All language subtitles for The.Food.That.Built.America.S04E02.Holiday.Treats.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-NTb

[Narrator] 600 million pounds

of Halloween candy
sold each October,

$2.4 billion of Valentine's
treats sold every year,

and 1.4 billion PEEPS
sold each spring.

But 150 years ago,
[dramatic music]

the holiday candy
industry didn't exist

and neither do the
holidays as we know them.

The holidays were not
a super popular thing

celebrated by everybody.

[Narrator] It would take
a few daring pioneers.

Try this.

[Narrator] To invent a
holiday candy industry.

He's trying to
create his own market.

[Narrator] Bringing
candy to the world.

They launched the entire
American candy industry.

No one's doing anything
like this at the time.

[Narrator] And redefining
the way Americans celebrate.

[Beth] It was something
new and different.

And a candy legend was born.

It's melt-in-your-mouth
delicious.

The holidays would
not be what they are

without these iconic brands.

[dramatic music continues]

[Narrator] Today,
candy plays a key role

in American holidays

and the confection industry
pumps over $37 billion

into the economy each year.

What the candy companies
have been genius in doing

is creating this expectation
of certain candies

at certain times of the year
and during certain holidays.

Who can imagine Halloween
without candy corn?

Or Christmas
without candy canes?

Or Easter without
the marshmallow PEEP?

It's hard to believe
that there was a period

where confections were not
centered around holidays.

Yeah, I mean to me,

the holidays are always
a time for celebration.

They're a time where
you can eat candy

as soon as you wake
up in the morning.

And I think that's one
of the reasons people

like to have these sugary treats

that remind them
of their childhood

and their memories
of the holidays.

[Narrator] But in
the mid 19th century,

the confection industry
itself barely exists.

You have candy sold in
bulk at general stores

and it was a lot of hard candy.

Chocolate was a novelty.

If you did have chocolate,

oftentimes it was
found more at a bakery.

Chocolate bars
didn't even exist

and all candy was made by hand,

very different from
what it is today.

Candy was a whole
different industry.

It's almost silly to
call it a candy industry.

A lot of candy
is sold at pharmacies

and it's acting as a
carrier for medicine.

It's a world of candy that
was good for your stomach

or good for your throat.

So like has this sort
of health halo to it.

Apothecaries were considered
the original candy makers

at the time because they
had a business reason

for making these sweet treats,

to mask the taste
of the medicine.

[Narrator] It's 1847

and a young pharmacist
named Oliver Chase

spends his days
running his apothecary

and his nights experimenting
with new flavors

for his throat lozenges.

He came up with
this winning formula

where he took brown sugar,
he clarified it with an egg,

put a few drops of
peppermint oil into it,

and then knead it all together

along with the medication.

And the clientele would
keep growing and coming in

and buying out all his lozenges.

And so you went to his
store with an ailment

or sometimes because you wanted
a little something sweet.

[Narrator] Soon, Chase
begins to sell a new version

of his popular lozenges
without the medicine.

In other words, candy.

But with electricity
still in its infancy,

Chase is now making medicine
and his candy by hand

and can't keep up with demand.

So one day he just said,
why don't I automate this?

And that was really
the next step

in Oliver Chase's
breakthrough thinking.

Basically, he innovates
this idea of a machine

that can create on a mass scale,

you know, and that
just pour forth.

This was America's
first candy machine.

It was a huge
breakthrough for the time.

Oliver Chase was a
scientist, an engineer,

but his brother Daniel
was full of big ideas.

[Narrator] The brothers
shutter the apothecary

and formed Chase Company,

the country's first
automated candy operation.

Frankly, Oliver
Chase's machine launched

the modern American
candy industry.

Basically he
introduced the whole idea

of creating mass-production
candy, low-cost candy.

So you're buying a
Hershey bar today,

you're saying thank
you to Oliver Chase,

or at least Hershey is.

[tense music]

One of the risks that come

with any kind of inventive
candy is the copycat business.

You might have your
patent on your machinery,

but still other people are going

to start making similar
candy or machinery.

