Don’t be scared! Be sure to stock up on Made in USA candy this Halloween.
When trick-or-treaters across the country dress up in costume and go door to door looking for candy this Halloween, there’s a good chance their bags will be filled with at least a handful of Tootsie Rolls.
For the past 128 years, Tootsie Rolls have been a favorite with American children and are still in production at a 3.2 million square foot factory on the South Side of Chicago. Widely available in grocery and drug stores nationwide, it’ll be easy to stock up on the gooey, toffee-like treats in case the ghosts and goblins show up at your door this weekend.
Chicago manufacturing plant Tootsie Roll Industries produces more than 65 million traditional American candies per day.
Yes, that’s right – 65 million Tootsie Rolls per day!
Tootsie Roll Industries employs approximately 2,300 people worldwide. The company’s American employees are represented by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco, and Grain Millworkers International Union (BCTGM) Local 1 in Chicago.
In 2024, other candies such as M&M’s, Hershey’s Chocolates, and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups may become more popular, but Tootsie Rolls will still be a large part of the $3.5 billion annual Halloween candy business. occupies .
The Tootsie Roll was invented by Leo Hirshfield in 1896 and sold for a penny. Hirshfield named the candy after her 5-year-old daughter, Clara, who she often called “Tootsie.”
The bite-sized, chocolate-flavored candies were handcrafted and sold in a small candy shop in Hirshfield until 1905, when the company moved to a four-story factory in Manhattan.
Tootsie Roll production moved to a factory in New Jersey in 1938, before settling at its current home in Chicago in 1968. Tootsie Roll Industries is clearly an American company, but it has manufacturing facilities in Mexico and Spain to supply global markets.
With food allergens on the rise these days, Tootsie Roll’s simple ingredients create a candy that is gluten-free and completely free of peanuts and tree nuts.
Tootsie rolls are made from a mixture of cocoa, sugar, milk, and corn syrup. Mix and heat the ingredients in a large tube oven and leave to cool on a sheet pan. Once cooled, the mixture is passed through several extruders and rollers until it reaches the final candy size. It is then cut, packaged, and prepared for shipping.
It takes a lot of corn syrup to make Tootsie Rolls that toffee-like chocolate-flavored candy, so 22,000 gallons of liquid sweetener arrive at the factory by train every day.
Tootsie Rolls have been a staple of American soldiers throughout history, and were included in GI rations during World War II to quickly replenish soldiers with energy.
Tootsie Rolls were Frank Sinatra’s favorite candy, and the famous singer is said to have requested it backstage before concerts. Legend has it that Sinatra was buried with a handful of chewy treats and a bottle of Jack Daniel’s.
The Chicago manufacturing facility also produces the popular Tootsie Pop sucker, which was invented in 1931. The question still lingers: “How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?”
Since 1970, the company has received more than 20,000 letters from children around the world who believe they have solved the mystery of how many licks it takes to reach the delicious center. Children’s estimates range from a low of 100 licks to a high of 5,800 licks, with most ranging from 600 to 800 licks.
Every child who sends in a letter about Tootsie Pops will receive a certificate called the “Clean Stick Award,” but the final answer to the “lick” question may never be known.
Tootsie Rolls are sold individually wrapped in bags of various sizes, and although their original penny price is no longer maintained, this melty candy remains one of the most affordable treats on the market. It’s one.
Here are some other American candy companies whose products are easy to find before Halloween.
Butterfinger and Baby Ruth: A perennial staple of Halloween treats, both candies are manufactured at the Ferrara Candy Company’s factory in Franklin Park, Illinois. Candy bars were first made over 100 years ago, and Baby Ruth replaced oil-roasted peanuts with dry-roasted peanuts from the U.S. in 2019. The preservative TBHQ was also removed.
M&M: These little chocolate-covered chocolates appeared on the market in 1941 and are manufactured in factories in Cleveland, Tennessee, and Hackettstown, New Jersey. Convenient mini packs are perfect for trick-or-treating.
Hershey bar: Everyone knows about Hershey, Pennsylvania, but this giant candy manufacturer, like many major companies, makes chocolate all over the world. The Hershey Bar is the 130-year-old company’s flagship chocolate and has been called the “Great American Candy Bar.” Hershey also makes the popular Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and makes Nestle’s Kit Kat bars for American consumers.
Almond Joy/Mounds: These two classic American candy bars debuted in Connecticut in 1946 and are now manufactured by the Hershey Company at its Robinson, Illinois, factory.
dum dum: The colorful lollipops were first manufactured in 1924 at the Akron Candy Company in Bellevue, Ohio. Spangler Candy acquired the brand in 1953 and manufactures 12 million Dum Dums every day in Bryan, Ohio, which calls itself the “Lollipop Capital of the World.”
