Candy canes, the red and white striped candies we all love at Christmas, have a pretty cool backstory. They actually started in Germany way back in the 1600s. Back then, plain white sugar sticks were bent into a J shape to represent Jesus. Kids got them at church to keep them quiet during services.
The red stripes came later and are said to stand for the blood of Christ. The peppermint flavor is supposed to represent purity. By the 1800s, candy canes had made their way to America, where they became a Christmas classic.
The bend in the cane was originally so kids could hang them on the tree. Different flavors or colors were not even a thing until the early 1900s. Today, Americans eat over 1.7 billion candy canes every year. That is a lot of peppermint!
Whether you are snacking on them, stirring your cocoa, or decorating your tree, candy canes are a little piece of sweet holiday tradition that has been around for centuries.
