Dietribes: Lollipop Lollipop, oh lolli Lollipop
"¢Â 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.
"¢Â 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.
"¢Â 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.
"¢Â 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?
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"˜Dietribes' appears every other Wednesday. Food photos taken by Johanna Beyenbach You might remember that name from our post about her colorful diet.