[Narrator] To make
sure they stay ahead,

Daniel's eager to grow
the business quickly.

So while Oliver's in
the factory making candy,

his brother Daniel is out
looking for the next thing.

[tense music]

[Oliver] What is this?

Daniel one day day
comes back to the shop

and shows him a candy cockle,

which is a shell-like candy.

And tucked inside was a note.

In Old England where
these cockles originated,

they were used to give
as little tokens of love.

So the Chase brothers
took this idea of cockles

and created something they
called the conversation candy.

They start printing on
with a sort of vegetable dye

these phrases on the
surface of the wafer.

And that becomes
kind of this new idea

that they have about
what they're

gonna do with this candy.

You had sports mottoes

in the shape of
baseballs or footballs.

You had a wedding bell.

You had horseshoes
that said good luck.

You had baggage checks.

You had coins.

[Narrator] The most popular

is the romance-themed
wedding bell

with mottoes like married in
white, you have chosen right.

In the 1800s, the
language of love

was very different
from what it is today.

It was long, flowery, poetic.

These romantic sayings
were reflective of the times.

Dear Nancy is fair and rare.

My love is like
a blushing rose.

Very Victorian,
rather long winded.

At night it droops,
in the morn it blows.

[Narrator] Based
on the popularity

of their wedding bells,

the brothers turn their focus
to another romantic occasion

that's just gaining
popularity in the U.S.

The brothers are
taking an approach

which was unheard
of at that time,

and frankly, very
risky even today.

They decide to market the
entire production line

for Valentine's Day.

[Narrator] At the time,

it's mostly celebrated by
a small elite population.

It was all about
giving expensive gifts.

It was really only meant
for very serious suitors,

and you had to have that
display of spending money

to prove your love.

As Valentine's Day is
gaining a lot more traction

in the United States,

chocolate is still one of
the number one gifts given.

[Narrator] In
addition to chocolate,

a rare luxury, suitors
exchange ornate cards.

Valentine's Day is
one of these holidays

with a lotta stories and legends

that circle around the
origins of the day itself.

Some link it to the reign
of Emperor Claudius,

who, in the 1st century,

orders the death of the man

who would eventually
become St. Valentine.

And it said that
as he's in prison

and awaiting his execution,

which occurs on February 14th,

he falls in love with the
young daughter of his captor.

And upon being led
away to his death,

leaves her a note signed,
"From your Valentine."

[Narrator] Valentine's
cards became tradition

in 17th-century England.

They were elaborately adorned
and shaped like hearts.

Chase wants to offer up

a more fun, lighthearted alternative.

So he takes his
conversation candy

and shapes them into a heart.

[Narrator] Long before
mainstream greeting cards,

conversation candies
could offer all Americans

a way to celebrate
Valentine's Day.

Combining the acts
of gift giving

and love notes in one
affordable option.

Holiday candies
really weren't a thing.

So for Chase to say,

let's focus all of our energies

and create a candy specifically
for a particular holiday

was rather a large
risk for him to take.

He's trying to create
his own market.

[Narrator] But as
they begin

printing classic love proverbs

on their new heart shapes,
they discover a problem.

So they go to print them
and they realize, oops,

some of the sayings actually
don't fit on these hearts.

Well now they have this
huge batch of these hearts.

[Narrator] It's a problem

that will lead
the Chase brothers

to forever change the
language of love in America.

[tense music]

[tense music continues]

In the 1860s,

the holiday landscape in
America is unrecognizable.

Holidays in America
in the earlier days

were still very solemn
religious events.

I mean, they weren't like today

where it's a reason to
bring your family together

and have a lotta fun.

It basically hadn't
been marketed to.

[Narrator] The first federal
holiday, New Year's Day,

won't be declared for
another two decades

and paid time off is
virtually unheard of.

Most of America was
still puritanical.

Holidays were not festive
occasions like they're today.

They were for family to
have dinner, go to church,

and that's about it.

[tense music continues]

[Narrator] But in Boston,

Daniel and Oliver Chase
are trying to cash in

on the burgeoning candy market

by doing something no
one's ever done before,

tying their candy to a holiday.

