The Origin of Candy

2023-03-27

The development history of candy can be traced back to 3000 years ago. The word "Yi" appeared in ancient Chinese books during the Han Dynasty, and Yi candy may be the earliest hard candy.
More than 1000 BC, the ancient Egyptians used honey, dates, and figs to make desserts; During the Tang Dynasty, sugarcane was introduced from India to China for cultivation; From the late 16th century to the mid 18th century, the French proposed crystalline sugar from beets; In the 16th century, Europeans discovered cocoa, and in the 19th century, cocoa was made into chocolate; The candy production process gradually took shape in the late 19th century.
The early candy mainly consisted of granulated sugar and liquid syrup, which were boiled, supplemented with some food additives, and subjected to processing operations such as blending, cooling, and molding to form sweet solid foods with different textures, shapes, colors, flavors, and packaging that were resistant to storage and easy to carry. The organizational structure of candy is amorphous or microcrystalline solid, and the quality requirements for candy include five indicators: small water absorption, strong crystallinity resistance, low sweetness, high fineness, and good shape retention.

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