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Discussion thread: Confectiology (CANDY) episode is live! (Patreon)

Published:
2024-10-23 21:55:03
Imported:
2026-06

Content

This episode is up and published and ready to hear -- so we're not taking questions for it! This is where we discuss and comment on it, since it's already published wherever you get podcasts.

https://www.alieward.com/ologies/confectionology

I chatted with the WONDERFUL, charming and bonkers entertaining Susan Benjamin, who is a candy historian and author.

DID YOU LISTEN TO THE END? I lost it. I mean.

Okay let's discuss the episode and candy below. What did you think? And what's your favorite candy? I will tell you if it sucks or not.

Sugar rushing/crashing,

Your Father of Pod Dadward Ward

Files

Confectionology (CANDY) with Susan Benjamin - alie ward

Licorice opinions! War chocolate! Candy corn origins, circus peanut secrets, the sourest sourballs, and your great aunt's purse. Stay until the very end for the biggest shocked laugh I have ever had on this show. The incredibly charming author, journalist, candy historian, and Confectiologist Susan

Comments

Kinkaid Designs

Mmm candy. My favourite is Purdys dark chocolate sweet georgia brown- like a turtle but with better chocolate.

Ettegoom

Yay! I'm excited for this one! I'm not up to it yet though - still just wading through 2020... and all the coronasodes... wow that was a time!!! Jeepers :'( My favourite candy used to be turkish delight (but my mother in law bought me so much of it that I can't bear it any more!!!) I don't think I would have ever betrayed my family over it though! It's not THAT good... I like chocolate brittle best now I think.?

Naomi Jane

I enjoyed this one - I never new sweets/chocolate were historically so risqué or suggestive either haha. As a Brit I did have to look up some of the brands/products discussed to follow along. I feel like Americans would be pleasantly surprised when asking for smarties in the UK though.

Laura Gawel

This was such a cool episode! I was gobsmacked by the end, though!

Will Clark

What a joy! I really wanted to hear about Reese's peanut butter cups. :)

Reuben Clamzo

I had heard that the use of HFCS in the US is due to a combination of tariffs on imported sugar to protect domestic sugar producers, and finding a use for surplus, subsidized corn production. Using ethanol in gasoline is similarly to use up overproduction of corn.

Rick T

Just some science FYI: if a chemical ends in -amine, it is pronounced ah-MEEN, like dopamine. Not AH-min

Neries virens

I just listened…I want to hear her every week! What a great attitude, joy for life, it really made my day!

Felix Lasselle

Great episode! Sad to hear Alie was sick during recording but her slightly scratchy "radio voice" sounded so good.

Ashley LeVoir

I’m just listening to this episode now, and I’m so disappointed it’s almost done. I need like 7 more episodes with this lady, stat.

Darren Bush

Yup. They do burn in an emergency.

Timmy H.

Loved this episode. Please bring her back.

Eli Smith

This episode was amazing. I just spent $50 at True Treats on old-timey medicinal candies. I love the bitter, herbal flavors and can’t wait to try some Horehound.

Paulina Krasińska-Sroka

OMG I love her ❤️ The enthusiasm was infectious. And the stories!! Absolute delight.

Emily Krieger

ha of course sex and candy are linked, i love it! also shout-out to your ICP reference that i was not expecting and enjoyed.

Annabelle

The candy lady who shunned Halloween. Unbelievable but kind of iconic

Xiola Salas

I had so much fun listening to this podcast while sitting at my desk today! It was definitely a huge highlight! I was definitely surprised about the circus peanuts being a sort of prototype to lucky charms. It goes to show that something’s are better off a second time 🤭! Also I need to get some warhead sour spray, my anxiety thanks you for that information!!

Lillian Rolfe

I’m only half way though, but I happened to be putting the final stitches onto a SugarPlum Fairy tutu while learning what sugarplums were! Favorite candies: cinnamon gummies. Caramel. Peanut brittle.

Dave Brewer

I want to have her over for dinner. She was so charming.

Dave Brewer

I was reminded of something I'd forgotten about, the gum cigarettes with the powder so it looked like you were puffing.

Andy Pepper

So excited the circus peanuts question made the cut!! This episode was so surprisingly soothing. I never realized what a role candy played in my childhood (duh).