But the problem
is Valentine's Day

is just becoming popular,

so they're taking a huge risk.

Daniel pivots the
entire business towards

this one holiday,

which is kinda crazy from
a business standpoint

when you think about it,

because he's the
only one doing this.

[tense music]

They cut their round
lozenges into heart shapes.

However, they find that
the long flowery messages

no longer fit.

The Chase brothers say, well,

we don't have time to
make a new printing press.

So they had to come
up with phrases

that would fit on these hearts.

And a lot of these weren't
the normal romance language

at the time.

These are not poets
we're talking about.

These are candy industrialists.

Ever...

Ever true?

Yeah.

Okay.

[tense music continues]

They have to take these
long romantic sayings

and drop them down
into very short phrases

like be mine or ever true.

[Oliver] This is it.

[Edward] They're rewriting
the language of love.

[Narrator] Sold in
bags of 40 for a penny,

conversation hearts
in banana, cherry,

and wintergreen flavors
hit the market in 1866

just in time for
Valentine's Day.

When these hearts come out,

they're actually
pretty well received.

What they allow you to do
now is to give them out

in a much more lighthearted way.

You can give them to friends.

You can give them
to your teacher.

People walking down the street.

It brought in a lot more fun

and a lot more lightness
to the holiday.

Conversation hearts
democratize Valentine's Day.

It was a candy for all people,

for all economic levels.

This sheer fact that
it wasn't as romantic

to give a conversation heart

was really what made
the industry grow

and become as iconic
as it is today.

[Narrator] Following the
success of their hearts,

Chase Company
merges with the second

and third largest candy
companies in Boston

to create one of the world's
biggest candy conglomerates,

Necco.
[tense music continues]

And in 1927,

Necco builds the largest
candy factory in the world.

By 1906, they had developed
the Necco Wafer roll,

the Necco Wafers
that we know today.

And that just was
an instant hit.

[Narrator] Over the decades,

Necco would put out
iconic candy hits

such as the Clark Bar,

Mary Janes, and Rolos.

By the early 2000s,

their annual sales
averaged $100 million.

[tense music continues]

The Chase brothers
should be household names

that we know today.

Really, they started the
American candy industry.

[Narrator] Today,
conversation candies

are the number one Valentine's
treat in the world,

selling over 19 million
pounds each year

and bringing in
over $22 million.

When you start seeing
people handing each other

those little cute be mine
and I heart you hearts,

you realize that these
aren't just candies

and they're not just different
configurations of sugar

in a fun little edible package,

but they are the
memories we cherish.

[tense music continues]

[Narrator] It's 1898 and
second-generation confectioners,

Adolph and Gustav Goelitz,
have just pooled their savings

to restart their
family business,

Goelitz Brothers Candy.

In 1893, there was a
national financial panic.

And the Goelitzs weren't able

to keep up with
their debt payments,

so they had to
declare bankruptcy.

[Narrator] Hoping
for a fresh start,

they move from Illinois to
Ohio and rename the business

the A Goelitz
Confectionary Company.

Cincinnati, Ohio in the 1890s

has a large candy
industry at the time

and has great logistics

to be able to distribute
candy nationally.

They basically
started it from scratch,

not knowing if it was gonna
work out or if they would fail,

like they had a few years ago.

[tense music]

They were making
some traditional

old-fashioned candies
like stick candies, caramels,

nothing really that
flashy or exciting.

The Goelitz Candy
Company was looking

for the candy that's
gonna set them apart

because people are loyal to
their local confectioner.

Candy was very regional,

so Goelitz was traveling
around the country

looking for a new candy idea.

Gustav was the one who was
driven and business minded

and very passionate
about turning it

into something that people
knew across the country.

Adolph, try this.

In America and Europe,

marzipan candies
are very popular.

Marzipan is made from ground
almond paste with sugar

and it's easily molded into
all sorts of shapes and sizes.

But marzipan was very expensive,

so it was limited to the
upper echelon of society.

But in about the 1890s,

a new form of candy

that is very similar to marzipan

called buttercream is invented.

