New York City’s ingenious confectioners made it “The Candy Capital of the World”

What is it about candy? No food elicits more childhood reminiscences. Just the sight, smell or thought of bubble gum, lollipops or a favorite candy bar can evoke memories of movie matinees, Halloweens, Christmas stockings, or magical visits to the sweet shop with a few coins from your parents. Nearly everyone has a favorite candy from their youth which they haven’t eaten in years, but it still holds a place in their heart. Most commercially-made candy has remained unchanged for generations, so we are still surrounded by those enticing treats of our youth. How sweet it is!

We don’t associate New York City with candy like we do with hot dogs and bagels. Yet some of America’s (and the world’s) favorite sweets were created and produced in the city. Why? First of all, for centuries NYC was the world’s largest sugar producer, attracting confectioners like bees to honey. It was also the largest manufacturing metropolis in America; many candy-making methods and equipment were invented in the Big Apple, as well as innovations in packaging and advertising. As the country’s premier shipping hub, small family-run confectioners expanded quickly, establishing national brands which are still favorites today. In no other place could so many candies (and candy millionaires) be made. By 1903, The New York Times declared that New York was “the pre-eminent candy city of the world, with more establishments engaged in its manufacture than any other city on earth.”  

So let’s enjoy the stories behind many of New York’s most famous confections and their creators, most of whom were in Brooklyn (Yeah, Brooklyn!) Later, we’ll get to the history of candy-making in the city, and visit some modern sweet shops and chocolatiers to sample today’s delectable offerings.

Tootsie Rolls were invented by Brooklyn candy store owner Leo Hirschfeld in 1896, who received patents for the process of boiling and stretching sugar that gives Tootsie Rolls their unique “chew.” He named his new candy after his daughter Clara, whose nickname was Tootsie (“Clara Rolls” didn’t sound as appetizing.) Leo’s creation were the first penny candies to be individually wrapped. World War II rations included the non-melting Tootsie Rolls; soldiers returned with a taste for them and sales soared. Old time Soho residents still remember the chocolatey aroma in their neighborhood emanating from the Tootsie Roll factory on West Broadway, which later became luxury condos named “The Chocolate Factory.” Tootsies were made in New York City until 1967. Today they are produced in Chicago by a family-run business, Tootsie Roll Industries, which does half a billion dollars a year in sales. When they purchased the Charms Candy Company in 1988 and added Charms Blow Pops to their Tootsie Pop line, they became the largest lollipop manufacturer in the world.

Another toothsome treat is Bonomo’s Turkish Taffy, invented by Austrian-born New Yorker Herman Herer. He was whipping up a batch of marshmallow for candy maker M. Schwartz & Sons and mistakenly added too many egg whites. Instead of throwing it out, he continued to experiment with the stuff, and came up with something he called “Turkish Taffy” (nobody knows why he chose that name.) In 1936 the Bonomo Family of Coney Island bought M. Schwartz & Sons, along with Herman’s taffy. The Bonomos were synonymous with Coney, selling candy and ice cream to beach-goers from pushcarts. Their Coney Island home featured a candy factory on the ground floor! They first sold Turkish Taffy out of baskets on the Boardwalk. Then they made a deal with the F. W. Woolworth Company to display Turkish Taffy in large blocks, from which pieces were broken off with a ball-peen hammer. Soon individual servings were wrapped in wax paper with advice for customers to “crack it up” themselves. The first interactive candy was born! Banana, Chocolate and Strawberry flavors were added to the original Vanilla, and the packaging was upgraded to foil. Promoted in print, radio and TV, Bonomo Turkish Taffy became a national brand. When the company was sold in 1972 the new owners reformulated the taffy to be “soft and chewy” (i.e., uncrackable.) It failed miserably and eventually disappeared, but passionate memories of the original remained. In 2002 a New Yorker named Kenny Wiesen acquired the brand, resurrected Herman’s formula, and reintroduced it at the 2010 National Confectionery Association show, using the original package and graphics. Enthusiasts were able “crack up” their Bonomo Turkish Taffy once again, as they still do today.

