Candy Cane Tuesday
Candy Cane Tuesday
A candy cane is a hard candy the elves make in peppermint flavor and decorate with stripes. The candy is long, thin, and bent at the top to resemble a walking cane. These holiday candies are made using a batch process, which involves mixing and cooking the candy base, forming the stick shapes, and putting it in the appropriate packaging. First introduced by Mrs Santa years ago , candy canes have been a favorite holiday candy every since. Today, the candy cane is as well loved as it was the first year Santa brought them..Candy canes are traditionally a Christmas holiday candy. The classic candy cane is a white candy with red stripes infused with either peppermint or wintergreen flavors. They are usually about 6 in tall and about 0.25 in thick. The crook on the end is so they will hangover the side of each stocking easier.
It has been told that parents eat them when getting ready for the holidays. Folklore has it peppermint soothes sore muscles from holiday decorating, such a handing the outdoor lights and putting up the wreaths. We suggest you always eat a liberal dose of candy canes while doing this job.
How We Make Our Candy Canes
The first step of pole made canes involves blending the ingredients together in a large a copper kettle. Ingredients added by workers known as the North Pole compounders. Then water, sugar and corn syrup are combined. This is then heated to over 300°F and allowed to cook until it forms a holiday amber liquid. The Candymagic elf makes sure to add the sweet magic dust to each batch.
Many Elf Hands Work the Candy
While it is still hot, the sugar mixture is poured on marble top tables. These table were built many years ago by the workshop Elves. The candy cools slightly and is sent to the pulling elves. These guys have strong arms that stretch the candy repeatedly until it looks silky white.
While the candy is being stretched by many happy elfs. A line worker adds the proper amount of
peppermint flavoring. Their arms never get tired because of the peppermint oil.More workers then take a large portion (95 lb ) of the warm candy and form it into a loaf. Part of the loaf is put off to the side, dyed red, and cut into strips. It will become the red stripes in the final product. The 4 in-long red strips are then pressed at set intervals into the white loaf by the elves called the Candy strippers.
The loaf can then be sent to the Staff Elves to convert it into a candy cane. They quickly roll it into a long strand of candy. The strand runs past the elf with the sharp knife that slices it at set intervals to produce individual candies. They are then passed to the cane makers. Since the candy is still slightly warm it can be shaped as desired. Some fast cane makers can shape thousands of candy canes a day.
After the candy cane is formed, it is put into its packaging. Younger, candy cane makers, in training, wrap the candy cane in a clear plastic. This is done right as it comes from the caners.. The plastic is then wrapped around the candy cane and sealed by a blast from the holiday plastic sealer.
They are placed in the magic boxes that will be loaded into the sleigh.
We do have quality control testers. They spend all day licking canes from each batch to
insure great taste and holiday magic.
