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• Edible candy on a stick has been around for centuries in many forms, though the “lolly pop” as we now know it was fashioned in the 1920s. Even as far back as the Middle Ages, royalty would sometimes eat boiled sugar with sticks.
• A question that has been around perhaps as long as the candy itself … how many licks does it take to finish a lollipop off? Of course, this postulation was made popular in the 1970s with Tootsie’s unforgettable campaign that continues to amuse and baffle kids (and adults) to this day. There are, however, some scientific studies that have sought to find the answer to this Great Mystery.
• Stick a sock in it! Or … a lollipop? Some British pub owners are helping to control noise pollution after closing by handing out lollipops to costumers to consume on their way home.
• Lollipops are so popular they can even sell for $4.5 Million … well, a painting of them can. Picasso also took a stab at immortalizing the lollipop with a (very strange) 1938 painting, while Salvador Dali did his part by designing the logo for Chupa Chupas, as he was a family friend of the founder, Enric Bernat.
• Lollipops are a popular subject matter for singers and rapper alike – Lil Wayne, The Chordettes (yes this is the song you’re thinking of that will get stuck in your head) and of course … Shirley Temple all have their classic versions regarding the pop Lolly.
• Love Lollipops? Become a Lollipop man or woman. Not as fanciful as it may, the terms actually refer to crossing guards in the UK, a position that has seen a rise in applications lately due to the recession.
• More successful Lollipop lads may be those from the Wizard of Oz’s Lollipop Guild. Guild actor Billy Bletcher voiced the Big Bad Wolf in Three Little Pigs and Spike the Bulldog in Tom & Jerry, while his Guild co-star Pinto Colvig was the voice of Goofy and Pluto.
• Lollipops can also do good. One similarly-named device has been found to help the blind better acquaint themselves with their surroundings. Actual lollipops can also replace the oral fixation of smoking – Kojak sucked on lollipops because the actor who played him, Telly Savalas, was trying to quit cigarettes.
• … They can also do bad. On the flip side, there were once candy-flavored nicotine-packed lollipops that the FDA eventually put a stop to. Lollipops can also occasionally be responsible for nearly putting out your eye (if you’re David Bowie, anyway).
• Finally, to answer another Lollipop conundrum: The “mystery flavor” Dum-Dum Pop is truly random. The mystery pop is a mixture of two flavors (the end of one batch of candy meets the beginning of the next batch). Candy lines are continuous, so when they switch over from one flavor to another, the result is some pops contain both flavors.
• What are some of your favor flavors, Flossers? What are your feelings about the Buttered Popcorn flavor that Dum-Dums got rid of in 2001? Possibly related, what’s the worst flavor you’ve ever tasted?
Hungry for more? Venture into the Dietribes archive.
‘Dietribes’ appears every other Wednesday. Food photos taken by Johanna Beyenbach You might remember that name from our post about her colorful diet.
Comments (20)
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Don’t forget about the world’s largest lollipop! Sort of.
In the 1990s, Kazakhstan moved its capital to Astana, and since then their President has devoted a portion of the country’s GDP exclusively to building up this city. The locals, long-suffering cynics of oppressive rule, have their own names for all these grand monuments. The centerpiece, Baiterek, they call “Chupa Chups”. If you’ve seen it, you’d understand. But nice to see they have a sense of humor about it!
posted by Travis on 9-23-2009 at 1:25 pm
Worst sucker nominee: someone at work passed around a bag of candy from Mexico. I chose a dulce de leche sucker. It tasted more tutti-fruiti (or would that be frutas?) than leche and left my whole mouth feeling numb for a little while and raw for the rest of the day. Not cool.
posted by Admiral Byrd on 9-23-2009 at 1:36 pm
This was a fun article. Well done! I would say my favorite lolly flavor has always been grape. I know it’s not too exciting, but it’s just so darn good!
posted by Ophelia on 9-23-2009 at 1:36 pm
My favorite flavor is Chocolate Tootsie pops, followed by Cream Soda Dum-Dums.