One of the wildest, wackiest tales in this WebBook is about the New York creation of chewing gum. It involves the Battle of the Alamo, an exiled General on Staten Island, the search for a rubber substitute, one ton of sticky tree secretions, and the world’s first vending machine. Most of all, it involves New York photographer/glassmaker Thomas Adams, who gave us Chiclets, Black Jack, Beeman’s, Dentyne, Trident, and a great story to share. Select below to read all about it and him: (there’s another link at the end of this chapter)

While we’re on the subject of gum, we can’t forget Topps, located for many years across from Bush Terminal In Brooklyn. It was started by four brothers: Abram, Ira, Philip and Joseph Shorin. Their first effort in 1938 was Topps Gum. In 1947 they introduced Bazooka Bubble Gum, which became wildly popular when they began wrapping the pink slab with comics starring the eye-patched “Bazooka Joe” (modeled after co-founder Joseph Shorin.) The gum’s aroma was frequently cited in a study of “smells which elicit memories.” The brothers really hit it big when they introduced Baseball Cards packaged with their gum. Sports cards had been offered since the 1880s in cigarette packs, but abandoned during World War I due to material shortages. In 1951 Topps issued two 52-card photo sets, later known as “Blue Backs” and “Red Backs,” which were designed to be played with as a game. By the next year, the now-standard format featured the player photo with stats on the back. Topps signed deals with Major League Baseball, then the NFL, NHL and NBA. By the 1960s, bubble gum trading cards were ingrained in American culture, and despite the fact that many customers tossed the gum, sales grew and grew. Sports cards soon attracted professional investors; the cards’ skyrocketing values outperformed the stock market. Topps produced cards featuring the Beatles, Star Wars, X-Files, Jurassic Park, Garbage Pail Kids, Wacky Packages, and even Desert Storm. However, stiff competition and a failing collectors’ market saw profits dwindle in the 1990s, although by the end of the century they cut deals with Marvel Comics and Pokeman, and have rebounded. Mickey Mantle’s 1952 Topps card recently sold for $12,600,000.

In 1912, an Ohio candy maker named Clarence Crane (father of poet Hart Crane) wanted to switch from making chocolates, which melted in the summer, to more stable hard candies. He got hold of a pharmaceutical machine which made pills and could punch a hole in the middle. Life Savers were born! Crane soon sold the formula to New Yorker Edward Noble, who repackaged the candies in foil-wrapped rolls costing 5 cents. Life Savers were first sold at bars to disguise alcoholic breath, and were soon available at cigar stores and drugstores. Their first flavor was Pep-O-Mint, followed by Wint-O-Green, Cl-O-Ve, Lic-O-Rice, Cinn-O-Mon, Vi-O-Let and Choc-O-Late. In 1921, fruit flavors were developed, and 1935 saw the introduction of the popular “Five Flavor” rolls. Many other flavors were tried (and abandoned) over the years, such as Anise, Cola, Root Beer, Molasses and Menthol. Like some other New York candies, non-melting Life Savers were included in soldiers’ rations, which greatly increased their post-war popularity. In 1981 Nabisco bought the company, and then sold it to Wrigley’s in 2004. The original headquarters, where Life Savers were made until 1984, still survives just north of the city in Port Chester, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Henry Heide, “the dean of American candy manufacturers,” immigrated from Germany to New York in 1866 and opened up a small candy operation in a basement at 175 Spring Street. He soon expanded to 14-16 Harrison Street in today’s Tribeca. The building is still there, featuring his name on one of the oldest painted signs in New York City. Henry’s candy business grew rapidly and by the 20th century it occupied 7 buildings in Manhattan. His biggest success occurred in 1920, when he introduced his iconic Jujyfruits in five Victorian flavors: lilac, violet, rose, spearmint and lemon (today the flavors are raspberry, licorice, lime, orange and lemon.) Jujubes then followed, and throughout its 92 years in Manhattan the Heide Company created Red Hot Dollars, Chocolate Babies, Mexican Hats and many others. Eventually Henry’s son and then grandson took over the business, moving it to a 4-acre facility in New Jersey in 1961. Still a star attraction in movie theaters, Heide candies are now made by the Ferrara Candy Company.

For those of us with silver hair (it’s not gray, it’s silver) you may remember the nasal-voiced comedian Arnold Stang exclaiming on TV “What a chunk of chocolate!” He was of course referring to Chunky, the candy bar introduced in the 1930s by New York confectioner Philip Silverstein. He named it after his plump granddaughter (not very nice, Grandpa.) The squat, flat-topped trapezoidal treat was a hunk of milk chocolate “packed” with raisins, cashews and Brazil nuts (later just raisins and peanuts) and cost a nickel. It was among the first candies to be sold in NYC subway vending machines. In 1950 the firm was bought by Jeff Jaffe, who opened a candy factory at 655 Dean Street in Brooklyn, and rapidly expanded Chunky into a national brand. Earning a pavilion in the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair, visitors to “Chunky Square” could witness the chocolate squares being made through a glass-walled automated factory. Today, the “thicker-er” candy you must “open wide for” is made by the Ferrara Candy Company.

