Who Knew? It's National Candy Month!

By Meghan Clark in Food on Jun 1, 2007 7:00PM

Chicagoist recently learned that June is National Candy Month. While this sounds a lot like a Hallmark-invented celebration, who doesn't want an excuse to eat lots of candy? It turns out Chicago is a major hub in the candy industry. Between Fannie May, Ferrara Pan, M&M Mars, Affy Tapple, Jelly Belly, World's Finest Chocolate and now Frango returning to Chicago, it's almost shocking that the American Dental Association hasn't singled out our city as a hub for terrorist tooth attacks.

But with summer quickly approaching, the thought of celebrating National Candy Month reminds us of our youth, when we would ride our bike over to the Ferrara Pan factory in Forest Park, armed with an empty coffee can. The fine candy dealers at Ferrara would fill the can with lumpy Lemonheads, misshapen Atomic Fireballs and tiny Red Hots-- all the candy that didn't pass quality control. We go home, ask Mom to let our friends come over and make candy salad. Sadly, based on a call to the factory, while they still have a candy store, they have discontinued the practice of selling the castoffs, which makes our craving for lopsided Lemonheads even greater.

Image via ferrarapan.com.