Food

National Lollipop Day 2023: Date, History, Facts, Activities

National Lollipop Day on July 20 is without a doubt a day that children of all ages can celebrate. Grandparents, we’re staring at you: relive some childhood memories! People in the Midwest refer to lollipops as suckers, but they are also known as lolly or sticky pop. They are primarily fruit-flavored and come in a variety of flavours for licking or nibbling. Sticks of hardened sucrose, water, and maize syrup are used to create lollipops.

The background of National Lollipop Day

Lollipops have existed in some form since the beginning of time. Cavemen would use a stick to obtain honey from beehives in prehistoric times. The delicious nectar was licked off the stick, creating (at least in theory) the first lollipops. Ancient Chinese, Egyptians, and Arabs ‘candied’ fruit and nuts by glazing them with honey and inserting sticks for simpler consumption.

Due to a sugar surplus in the 17th century, the English began making boiled sugar confectionery and, of course, they inserted sticks into the treats as well. In Northern England, ‘lolly’ means ‘tongue’ and ‘pop’ means’strike’; therefore, ‘lolly pop’ means ‘tongue slap.’ The term was likely popularised by London street vendors.

In the 18th century, there seems to have been a near-constant demand for refined variants of the modern lollipop. In 1905, the McAviney Candy Company manufactured boiled hard chocolates in which the mixture was stirred with a stick. By the end of the day, the proprietor would carry home candy-coated sticks for his children to enjoy. In 1908, he began marketing these ‘candy rods.’ George Smith, proprietor of the confectionery company Bradley Smith Company, is credited with inventing the modern lollipop we all appreciate today. He began producing them in 1908 and registered the term “lollipop” as a trademark in 1931. To appeal to children, lollipops were also referred to as “dum dum suckers.”

The first automated production of lollipops began in Wisconsin, United States, in 1908. The Racine Confectioners Machinery Company created a machine that affixed 2,400 sticks per hour of hard candy to sticks. Samuel Born, a Russian immigrant, devised a machine that performed the same function in 1916. His invention was dubbed the “Born Sucker Machine” and was so well-received that San Francisco awarded him the “key to the city” that year. There are over one hundred different types of lollipops available in all shapes and sizes today.

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NATIONAL LOLLIPOP DAY ACTIVITIES

Get yourself a soda.

Today, purchase one or two lollipops for yourself. You’ll feel like a child with a candy in your mouth, and the delicious flavour will make you grin.

Share a few sodas.

What is superior to having a lollipop to oneself? Sharing candy with companions! Buy a bag of lollipops to share with your companions throughout the day; if you’re feeling particularly generous, you can even share them with strangers!

Do some science

Count the number of bites required to reach the centre of a Tootsie Pop in order to perform some scientific analysis. This project has been the subject of research at Purdue University, the University of Michigan, and Swarthmore Junior High School, with each institution reaching a distinct conclusion. The true answer may never be known to the world.