Another Brooklyn candy stalwart is The Mason, Au and Magenheimer Company, founded in 1864. Their first factory was at 81 Fulton Street, but by 1892 the company had outgrown the space and moved to 20 Henry Street. Their first hit confection was Crows, a black licorice candy. In 1945 they introduced Dots, which came in fruit flavors like strawberry, lemon, lime, orange and cherry. Dots became “America’s #1 Gumdrop Brand,” and was manufactured in a number of different sizes, from “fun-size” Halloween packs to mega-size theater boxes, suitable for supplying matinee children with screen-bound artillery. Mason has also marketed Tropical Dots, Yogurt Dots, Candy Corn Dots and Christmas Dots. You may recall Mason Mints, a chocolate-covered peppermint patty, and Mason Peaks, the chocolate-dipped coconut treat advertised as “snow-clad mountains in their purity.” Mason’s Henry Street factory, now luxury condos, is fondly remembered by residents living near the Brooklyn Bridge.

Lollipops are a perennial favorite, but were difficult to mass-produce until Russian immigrant Samuel Born hit the scene. He opened a small candy store in Brooklyn in 1917, and entered the candy manufacturing business in 1923, calling his company Just Born. His most famous invention was a machine which automated the painstaking process of lollipop stick insertion, which he proudly called his “Born Sucker Machine.” He also devised an ingenious method of producing chocolate sprinkles, or “jimmies.” He went on to create popular candies such as Mike and Ike and Hot Tamales. But perhaps Just Born’s most famous product are marshmallow Peeps. Offered in an endless array of holiday shapes and colors, Peeps are just part of Sam Born’s candy empire, which produces sweets for more than 1.5 billion people worldwide.

The story behind Now and Later candies goes back to 1919, and a little confectionery business in Brooklyn called The Phoenix Company, where father-and-son team Harry and Joseph Klein manufactured Salt Water Taffy for Atlantic City. Taffy-making was a seasonal business, requiring open-fire kettles and time-consuming “pulling” and cooling. The Kleins streamlined the process by installing vacuum cookers to replace the kettles and other equipment which could turn out taffies like crazy. They called their new product Now and Later, since each pack contained individually-wrapped taffies – some for now, more for later. A big hit in New York City, Now and Later became a national brand, producing 700 million candy bars annually.

New Yorker Charles Howard had a mission to create a unique and fanciful confection, something that would differentiate him from his candy competitors. In 1934 he started the C. Howard Company in a small loft on Broadway, and introduced Choward’s Violet, a mint with a distinctive floral flavor. He began selling his creation on Manhattan street corners, building a name for himself and his candy. After Violet became successful, Charles launched Choward’s Scented Gum, a purple-colored gum tablet. Over the years, Choward’s Violet has been featured in several Raymond Chandler novels, on the AMC series Mad Men, and in Oprah Magazine. When Charles died he left the company to a long-time employee, Elizabeth Juhase, who has in turn invited her nephews to take charge. Choward’s many confections, including peppermints, spearmints, lemon mints, and the flagship Violet and Scented Gum, are still being made today in Bellport, Long Island. (Thanks to a reader of NYC EATS, a former employee of C. Howard’s, for suggesting this story!)

News from Kiev, Ukraine has not produced much joy lately, but Kiev did produce Nathan Radutzky, who in turn produced Joyva Candies, celebrated by kosher Jews and non-Jews alike. Located for over a century in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Joyva is the largest producer of halvah in the U.S. (a confection made of crushed sesame seeds and sweeteners.) Candy shops used to showcase halvah in blocks, from which sections would be sliced off, but the pandemic curtailed this practice. Joyva’s third generation owner Richard Radutzky says his customers experience “a sense of coming home” when they eat his products, which include chocolate-coated jell rings and marshmallows called Joys. Joyva candies are as New York as pastrami and egg creams (and just as good for your soul.)

Angelo Cella and his two sons arrived in New York from Italy in 1858. They all became confectioners, and opened a candy company in 1864. Cella’s Cherries were the first cherry “cordial” with a 100% liquid center (no overly-sweet fondant) and a real fruit cherry. Although many confectioners made chocolate-covered cherries, Cella’s became the best-known for their “liquidity.” The family eventually moved to a larger factory at West Broadway and Grand Street where they remained until 2005 (not far from the Tootsie Roll plant, which acquired the Cella company in 1985.) Soho inhabitants fondly recall the distinctive aroma of Cella’s cherries wafting through their open windows in the summer.