But I lost my train of thought and almost couldn’t comment when I saw the ad for ATOMIC ENERGY BITES! I fell over laughing at it.
posted by Steven on 9-23-2009 at 2:04 pm
Gotta be root beer! What an awesome weird flavour to have in a lollipop! I just got some from A&W, they came with my kids’ meals, but I hid ‘em in my pocket before the kids saw them.. ;-)
posted by Marion on 9-23-2009 at 2:28 pm
My sophomore year of high school I spent several periods counting how many licks it took to het to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop…exactly 2100.
That owl was full of crap!
posted by graham on 9-23-2009 at 2:56 pm
My Faves:
1: See’s Chocolate
2: Chocolate Tootsie
3: Root Beer Dum-Dum
4: Cream Soda Dum-Dum
5: Orange Tootsie
I’m sure I could find others that fit somewhere in that list, but that covers the easy to find ones and the Supreme Ruler of them all.
I’ve never been a big fan of Blow-Pops, though most guys my age were. Fittingly, they got no mention above.
posted by Dave on 9-23-2009 at 3:02 pm
When I decided to quit smoking (cold turkey!) in January 2008, Tootsie Pops were a godsend. I ate so many of those it was ridiculous! It worked, though, as I’ve been smoke-free since. :)
posted by Krie on 9-23-2009 at 3:39 pm
Those big round ball gourmet lollipops that are often sold as a fundraiser for organizations (usually by kids) have a blue one that’s cotton candy flavored ( or some years it’s pink with blue streaks or blue with pink streaks) that is fabulous.
posted by Melissa on 9-23-2009 at 4:13 pm
The grossest lollipops are the Mexican ones with the chili powder dusted on the outside. They’re usually flavors like mango or lime and would be fine if it wasn’t for the chili powder.
posted by Melissa on 9-23-2009 at 4:14 pm
Buttered popcorn was my favorite. At least we still have those in Jelly Bellys, right?
posted by h@apo on 9-23-2009 at 6:00 pm
My favorites ARE the Mystery Flavor pops, just because of the thrill of trying to figure out which two flavors are involved.
posted by SomeMel on 9-23-2009 at 8:44 pm
My mom went through a kick when I was about 4 where she made her own suckers. The root beer flavored one was my favorite, but the Dr. Pepper one was disgusting!
posted by TooFewShoes on 9-23-2009 at 9:31 pm
Gotta love the 70s show The Electric Company and their musical tributes to the Lollipop!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUHETDR4N7A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTPOyeREur0&feature=related
posted by Marty on 9-23-2009 at 11:42 pm
Love the See’s Chocolate ones (and their Butterscotch!)
Don’t forget my favorite “Lollipop” song–Mika had it on his CD a few years ago. “Suckin’ too hard on your lollipop, love’s gonna get you down…”
posted by Allison on 9-23-2009 at 11:51 pm
Crap now I have that dang song stuck in my head AND I want a tootsie pop. Thanks a lot lol
I love all tootsie pop flavors except for chocolate. It seems redundant and doesn’t taste good to boot. Anything cherry, strawberry, or orange flavored is good too
posted by heather on 9-24-2009 at 6:53 am
I just can’t believe all the research on the Tootsie Pop mystery–I thought everyone knew it was 3 licks!
posted by Wayne on 9-24-2009 at 9:29 am
A group of friends and I once systematically tested the Tootsie Roll Pop conundrum. We tested two different lick styles and each ate 6 pops (3 in each style). Too bad I don’t have our data from 14 years ago, but I think one style lick took around 550 – 650 licks.
posted by Ryan on 9-24-2009 at 9:44 am
Nicotine loaded lollipops? Wow. Well, blowpops and tootsiepops were my favorites when I was quitting smoking. They really do help get over the oral fixation. I guess if I had a Nicotine tootsie pop it would have been even better.
I didn’t see it in the comments, but does anybody remember the story about if you had the indian shooting the star on a tootsie pop wrapper you could send it in to get a free one? I used to always be stoked when I had the Indian shooting a star even though I never sent the wrapper in.
posted by Stephen on 10-7-2009 at 4:46 pm
For a modern take on them, try the maple-bacon or absinthe lollipops at http://www.lollyphile.com. BTW I have no financial connection with the company at all; I’m just a satisfied customer, and the guy who started it is a nephew of my ex-wife.
posted by Dan on 10-9-2009 at 7:58 pm