But the difference is
marzipan uses almonds

and almonds are
really expensive.

And with buttercream,
you can cut out

that high cost of almonds

and still get that
moldable quality.

[Narrator] Most
buttercreams come in shapes

of leaves or vegetables,

but Gustav believes what
he's found is exactly

what they've been searching for.

A candy to make them stand out.

[tense music]

This is a guy who's
grown up around candy.

He understands candy
and candy innovation.

And when he sees the candy,

he thinks that maybe this
could be something big.

One of the big
attractions was the fact

that they were something that
was really unique at the time.

Nobody had really seen them,

so it could really put
your company on the map.

[Narrator] While
Adolf isn't as convinced

this candy is their future,

it will one day bring in
annual sales of 36 million

and Americans will consume
over 17,000 tons of it

around a single holiday.

[tense music continues]

One of the most
iconic candies I think

that anybody would agree to this

has to be candy corn.

[Narrator] It's 1897
and Gustav Goelitz

has just returned to Cincinnati

with a new buttercream candy

that he believes will
put them on the map.

When Goelitz comes
across candy corn,

he immediately falls
in love with them.

One of the things that's
interesting about candy corn

and really was novel

was its three different
layers of color.

Not necessarily the
shape, 'cause, again,

it's a straight
up kernel of corn.

At the time, people
were looking for things

that were novel

and I think he was really
attracted to that multicolor.

[tense music continues]

[Narrator] It was invented a
decade earlier

by confectioner George Renninger

but failed to take off.

George Renninger worked for
the Wunderle Candy Company

in Philadelphia, and
while he was there,

he made little pea
pods and turnips

and also little corn kernels.

I mean, look at this guy.

We have the tricolor.

The white, the orange,
and the yellow.

And it's a little bit softer
than a traditional hard candy.

[Narrator] Now Gustav wants

to recreate the
obscure regional treat

and bring it to the masses.

But they soon realize why
they aren't more mainstream,

because they turn out

to be actually very
difficult to manufacture.

So in the beginning,

it was more of this
artisanal product

that candy makers
were making by hand.

Because it had
these three stripes,

the orange, white, and yellow,

that made it one of the
harder candies to manufacture.

[Narrator] It's also
incredibly time consuming,

leaving little room for them
to make any other candy.

They would make these
giant vats of slurry

of this like melted
sugar product.

They would hold the
vats over the molds,

they would pass the vat back
and forth to one another

each time a mold came

and do this for each
of the little stripes.

Once it starts to cool
down, it's too hard to use.

So it's the kind of process

where everything just
has to keep moving

and you have to
finish things quickly.

You have this incredibly
hot, mellocreme slurry

that you have to pour into
these little conical molds

one layer at a time,

starting with the little
white tip on the bottom.

And if you don't
do it just right,

you don't get that
perfect layering.

The Goelitz brothers
finally finish

their first production run.

It's very challenging.

Their team is very tired.

They just spent a lotta money.

[Narrator] In 1898,

the candy that will one
day be a holiday sensation

with 35 million
pounds produced a year

hits shelves across the Midwest
with the name Chicken Feed.

Back then, most
Americans did not eat corn.

Corn wasn't that good.

It was a tough
mouthful, you know,

it hadn't been sort of refined
into a sweet corn kinda way.

Gustav was the one who
came up with Chicken Feed.

This may not sound very
appealing to consumers today,

but it would've actually
made a lot of sense

in the late 19th century

because something like 4% of
all corn produced in America

was actually being
eaten by people

and the majority of it
was going to livestock.

Back then, for most Americans,

corn was what you
fed farm animals.

[Narrator] Featuring a
rooster on the package,

the brothers hope to appeal

to the largely agricultural
Midwestern community.

People fell in love with
it pretty much instantly.

[Narrator] But
while Adolf is content

to be a regional hit,

Gustav is chasing
a bigger dream.

[whistle toots]

At the time,

they were building rail
lines through Chicago,

there's more transportation

that's supporting the rise
of these candy companies.

And Goelitz is right
on the Great Lakes.