So how did all this happen?    

The candies mentioned above, and many more food items, were produced in a type of place which has all but disappeared in NYC: a factory. To look at New York City now, with its real estate/tourist economy, you might not associate it with manufacturing. But those stylish loft buildings everyone loves once housed the engine of the largest manufacturing metropolis in America. Factories of every size, from smoke-stacked behemoths to tenement apartments, flourished and multiplied (my apartment once housed a tortoiseshell factory, then a sewing sweatshop.) New Yorkers made and sold collars and boots, cigars and furniture, steam pipes and generators, carriages and printing presses, locomotives and battleships, cast-iron skyscrapers and steel-cabled bridges, high fashion and deep subways...and they also processed the meat, baked the bread, and pickled the pickles. Richard Hellman made his mayonnaise, Charles Gulden his mustard, William Entenmann his cakes and Emanuele Ronzoni his pasta. Confectioners invented delightful delicacies like our favorite candies and shipped them around the world.

Making sweets was a no-brainer when your town was the world’s foremost sugar producer. The refining of sugar is one of the New York’s oldest and largest industries. In the 1700s, massive sugar houses, the largest buildings in the city, made the Roosevelts, Bayards and Livingstons wealthy, mainly due to Caribbean slave labor. The Roosevelts also operated a “Chockalet-Engine House” to process cocoa. By the mid-1800s, Brooklyn’s shores were lined with huge sugar refineries (the last to go was the Domino plant on the East River in Williamsburg.) And wherever there’s sugar, you’ll find candy makers.

The first candy men

New Yorkers have made and enjoyed sweets ever since they were New Amsterdamers. In the 1600s the Dutch colonists made sugar wafers, sugar plums, macaroons and drinking chocolate (to say nothing of doughnuts, cookies and pancakes!) The earliest confectioners were Joseph Corre, whose shop at 28 Wall Street did well with fellow tories. George Washington and other revolutionaries preferred Adam Pryor’s Federal Confectionery at 59 Wall; he made burnt almonds, lemon drops and rock candy. A 1794 ad for Joseph Delacroix’s William Street shop boasted the quality of his peppermint drops, caraway comfits and “creame macarons.” Pioneer candyman Kinloch Stuart from Edinburgh set up shop at 40 Barclay Street in 1806. Like many of his fellow confectioners, he made all his candy in a back room and sold it in the front.

In the 19th century candy-making really took off. The city’s largest confectioner was Robert A. Ridley, who had apprenticed with Kinloch Stuart. His sugar plums, horns, kisses and hundreds of other sweet inventions were sold across America and overseas...Queen Victoria was a big fan of his treats. Gumdrop impresarios E. Greenfield and Sons on Greenwich Street also sold their wares around the globe, until 1877 when a huge explosion and fire killed their business (and 13 of their employees.) John S. Huyler opened a popular sweet shop at 18th Street and Broadway in 1874, specializing in old-fashioned molasses taffy, “fresh every hour.”

Sad story, happy ending

One of Huyler’s employees was an ambitious 26-year-old who had a penchant for candy-making. Every night he experimented with taffy recipes in his boarding house kitchen, assisted by his landlady. After a small success peddling his treats on the street, he left Huyler’s, rented a small shop on 6th Avenue and 42nd Street, and began making candy. Then his luck changed. After loading his horse cart with his first big shipment, a couple of boys lit a firecracker under the horse, which ran up the street, spilling the candy everywhere. His business was ruined. He returned to the boarding house to discover that a thief had robbed him of everything he owned. Left with only the clothes on his back, Milton Hershey bought a one-way train ticket to Lancaster, PA to start over. And the rest, as they might say, is chocolatey history.

Two guys from Tucino     

From this mountainous canton in Switzerland came two brothers who would forever change dining in New York, and America. John Delmonico, a wine importer, and his brother Peter, a talented confectioner, joined forces to create Delmonico’s Confectionery at 25 William Street in 1827. With seating at only six pine tables, they served bon bons, chocolates, bavaroises, petits gateaux and coffee to would-be sophisticates and foreign businessmen. One reviewer noted that it “brought a whiff of Paris into the crude, bustling streets of the city.” In a few years the Delmonico brothers expanded their business into a full-service eatery, which became the most famous restaurant the world has ever known.

