Neighborhood News: Trick or Treat! Chicago-made Tootsie Rolls
A week from now, Halloween will be upon us. Are you prepared for the denizens of children dressed as ghosts, goblins, Shrunken Head Bob, Raygun, CatNap, and Dr. Doom, begging for sweet treats and a shudder of recognition?
If you’re not…better call Tootsie Roll! The Chicago-based confectioner has been supplying the world with sweet treats since 1896.
In the beginning…
According to Wikipedia and several other sources, the first ‘Tootsie Roll’ candies were made in New York City in the early 1890s by Austrian-Jewish immigrant Leo Hirschfeld, (sometimes Hirschfield) who named the oblong-shaped, cocoa-flavored, hand-rolled candy for his daughter, Clara, whose nickname was ‘Tootsie.’ The consistency was a cross between caramel and chocolate, and he sold the confection for one penny. Hirschfeld may not have known it, but he changed junk food history, according to Smithsonian Magazine. They were the first candy to solve two confectionery issues: although it had a chocolatey taste, the penny candy didn’t melt. Tootsie Rolls became the first penny candy to be individually wrapped.
Hirschfeld was awarded a patent in 1908.
A Time Magazine article said distribution started with a horse and buggy, the Candy Hall of Fame says the confectioner (a 2007 inductee) “decided to grow by merging with another local candy manufacturer, Stern & Staalberg,” which went public in 1922 and became known as the Sweets Company of America. Sadly, Hirschfeld committed suicide that same year, shaken by personal and professional events.
But Tootsie Roll survived and cemented his legacy as a candy maker extraordinaire.
The Sweets Company of America continued to add to its line of products. In 1931, Tootsie Pops were invented, a hard candy lollipop filled with a mini Tootsie Roll.
Tootsie Roll goes to War
The American military liked the product so much because because the hardiness of the candy remained intact even under the most extreme conditions and that they provided “quick energy” for American troops in World War II. The company signed a contract to supply the American soldiers with Tootsie Roll products in their field rations, according to Sweet Services.com.
Food historians remember that conflict as a watershed moment. It gave the candy company an early form of a government contract, writes the Dodge Legal Group, and kept them manufacturing while the war effort shut down many other confectionaries. It also helped cement American affection for the candy.
A few years later, during the Korean Conflict, according to a blog on WordPress, the Marines found that by warming the Tootsie Rolls in their mouths or holding them close to their bodies that the candy thawed and could be eaten during freezing cold days in Korea. The Marines ate Tootsie Rolls because everything else was frozen, and they survived.
Not only did the Tootsie Rolls help sustain the Marines, but they soon learned that the pliable candy could also be used to plug the bullet holes in gas tanks, fuel hoses, radiators and also in their shelters to help keep out some of the cold. It’s not surprising that “many troops credited their very survival to Tootsie Rolls.”
Tootsie Roll moves to Chicago and creates “How Many Licks?”
When William Rubin bought the company in 1935, it operated a large candy factory in New Jersey. In 1968, Tootsie Roll opened a large factory in the Ford City industrial park in southwest Chicago, according to the Encyclopedia of Chicago History. Soon, the company’s operations were centralized in Chicago, where it employed about 900 people by the mid-1970s. By that time, the company was led by Rubin’s daughter Ellen Gordon and her husband Melvin, according to a feature on WTTW.
Ironically, Ellen had a connection to the company before they met. Long before she became president and chief operating officer in 1978, her parents were majority shareholders, and she was once in a Tootsie Roll advertisement as a teenager.
So, how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll pop?
A famous commercial in the 1970’s asked the question, and the answer has been a subject of many scientific studies. Accordingtothe company,the answer is somewhere between 144 and 1,000 licks. This depends on who’s doing the licking!
Today
In 1988, Tootsie Roll bought Charms Co., a maker of lollipops. By 1990, when annual sales were close to $200 million, Tootsie Roll was the nation’s leading producer of lollipops. The company continued a pattern of solid growth through the 1990s, with annual sales of $400 million and about 1,700 employees in the Chicago area by the end of the decade.
According to the company’s website, they make 64 million Tootsie Rolls every day. They have grown to become one of the country’s largest candy companies, with a lineup that includes some of the most familiar candy names: Tootsie Roll, Tootsie Pop, Charms Blow Pop, Mason Dots, Andes, Sugar Daddy, Charleston Chew, Dubble Bubble, Razzles, Caramel Apple Pop, Junior Mints, Cella’s Chocolate-Covered Cherries, and Nik-L-Nip. They’re sold in a wide variety of venues, including supermarkets, warehouse and membership stores, vending machines, dollar stores, drug stores, and convenience stores.
Happy Halloween, everyone!
Alison Moran-Powers and Dean’s Team Chicago