Oreo is the Next Bad Idea in a History of Nasty Candy Canes
The biggest news in Christmas this week is the announcement of Oreo flavored candy canes — coming soon.
We’re trying to understand why this is news. We have seen it all over social media, on food websites and even on venues dedicated to Christmas collecting. Why?
Oreo flavored candy canes are just the latest in a long line of really nasty candy cane flavors.
We’ve seen this kind of thing before. Who could forget Pixy Stix candy canes?
Candy canes have long been a Christmas mystery food. The world has been desperate to try to explain candy canes and just what they have to do with Christmas. In those attempts they have wrongfully taught us that candy canes get their J-like shape as a symbol of Jesus’ name. Others say that the curved “hook” of the candy cane is reminiscent of the Shepherd’s crook, as in the shepherds that witnessed Jesus at the Nativity.
Other legends say that candy canes have their Christmas ties to their natural colors — red and white. Red symbolizing the blood of Christ and white symbolizing his purity.
The legend goes that long ago in a land far away peppermint candy was given to rambunctious choir boys to keep them quiet during Christmas church services and this is the reason it became part of the season.
That’s all bunk.
There’s nothing mysterious about candy canes. There’s nothing remotely associated between Christmas and candy canes either.
They came, like the many secular things of Christmas, as a result of a profit driven motive. Bob Spangler — yes, of Spangler candy canes — saw what HE colored red and white as a prime candidate for sales during the holiday season. About 100 years ago this dawned on him and being without competition he set up a candy cane empire.
A century later we’ve come full circle. We’re not longer looking for ways to tie candy canes to Christmas. No, the great American mind has moved on — and has now tried to make any flavor to be sold at Christmas look like a candy cane.
Behold the imagination of the American profiteer:
HW Longfellow
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Though many of the “stories” relating candy canes to Christmas may indeed be false, it does not exclude the beauty of those stories. Let’s not forget that Santa and Rudolph also had their beginnings in commercialism. I get them yearly and hand them out at our church on Christmas Eve service and refer to them as a shepherd’s crook. Though I will also go along with the extreme’s in flavors, I found that many did not care for the taste of peppermint and so include those flavors of chocolate mint, cherry, raspberry and a few that specialize in hard candy like Jolly Rancher and Lifesavers.
Perspective needs to be maintained. The unfortunate world of “gimme-gimme” is never going away until our Lord appears once more. And in the retail world the concept of greed has been and (unfortunately) will remain as well.
I also love the look of candy canes on a tree… Merry Christmas all.