Candy Stores become more

Delmonico’s isn’t the only restaurant that started out as a confectioner. In 1898, Frank G. Shattuck convinced a Boston chocolatier that he could sell his candy on commission. After obtaining an exclusive franchise, he opened the first Schrafft’s on 36th Street and Broadway. It sold only candy until Frank’s sister Jane showed up and started serving tearoom food such as coffee and cake to a mostly female clientele. Schrafft’s became a full-fledged restaurant and a New York institution for most of the 20th century. The last Schrafft’s was in an Art Deco building on Fifth Avenue and 12th Street, which later became the Lone Star Café.

In its time, the largest candy organization in the world was owned by William Loft, son of a British confectioner. In 1860 he opened a candy store on Canal Street, which grew to become Loft’s Candies, part of New York City life for over 130 years. The Loft plant on 40th Avenue in Queens, a full block long, annually utilized 3 million cocoa beans, 2 million pounds of nuts, and 12 million pounds of sugar to produce 35 million pounds of candy for the chain’s 186 nationwide stores. They grew so big that they eventually bought Pepsi-Cola in 1931, in order to sell it at Loft’s soda fountains.

Kosher chocolate wars

In 1925, two Jewish partners and their wives started making candies in a small shop on Broadway and West 158th Street. They had changed their name to Barricini to sound more European. They opened 15 stores in 10 years. Meanwhile, in 1940 Steven Klein opened the first Barton’s Bonbonniere, which eventually grew to 50 locations. Their Brooklyn factory churned out chocolate Santas, Easter bunnies, and their famous chocolate-covered matzohs, all under the watchful eye of the masgiach (kosher supervisor.) While Barricini downplayed their semitic roots and kept their stores open on the Sabbath, Barton’s proudly advertised their products as kosher. Both companies earned kosher certification, but Barton’s remained most popular in the Jewish community.

Chocolate today

New York City confectioners are still experimenting and innovating. Here are some of the most popular…Manhattan’s oldest chocolatier, Li-Lac Chocolates, has been hand-crafting delicacies for a century, and has shops all over the island. Aigner in Forest Hills is almost as old, and famous for their Austrian treats. Mondel Chocolates has been an Upper West Side favorite since 1943 (Katherine Hepburn declared they were “the best in the world.”) French confectioner Jacques Torres (a.k.a.”Mr. Chocolate”) sells his one-of-a-kind treats in his shops in Dumbo and Grand Central Station. MarieBelle in Soho is as glamorous and tasty as can be, with its own Cacao Bar to sip the hot stuff. If you like chocolate mice (and who dosn’t) try L.A. Burdick, also in Soho. For a modern take on classic bonbons, visit Stick With Me on Mott Street, or The Harlem Chocolate Factory with flavors like Banana Pudding and Sweet Potato Pie. There are many “imports” to New York’s chocolate world, such as Neuhaus from Belgium, La Maison Du Chocolat from Switzerland, and See’s Candy from Los Angeles. Master chocolatier Max Brenner offers Chocolate By The Bald Man in his restaurant near Union Square...you haven’t lived until you’ve had his chocolate pizza!

By the way, I try to avoid the mega-touristy candy attractions in Times Square such as M&M’s World, Hershey’s Chocolate World and It’Sugar. Kids may enjoy the Instagramy “sensory experience” known as Candytopia, if you think it’s worth $29 apiece for a leap into its populated marshmallow pit.

A favorite old-time candy emporium

There are many shops where you can buy modern candies, like Coney Island’s Williams Candy Shop, Manhattan’s Dylan’s Candy Bar, the new Spoiled Parrot in the Tin Building (Fulton Market) or your local grocery and drugstore. But there is only one place which transports you back to your grandparents’ time: Economy Candy on Rivington Street in the Lower East Side, the city’s oldest candy store.

Starting in 1937 as a pushcart, Economy has always been a family-run business. Today the reins are held by Mitchell and Skye Cohen, and boy, do they know and love their candy and their customers! They’ve got every sort of sweet you can imagine, from mountains of penny candies, hard-to-find imported bars, dried fruits and nuts, hand-made chocolate-covered grahams, jells, turtles and barks, all kinds of bubble gum cards from Baseball to Smurfs, Dallas and the Simpsons, a wall of infinitely-flavored jelly beans, as well as Pez dispensers, Necco Wafers and candy buttons on paper strips. If they don’t have it, it probably doesn’t exist. And their collection of antique vending machines is superb. In the same neighborhood as Katz’s Deli, Russ & Daughters’ Appetizers and Yonah Shimmel’s Knishes (see Deli aticle), no visit to New York City would be complete without a sojourn here.