So then they wanted to be
sending boatloads, literally,

of candy either out East

or rail cars full
of candy out West

so that they could
become a national brand.

[Narrator] Years before
even Milton Hershey

has a national brand,

Gustav Goelitz hopes
to turn Chicken Feed

into a nationwide favorite.

But scaling up production
is far from simple.

Chicken Feed is
really taking off.

It was bringing in a lot
of money for the company,

but it was still
incredibly arduous having

to move these huge vats

that weighed nearly 50 pounds
over the conveyor belts.

There wasn't air conditioning.

The candy is cooked
to 300 degrees.

That's hot.

Hey, fellas!

Get him some water.

Get him outside.

[tense music]

It was actually
quite dangerous.

[Narrator] The brothers agree

that something has to change.

[tense music continues]

The seasonality of
candy is interesting

because a lot of candy
companies didn't produce

in the summer months.

It was too risky,
it was too hot.

So they would shut
their factories down.

[Narrator] Knowing they'll
need to avoid summer,

they have a small
window to cash in

on their best-selling candy.

The brothers decide
to target Chicken Feed

for one specific holiday,

but not the one you think.

In the late 19th century,

Halloween as we know it today

wasn't really a
thing in America.

[Narrator] It's 1901 and the
Goelitz brothers wanna take

their regional hit candy,
Chicken Feed, national.

But to do so,

they'll need a new approach
to their production cycle.

Once they realize how
difficult and expensive

and time consuming it is
to make these candy corn,

the Goelitz brothers decide

to turn them into
a seasonal candy

where they can sell out
the inventory all at once.

Since they have no choice

but to shorten the
production cycle,

they decide they're gonna make

this the next big holiday candy.

A little known fact
is the Goelitz brothers

actually marketed it

as a Christmas candy.

Americans often
think that Christmas

has always been a big deal.

You know, that we've always
celebrated Christmas,

but it's simply not true.

In the late 1800s,

Americans were not as
festive about Christmas

as we are today.
[bright music]

Over the course of
the mid 19th century,

Christmas really takes
hold in state after state.

And finally, in 1870,

President Ulysses Grant
declares Christmas

a federal holiday.

[Narrator] But
it's still a far cry

from the Christmas
we know today.

Gift giving was
very, very limited.

A child would get an
orange on Christmas Day

or a pair of socks
that mom has knitted.

One of the factors in
spreading these ideas

about how to celebrate certain
holidays is print media.

America is awash in
magazines and newspapers.

And that's how
people are learning

what's being
celebrated in Europe,

like how they
celebrate Christmas.

One tradition,
decorating Christmas trees,

first gained popularity in 1849

when Britain's Queen
Victoria and Prince Albert

publicly decorated their tree.

First catching on with
the British public,

it soon spreads to the U.S.

In 1889, the
White House put up

their first Christmas tree,

all lit up,
beautiful, decorated.

And I think this really
popularized Christmas trees.

Candy makers started
making the stick candies

into candy cane shapes

so people could
decorate their trees.

Confectioners are
making chocolate Santas

and companies even start
encouraging consumers

to exchange candy as gifts.

[tense music]

[Narrator] Hoping to
capitalize on the growing trend,

the Goelitz brothers
market their candy as

the universal
Christmas confection.

They depicted in all
the ads Santa riding

from rooftop to
rooftop on a rooster.

And presumably these candy corn

were going to be its,
well, sort of chicken feed.

When the Goelitz brothers
were just appealing

to their own market,

it was okay to be
associated with Chicken Feed

'cause this was
agricultural country.

But when they set their
sights on a mainstream market,

they have to change the name.

They pretty quickly
realized we're gonna sell

a lot more if we call it
Candy Corn, not Chicken Feed.

And then people can understand

that it's candy meant
to look like corn.

[Narrator] In 1901,
Candy Corn goes national

in time for Christmas.

And while it does well
enough to sustain them,

it doesn't stand out
enough to be a major hit.

There were already
quite a few candies

that were associated
with Christmas.

The Christmas candy market
was deeply oversaturated.

