| With
holidays like Christmas, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Easter and
other snacking days of commemoration, candy is a cultural phenomenon
in America. But out of all the holidays, Halloween tops the chart
as the highest volume of candy sales. The other candy holiday
sales contenders are Easter, Christmas and Valentine's Day.
Did you know? During
Halloween, manufacturers produce an average of 20 million pounds
of candy corn, annually.
From sport’s
nutrition candy bars, concoctions prepared with fruits, chocolate
delights, pure-sugar treats, gumdrops, hard candies, sweet tarts
and more, Americans consume approximately 20 pounds of candy
a year.
Confectionary and
candy stores line the strip malls, streets and manufacturers
populate rural and urban areas across the country. Regardless
of where these candies may be found, they have one thing in
common. They contain a part of sugar that has been dissolved
in water. Depending on the temperature of water, candies are
manufactured by different consistencies. For instance, hot temperatures
create hard candy. Cool temperatures make very chewy candy while
medium produces soft candy textures.
Almost four years
ago, (2002) manufacturers debuted over than 1,400 new candy
and gum products. The varieties ran the spectrum of high caloric,
sugar-free, to diet candy and low-carbohydrate.
Did you know? 5 teaspoons
of sugar are in roughly 16 pieces (1 ounce) —— of candy corn?
When it comes to
monitoring the sugar intake of children it is important to understand
how much sugar is contained in each serving. Review the following
serving, sugar and caloric value of the following candies:
Gumdrops (9 small
pieces) Calories: 117 Sugar 7 teaspoons
Jelly beans (10 large pieces) Calories: 100 Sugar 6 teaspoons
Hard candies (4 pieces) Calories: 100 Sugar: 6 teaspoons
Skittles (28 pieces) Calories: 115 6 Sugar: teaspoons |