Allison In The Yukon

Regarding the blue raspberry mystery: my secret suspicion is that blue raspberry flavour originally came from haskap berries (a relative of honeysuckle) but that the secret of the flavour origin was lost. Haskaps have only started being cultivated in the last few decades and were basically unknown in North America until then. I work on a haskap farm and when the berries are frozen the similarity to blue raspberry smell is uncanny. Bonus points because they’re bluish purple.

Andrew

I love that Wilbur Buds came up! One of my grandmother’s is from Lititz and Wilbur’s was prized chocolate in my family. Loved them more than Hershey’s.

Chrysalis Ashton

She needs another episode! Omg her energy and joy were so enthralling!

phinn markson

Licorice! Real licorice not the all sugar and some tiny amount of anise oil kind. Not that I won't eat that too. I was the kid who only ate the black jelly beans. Luckily no one wanted those anyway 😉

Rachael Gardner

Excited to listen to this one! Also, I hereby request a dialectology episode

Jeanette-o-saur

I love everything about this episode. Also I totally went to her store in Harper's Ferry on my vacation this summer! I didn't buy anything because the old school candy isn't really my jam, but I did enjoy reading the little blurbs on them. Also I briefly thought the circus peanut origin was going to be a thing where they fed them to the elephants and was preemptively horrified. I'm glad that was not the case 😅

Between Dumplings

I'm listening now...and thinking of my friend (a chocolate expert and teacher) who wrote about the ethics of chocolate bars (child labor, inter alia). I just finished dishes from our Sunday supper, including roasted fall veg and a humanely raised, organic chicken. Being a former vegetarian I still have a pause about the eating of animals. We all make choices and draw lines. I think this intersection of ethics and food has mostly been examined in the vegan sphere, sometimes in sustainability /agriculture sphere, but I think the ethics of confections and the issues of child labor is worth looking at.

Felipe Jimenez

Love these episodes, when you originally think “ah I have no questions” and then after listening you have 1 million questions that came while talking. The only thing that I didn’t like is that she doesn’t give candy… I mean, come on you have a candy store! This should be your happiest day!

Andrew McVay

Jawbreaker Goblin 👍 ✋ ⬇️ 🎤

Alli B

I had the same circus peanut dread! 😬 🤣

Caroline Fox

Omg this lady was a DELIGHT!!!!

Alie Ward

RIGHT?!?! I was dying of happiness

Alie Ward

We need more Halloween ballets Andrew

Alie Ward

She must be like "Halloween is for amatuers." Honestly, as a goth I get it.

Alie Ward

Agreed, and great point! she takes such a critical lense culturally and I'm sure she has many opinions on that!

Alie Ward

Honestly I would have believed ANYTHING about those peanuts. Like were they developed as weapons? Sure

Alie Ward

Oh isn't hers the BEST? She says somethign about "I can't stand 'em" in the episode and I originally included the iconic "I caaan't STAND 'im!" quote from Singin' in the Rain but I didn't want it to come off as mean because I LOOOOVE her voice so I cut it.

Alie Ward

Phinn, we need more of you in the world so the jellybean bowl isn't all black licorice and bad banana leftovers

Alie Ward

I was beyond delighted during this one. and if we hadn't done a 2-part Momiology one right before this, it would have been a 2-parter because it was such a long, great convo

Alie Ward

I gotta get my hands on some! It's too bad they were bought by Cargill, but at least they still exist!

Alie Ward

No waaaaay! Alison thank you for this intel! Do they grow in Arctic climates? Is this up in the Yukon?

Alie Ward

This makes me so happy. And yes, circus peanuts was on the top of ALL of our minds. Man I hate that banana flavor. But I love Lucky Charms? What the fuck??

Alie Ward

I totally had those as a kid. i never felt more sophisticated, which is bonkers. I wonder if there are candy vapes?

Alie Ward

Aaah, tell me more about this tutu!!

Alie Ward

So iconic. she's like, "I don't need one day a year. I LIVE IT, baby"

Alie Ward

I appreciate that you appreciated it, lololol

Alie Ward

Maybe just don't offer her dessert, ahahah

Alie Ward

oh yay!! That makes me so happy! Aren't the info bios on each candy amazing?!?

Alie Ward

RIGHT? I was smiling so hard recording this my face hurt. When she started talking about Janis Joplin i was like "I love this woman. I love her."

