Candy Store and try some of our favourites - he details his visit in a post on his blog and, we must say, we're so thrilled Chris enjoyed his visit. If you're a candy person in any way at all (and how could you not be?!), make sure to check out Chris' page. And while you're at it, since it is a long weekend, you could check out his Twitter.







Speaking of long weekends, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and we hope to see you all at Cornucopia tomorrow! If you weren't able to attend Cornucopia last year (its inaugural year), you'll want to make sure put this on Saturday's agenda. Cornucopia is a "Giant Animated Side Walk Sale" that features the best of entertainment, art, fall festivities and shopping. Street performers will be out in full force and everyone along Richmond Road is so excited for this event!

At The Candy Store we'll have cotton candy, Halloween items, Thanksgiving treats, hostess gifts, caramel apples and, as it is Saturday, cupcakes! So cross your fingers that the weather holds and come join us for this spectacular day!