[Narrator] The holiday that
will one day make candy corn

a cultural icon won't take
hold for several more decades,

but when it does, the candy
industry will never be the same.

[tense music]

The earliest precursor
to Halloween is Samhain,

which is this ancient
Celtic festival

that was celebrating the
end of the harvest season.

The Celts would
dress up in costumes

to kind of blend in
among the spirits

that were walking among them.

In the Middle Ages, it
became All Soul's Day.

Poor children would go door
to door asking for a money

or food in exchange for
prayers for dead souls.

Lots of people would
bake little soul cakes

with crosses on them.

That was technically like
the first Halloween treat.

[tense music continues]

[Narrator] In the
late 19th century,

millions of Irish immigrants
fleeing the Potato Famine

helped popularize
the celebration

of Halloween nationally.

As Irish immigrants
were coming into America

in the 1800s,

they brought this early version

of trick-or-treating with them

where people would
go door to door

and threaten their
neighbors with tricks,

basically hoping to get
money or food in exchange.

[Narrator] By the time
Adolph and Gustav's children

take over the family
business in the 1930s,

the European custom evolves
into trick or treating.

[tense music continues]

But kids weren't
really getting candy.

It was mostly baked goods,
coins, nuts, or fruit.

Not really things
kids would be happy

to see in their
jack-o-lantern today.

[Narrator] It's only
after World War II

as the end of sugar rationing
coincides with the Baby Boom

that trick-or-treating really
takes off across the country.

[Michele] In the 1950s,

especially after
suburbs exploded,

trick-or-treating became
a pretty big thing.

The nice thing about
Halloween and candy

is it's non-denominational.

Everybody celebrates Halloween.

[Narrator] Which
creates a problem

for those handing out treats.

Kids begin wandering further
and further away from home,

and so parents become
less comfortable

with people giving homemade
treats to these kids.

Adults who didn't want to
spend the whole day baking

or scrounging up loose change

in preparation for these trick
or treaters to come over.

They're looking for
something convenient

and pre-packaged that
they could just give

to trick or treaters
on Halloween night.

[Narrator] Sensing
the new demand,

the Goelitz company begins
advertising Candy Corn

during the month of October.

During Halloween, candy corn
was really a great solution

because nobody was making
candy corn at home.

So if you got it,

you knew that it
was manufactured.

So imagine you're
a kid in the 1950s,

maybe last year you got
some nuts and dried fruit

in your basket,

and this year you
get candy corn,

it's actual candy.

You would've been thrilled.

And a candy legend was born.

[Narrator] Candy corn quickly
becomes a Halloween staple

and the rest of the
candy world takes notice.

Soon other candy
companies saw an opportunity

to turn Halloween into
a candy-centric holiday

and mass produced
miniature candies,

marketed specifically for
Halloween kind of followed.

[Narrator] Today
Americans purchase

around 600 million pounds
of candy for Halloween,

and roughly 20% of
that is candy corn.

Other people jumped
on the bandwagon.

But we can really thank Goelitz

for making the candy
corn a national favorite

and what we know
the candy industry

to be now around Halloween.

[tense music]

[Narrator] 500 miles away,

the son of the inventor
of MIKE AND IKES

is about to transform Easter
with a revolutionary candy,

which will ultimately
transcend Easter

and redefine holiday
candy altogether.

Bob Born knew that,

in order to really make a
splash in the candy world,

you had to really come up

with something new
and something fun.

So when he saw these,
he was blown away.

[tense music]

[tense music]

[Narrator] It's
the early 1950s

and Bob Born has recently
taken a high-level position

at his father's candy
company, Just Born.

Bob Born has some
pretty big shoes to fill

when he joins the company.

He is really challenged
to kinda grow this company

that has this legacy

of what his father,
Sam Born, had invented.

Sam Born was a candy legend,

first inventing a machine that
inserts sticks in lollipops,

followed by his invention
of MIKE AND IKES,

which will one day become

the best selling non-chocolate
candy in movie theaters.

Bob really wants to
show that he belongs

at the top of the company,
that he's a leader.