Alie Ward

Jenn, you are NOT alone. Same. Buuuut, why do I love Lucky Charms so much

Alie Ward

Ahahah, thank you! I ended up going to urgent care this week for bronchitis but am on the mend! But yeah I had to stop so many times in recording the asides to aggressively eat a cough drop

Alie Ward

I love her, I love her so much. I'm so glad other people are so enamoured too

Alie Ward

Aaah, thank you! I appreciate you being sweet and not.... amine about it

Alie Ward

Definitely a lot of gov't/corn love affairs happening

Alie Ward

I knooooow, I can't believe we didn't get into it. It was a such a long episode

Alie Ward

What are Smarties out there? and yeah, I need a trip to the UK to cover Cadbury.

Alie Ward

We talk about Turkish Delights a lot in this one! And about the Chronicles of Narnia! Here's a preview from the transcript so you don't have to skip 4 years ahead: "Also if you ever read the Narnia Chronicles and couldn't pay attention to the narrative because you wondered what the fuck Turkish Delights were, they were like the center of a jelly bean but rose, almond, pistachio or fruit flavored and emerged in of course Turkey in an apothecary – and are also called loukm meaning to rest your throat– but they began to spread worldwide in the 1700s and eventually a smaller candy coated version became our modern day jelly bean. And as for CS Lewis making lokum the locus of downfall in the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, historian Cara Strickland’s essay “Why Was Turkish Delight C.S. Lewis’s Guilty Pleasure?” hypothesizes that the book was written during World War 2, when confectionaries were rationed and exotic treasures were hard to come by for nearly a decade. "

JENN 'Benthopelagic squirrel' ALVAREZ

Um.. idk. I've never had them. (Allergic to some dyes and shit) But I don't eat things with gelatin either so I'll never find out 🤣

Ettegoom

I had heard that about it being during WWII - it makes sense! So interesting that jelly beans are actually derived from Turkish Delight!!!!

Naomi Jane

These ones are by (vastly inferior) Nestlé - They're hard sugar coated flat discs of chocolate. In the 90s they were bright and colourful, but these days they're made with natural colourings meaning they look like you dropped them in a muddy puddle first. Definitely prioritise the Cadburys!!

Allison In The Yukon

The farm I work at is in the Yukon! They grow very well in cooler climates like northern Canada!

Jeanette-o-saur

😂 waiting for the future exposé episode'

Lynda Creedy

I remember asking my kids what the raspberry snow cones tasted like. After considering it, they were unanimous. They taste blue.

Lynda Creedy

I was born and raised in California, but have lived outside the US since 1973. I remember loving Hershey chocolate, but hadn't eaten any for decades. I tried some during a trip to California, and found it had a taste I can only describe as vomit. Is that just me, or does Hershey chocolate taste that way to everyone?

Lillian Rolfe

I’m a ballet costumer at a ballet school and had two new sugar plums to make this year. One is pink, gold, dusty plum and pale green. I’d share a photo if I could!

Kelly Shaver

Here for that Necco wafer shoutout. I still occasionally find them in random stores and try to buy as many as I can.

Ja Jo: Art & Craft

I used to watch Unique Sweets between classes or while doing homework in college. Every time the red headed lady would pop up, I would think “this person is so fun and delightful!” Years later I find Ologies and I remembered who you were by your voice and personality.

Obilot

I’m just catching up. I have a take on Blue Raspberry. I know Susan probably knows who did it first, but back in 1989 the raspberry Jolly Rancher was fantastic—it was a darker red than cinnamon, cherry, or strawberry, and it tasted like a teaspoon of raspberry jam but without the seeds. I’ve had a hypothesis of ‘too many red flavors’ converging with the food color developers colluding with… I don’t know—Pantone—to change the color of raspberry. Support for this: there isn’t ALSO a red raspberry Jolly Rancher. This color change, however, failed to take into account the fact that humans with color perception will experience a disconnect between flavor and color of they’re discrepant. Eg. Cherry flavored thing but it’s purple. It’s confusing to most American human brains, which may be why ‘blue raspberry’ doesn’t taste like raspberry. I just shut my eyes when I eat those blue Jolly Ranchers. (But I still don’t think they’re as good as when they were dark red.) 🤓

Amanda Leal

Listened to this on a bit of a delay and goodness was her energy needed after the past few weeks!