Fun Facts About our Beloved Junkfood Quiz

Answer: Snickers and Lollipop

Snickers was introduced by Mars in 1930 and was named after a horse that the Mars family owned. Lollipop is the one named after a racehorse. The largest producer of lollipops is the Charms Plant in Covington,Tennessee

Answer: Baby Ruth and Butterfinger

The owner of Curtiss Candy Company of Chicago chartered a plane and dropped Baby Ruth bars over Pittsburgh in 1928. It was a very successful stunt and people scurried about picking up the free candy. Sales went up significantly. He continued the stunt and dropped Baby Ruths and Butterfinger bars over cities in 40 states.

Answer: 252

Tootsie Pops are made by wrapping a hot strip of sugar into a cone. The Tootsie Roll mix is then poured into the cone and a machine turns the sugar candy around to form a ball. A stick is then inserted. According to recently reclassified documents from the company, it takes an average of 252 licks to get to the center.

This was really an unknown fact until the cartoon owl in old Tootsie Pop commercials raised the question. Since the company had raised the question themselves, they decided they had better research the matter.

The Tootsie Pops have been changed because in the past the hard outside sugar shell was thicker. But then management realized that people really wanted to get to the center as quickly as possible so they began reducing the outside sugar shell. I like the red ones best---and then the purple.

Answer: False

Kids do love candy but adults eat about two thirds of all candy sold. Americans eat about twenty nine pounds per person a year.

Answer: True

Cotton candy was invented in 1897 by William Morrison and John Wharton both of Nashville, Tennessee, USA who invented the cotton candy machine. They took their new candy to the St. Louis, Missouri 1904 World's Fair and sold 68,655 boxes of the sweet confection for twenty-five cents each.

The British continue to call it candy floss and in other countries it may be known by different names such as spun sugar. The early cotton candy machines were unreliable. It took Gold Medal Products of Cincinnati, Ohio to perfect them. Gold Medal makes most of the cotton candy machines used today in America. Cotton candy is about 80% air and 20% pure sugar.

It only contains about one hundred calories per serving and has less calories than a can of soda. Pink and blue are the most popular colors.

Answer: Los Angeles and San Francisco California, USA

Like chop suey, fortune cookies are American creations. A Los Angeles noodle maker by the name of David Jung began making them in 1916. He was inspired by an old story about the Chinese putting notes inside of cakes during the Mongolian invasion of the 13th century.

It was a good way to send secret messages. It is also reported that they originated at a tea garden in San Francisco. Similar cookies were also created in 19th century Japan, but they used a different recipe and the paper with the fortune was simply folded into the cookie's bend. Remember the old joke about the person who opened a cookie to find the message "Help, I'm a prisoner in a fortune cookie factory!"?

Answer: Jell-O

Jell-O was invented in 1897 and is an American classic There are certainly parts of this world that have never heard of Jell-O but not in the US! Jell-O is 80% sugar out of the box and the original flavors were orange, raspberry, lemon and strawberry. Lime was added in 1930.

Some flavors that didn't go over so well were root beer, mixed vegetable, tomato, red hot cinnamon, Coca-Cola and cotton candy. Cecil B. DeMille used Jell-O in his 1923 movie, the "Ten Commandments" to simulate the effect of the Red Sea being parted.

Answer: Medicinal Candy

Marshmallow was generally reserved for royalty and was used as far back as Egyptian times. The candy was first made with sap from the roots of the marsh mallow tree (Alothea officinalis) which is a member of the mallow family. Okra, hollyhock and the cotton plant are all members of this family.

The sap soothed mucous membranes. The plant can still be found in the wetlands of the eastern US.

Answer: Texans

Neil Fetcher put a stick in a hot dog, coated it with cornmeal batter and deep fried it at the 1942 Texas State Fair. They were an instant hit eventually selling over twenty thousand a day. Now days, everything is deep fried---Snickers Bars, Twinkies but I'll stick with the corn dogs.

By the way, chili con carne was made famous by the Texans too. One would think Mexico, but one would be wrong.

Answer: Super Bowl Sunday

One of the biggest parties of the year is on Super Bowl Sunday and more pizza is eaten during that night than any other. What type crust does America like? Regular thin crust pizza makes up 61% of sales. Thick crust and deep dish follow with 14% and extra thin comes in as well at 14%.