And pretty soon, he
has a hit of his own

when he adds cinnamon to
unflavored MIKE AND IKES

and he calls this new
candy HOT TAMALES.

[Narrator] But
it's been three years

since HOT TAMALES debuted.

And with bold candies
like PEZ and Lik-M-Aid

making a recent
splash in America,

Bob knows it's not enough
to rest on their laurels.

He needs something
new, something unique.

[tense music continues]

While he's looking
for innovation,

Bob Born was looking

for complimentary
confectionary companies

that they can acquire
that would add

to the growth of their business.

Barbara, get me the
Rodda Candy Company.

What he saw in the
Rodda Candy Company

was their technology
with jelly beans.

Jelly beans were a pretty
logical choice for him

because the overall
DNA of a jellybean

is really rather the same as
MIKE AND IKES and HOT TAMALES.

[Narrator] Jelly beans
also allowed Just Born

to tap into the now lucrative
holiday candy market.

Jelly beans started
being associated

with Easter as
early as the 1930s.

I mean, they're
the perfect Easter.

They're colorful, you
know, easily displayed.

You can throw 'em anywhere.

[Narrator] In 1953,
Just Born acquires

the Rodda Candy
Company and with it,

their entire product line.

[Secretary] That's
the last of it.

Thank you.

To Bob Born, while exploring

his newly acquired Rodda
Candy Company inventory,

he begins to understand that
there are these other products.

And he sees one that's existing
called the Easter Mallows.

The Easter celebrations
that we know of today

really came out of the
Pennsylvania Dutch community.

And these were immigrants
from areas in Germany

that were Amish and Mennonites.

And while they
led a simple life,

they had a voracious
appetite for candy.

As early as the 1750s,

Amish and Mennonite parents
were leaving out candy

to their children at Easter.

And they were brought
by the Easter hare,

which became the Easter Bunny.

[tense music continues]

By the 1950s, Easter
is all about candy.

It's a candy bonanza.

We have the Easter
baskets to decorate

and we have the Easter hunt.

You have to hide things
for the kids to find.

But they have to be
chocolate eggs, jelly beans,

or chocolate bunnies.

The public was
already familiar

with marshmallow candies,

but they were mostly flat,
molded, boring candies.

This was an exciting
and fun new way

to experience a
marshmallow confection.

[tense music continues]

It was something
new and different.

You have the taste and
you have the texture.

It's melt-in-your-mouth,
fresh-made marshmallow

sprinkled with colored sugar.

[Narrator] Rodda designed
the chick-shaped Easter Mallows

as an homage to Easter eggs,

but they never went beyond
a local artisanal delicacy.

Easter Mallows at
Rodda were made by women

who hand piped them
with pastry bags

and it took 27 hours to make

and hand pipe these beautiful
little Easter chicks.

You had to have
your marshmallow cream

just the right consistency.

You had to have your pastry
bag at just the right angle.

It took a lotta effort to make
a little marshmallow chick.

[Narrator] If Born
can figure out a way

to do what Rodda couldn't

and mass produce the
handmade marshmallow treats,

he could revolutionize
the Easter candy market.

He had been an
engineering major,

so finding difficult
problems to attack

and solve was really
part of his DNA.

[tense music continues]

By the 1950s, parents
organized Easter egg hunts

and chocolate bunnies had
become a big part of Easter.

But nothing like these
colorful marshmallow chicks.

[Narrator] Bob
Born doesn't know it,

but these novel
treats will one day be

the best-selling Easter
candy in the world,

accounting for 22% of all
Easter candies sold in the U.S.

But for now,

he needs to figure out
how to mass produce them.

Bob wanted to
monetize and expand

these hand-piped confections
on a national level.

So he had to come up with a way

that he could take
production from 27 hours

to a lot more profitable
type of time period.

[Narrator] Born
spends months attempting

to refit his factory to
churn out the mallows.

He creates a machine that
can actually make this,

but the machine isn't
functioning well.

It's actually creating these
deformed marshmallow chicks.

Not good.

