Industrial Revolution

The candy business underwent a drastic change in the 1830s when 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. There
was also an increasing market for children. While some fine confectioners remained,
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. For this reason, candy store-owners relied
almost entirely on the business of children to keep them running. Even penny candies
were directly descended from medicated lozenges that held bitter medicine in a hard
sugar coating.[15]
In 1847, the invention of the candy press made it possible to produce multiple shapes
and sizes of candy at once. In 1851, 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. These
innovations made it possible for only one or two people to successfully run a candy
business.[14]

Our Mutual Friend, January 7, 1885, satirical cartoon by Joseph Keppler, warning of the dangers of
color additives used in candy.

As the path from producer to market became increasingly complicated, many foods were
affected by adulteration and the addition of additives which ranged from relatively
harmless ingredients, such as cheap cornstarch and corn syrup, to poisonous ones.
Some manufacturers produced bright colors in candy by the addition of hazardous
substances for which there was no legal regulation: green (chromium oxide and copper
acetate), red (lead oxide and mercury sulfide), yellow (lead chromate) and white
(chalk, arsenic trioxide).[16]
In an 1885 cover cartoon for Puck, Joseph Keppler satirized the dangers of additives in
candy by depicting the "mutual friendship" between striped candy, doctors,
and gravediggers. By 1906, research into the dangers of additives, exposés of the food
industry, and public pressure led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act, the first
federal United States law to regulate food and drugs, including candy. [16]

Karl Fazer (1866–1932) founded the successful Fazer company in the 1890s, which at the time
specialized exclusively in the candy and confectionery industry.[17]

Classification
Sugar candies include hard candies, soft candies, caramels, marshmallows, taffy, and
other candies whose principal ingredient is sugar. Commercially, sugar candies are often
divided into groups according to the amount of sugar they contain and their chemical
structure.[18]
Hard-boiled candies made by the vacuum cooking process include stick candy, lemon
drops and horehound drops. Open-fire candy, like molasses taffy and cream taffy, is
cooked in open kettles and then pulled. Pan work candies include nuts and other candies
like jelly beans and sugar-coated almonds, made by coating with sugar in revolving
copper kettles. Gum work candy is cooked in large kettles fashioned for melting and
molded, dried and sugared like gum drops. They are soaked for a time in sugar syrup to
allow crystals to form.[19]