[tense music continues]

[Narrator] If he's got
any shot at getting them

on shelves in time for Easter,

Bob will have to reimagine one
key factor in their design.

[tense music continues]

[Narrator] It's 1953 and Bob
Born is struggling

to mass produce a
new marshmallow

treat in time for Easter.

If they're gonna market
these to the masses,

they need to come
out looking great.

But each time they came
out of the machine,

they were squished or deformed.

Bob Born couldn't
really figure out a way

to make this 3D
product in the factory,

and that was one of his very
first engineering problems

that he had to solve.

The wings keep
sticking on the line.

[Dann] Originally,
the Easter Mallow

had little wings on it.

And that was the challenge
that was presented

in automating this as
a commercial product.

Why don't we just
clip off the wings?

[tense music]

Bob's eureka moment
was when he figured out,

if I just cut off
these little wings,

it can be piped through
the nozzle at less accuracy

and I can automate
this entire process.

So whereas the Rodda
Company would take 27 hours

to make one tray of their little
marshmallow birds by hand,

they could make 30 individual
chicks in just six minutes.

[Narrator] But
they're still not quite

the icons we know today.

Bob Born very smartly decides

to change the name from
Easter Mallows to PEEPS.

There's some conjecture
that the name PEEPS came

from the two little beady eyes

that were printed on
each marshmallow PEEP.

But PEEPS is certainly a lot
catchier than Easter Mallow.

[Narrator] In
the spring of 1955,

PEEPS hit shelves
across the country.

So prior to the 1950s,
Easter was all about chocolate,

but now there's a fluffy
new alternative. Beautiful.

The PEEPS.

I don't think
Bob Born understood

how big the marshmallow
PEEP was gonna be.

It's incredible how
he mechanized something

that was so hand done

and really kept a little
character to them.

So he really took something
that was difficult to make

and made it better.

They've become just
an icon of the holidays.

[Narrator] Today, PEEPS
come in over 45 flavors

and run the gamut of holidays

from Christmas to
Valentine's Day to Halloween.

Just Born is the
number one manufacturer

of marshmallow candies
in the United States.

And PEEPS have been
the nation's leading

non-chocolate Easter
candy for over 20 years.

The marshmallow PEEP
has really cemented itself

into American pop culture.

There's PEEP-eating contests,

there's PEEP
diorama-building contests.

There's even a PEEP balloon

that is in the Macy's
Thanksgiving Day Parade.

So we have this cultural
experience related to the PEEP

that's above and beyond
just consuming it.

If I'm going to
eat a marshmallow,

I want it soft and spongy and
straight out of the package.

Although apparently
there are some people

who like taking a PEEP
out of the package

and leaving it out so it
gets stale before eating it.

Those people are psychopaths.

My way of eating PEEPS
was to let it sit out

for a little while

so they got a little
crunchy on the outside.

[tense music continues]

[Narrator] Holiday confections

are now a roughly
billion-dollar-a-year industry,

but their impact goes
far beyond the candy.

Once candy became much
more part of our society,

they weaved themselves into
the whole fabric of holidays.

You think of Valentine's
Day, it's chocolate.

You think of Easter,
it's the chocolate bunny.

You think of Christmas,
it's the candy cane.

It has now become
just an integral part

of our holiday celebrations.

These are literally candies

that are targeted and
marketed exclusively

for those holidays and they're
a bonanza in that moment.

They're able to sell enough

because they become so
synonymous with the holiday

that they themselves
or the holiday itself

is seen as empty
or not fulfilling

if those candies aren't
attached to them.

When you look at Halloween,
when you look at Easter,

when you look at
Valentine's Day,

they would not be what they are.

We wouldn't have those holidays

without the brothers
Goelitz, the brothers Chase,

and Bob Born.

These aren't just candies.

It's the smell when
we open the package.

It's the texture when
we bite into them.

And because they're
not there all the time,

it turns into some
of the most special

and meaningful
moments of our lives.

And, without
question, takes things

like the little I love you
hearts, PEEPS, and candy corn

from being
amalgamations of sugar

into foods that
truly built America.

[tense music continues]