The Surprising History of Penny Candy: NECCO Wafers, Tootsie Rolls, Corner Stores, & Church Steps

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THE HISTORY OF PENNY CANDY IN AMERICA. Discover how penny candy grew from 19th-century sweets into a childhood ritual shaped by corner stores, five-and-dimes, and iconic treats like Necco Wafers and Tootsie Rolls. If you have ever wondered about the history of penny candy or searched for the origins of your favorite childhood sweets, this episode of Family Tree Food & Stories [https://podcast.familytreefoodstories.com/] takes you right back to your old neighborhood corner store. Here, Nancy May and Sylvia Lovely unwrap the history of American childhood favorites, back when a single penny at the five-and-dime store made you feel like you owned the place. While researching this episode, I was amazed by the historical facts hiding behind the glass jars of the local candy counter. Penny candy was one of the very first product categories marketed directly to children in the 19th century. From the first automated lozenge cutting machines to the retail revolution of F.W. Woolworth, we explore how picking out treats became our very first lesson in budgeting and economics. Whether you grew up trading Mary Janes, peeling candy dots off paper, or chewing on wax lips, I'm taking you on a nostalgic ride through the golden age of American sweets. PENNY CANDY HISTORY AND FACTS YOU WILL LEARN ABOUT: * What was the first penny candy? I break down the historical debate between the invention of NECCO Wafers in Boston and the debut of the Tootsie Roll in Brooklyn. * Where does sugar come from in the US? As a Florida "Gator Girl," I share the surprising fact that Florida sugarcane production accounts for 50% of all the sugar value in the United States. We're pretty sweet! * How early candy evolved from pharmaceutical concoctions: You will hear how early hard candies and lozenges were originally mixed with pharmaceuticals to soothe stomachaches. Think the Fisherman's Friend and Pine Brothers. * Interesting factoids about Woolworth Retail Model: How the F.W. Woolworth five-and-dime stores revolutionized American shopping and made sweets affordable for everyone. * Classic Candy Nostalgia: Nancy and Sylvia share their personal favorites and memories of candy cigarettes, Bit-O-Honey, Bazooka bubblegum, and the legendary jawbreaker - small and extra large! SHARE YOUR CORNER STORE MEMORIES! What was your favorite penny candy growing up? Grab a root beer barrel, hit play on this episode, and drop a comment below to share your corner store memories with us in our Facebook group. ADDITIONAL LINKS SHARED:❤️ * SURVEY: Please Help Us Learn How To Do More For You [https://podcast.familytreefoodstories.com/survey/pull-up-a-chair-listener-survey/] * Book: My Family Tree, Food & Stories Journal [https://www.amazon.com/Family-Tree-Food-Stories-Memorable/dp/1734841613/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2ETT1Z6Q5J84F&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.9aDj51eTPwkVydIsxOUcm0psz2pwwjU2tA9464i0LYelVWMWkmc9-ft1v7W5bmJM1R9TCjrBIraYcmsIZ8wog4X4ogtbNhkG3EBH1R8jPV1zolTi0TmPdaAy0F7Jsp6SvGSwsUzfPqfaj0BfDOr2fZtOmQ4i1na0rqL3HXfBGiuIhKthz4OOetpp0nORqAyyNTZ_RR6xVoXiMRHTaYKNLZtcygneMGYBWpX9B0np3YU.S3u-1CFzDJusx_U7X3_txBApkxautt9G1C3qrLcNeTw&dib_tag=se&keywords=my+family+tree+food+%26+stories&qid=1730918662&sprefix=my+family+tree+food%2Caps%2C135&sr=8-1] Awarded #1 New Release on Amazon * Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/familytreefoodstories/] Story updates 📸 * Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/FamilyTreeFoodStories/] Family Tree Food Stories GROUP👍 * TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@nancymay877]: Family Tree Food Stories * 👇Share Your Story With Nancy & Sylvia! [https://podcast.familytreefoodstories.com/voicemail/]: Leave us a voicemail * You can send us a DM on Facebook. [https://www.facebook.com/FamilyTreeFoodStories] ABOUT YOUR AWARD-WINNING HOSTS: Nancy May [https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancyamay/] and Sylvia Lovely [https://www.linkedin.com/in/sylvialovely/] are the powerhouse team behind Family Tree, Food & Stories [https://familytree,food&stories/], a member of The Food Stories Media Network, which celebrates the rich traditions and connections everyone has around food, friends, and family meals. Nancy, an award-winning business leader, author, and podcaster, and Sylvia, a visionary author, lawyer, and former CEO, combine their expertise to bring captivating stories rooted in history, heritage, and food. Together, they weave stories that blend history, tradition, and the love of food, where generations connect and share intriguing mealtime stories and kitchen foibles. If you missed the first time around... now's your time to listen to Family Tree Food & Stories [https://podcast.familytreefoodstories.com/] and get inspired to make better use of what’s already in your kitchen. Then visit our page to share how you're using your leftovers this year. Waste less. Cook smarter. Tell the story behind your fridge. "Every Meal Has a Story, and Every Story is a Feast." (tm) is a trademark of Family Tree Food & Stories podcast (c) copyright 2026, all US and International Rights Reserved. @familytreefoodstories #PennyCandy #foodpodast #familyhistorypodcast #storytellingpodcast #heritagepodcast #foodhistory #sugar #typesofsugar #candypodcast #candy #candyhistory #newpodcast #foodie #moresugar #woolworths #NECCO #BeerBarrels #LemonHeads #bublegum #kidsfavorites #NostalgicCandy #CornerStore #GeneralStore

A New Seat at The Table and Mythbuster Recipes Tested

GENERATIONAL FOOD STORIES: WHEN YOUR MOM WAS THE WORST COOK IN AMERICA AND YOUR GRANDFATHER TOOK YOU TO FRENCH RESTAURANTS INSTEAD. NEW FOODS, NEW STORIES, NEW HOSTS AT OUR TABLE. Nancy May [https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancyamay/] of Family Tree Food and Stories [https://podcast.familytreefoodstories.com/] welcomes guest co-host Sylvia France [https://www.linkedin.com/in/sylviafrance/], while Sylvia Lovely steps back temporarily to focus full-time on Azor Restaurant and Patio in Lexington, Kentucky. Her mother put her on a diet at age five. Her dad did all the cooking. And yet Sylvia France grew up to be the kind of woman who cooks salmon in a dishwasher, raises kids who willingly eat yak, and shows up to a friend's house with a pedigreed sourdough starter registered in an international registry. (Yes. That's a real thing. His name is Fred.) This is what generational food stories actually look like, not the Currier & Ives version. The real one, with #Jell-O salad in a rectangle pan, mystery marshmallows, and the grandfather who said "order anything you want" at a French restaurant in Sarasota when you were eight years old and it changed her food life forever. OUR TABLE GETS A NEW VOICE Nancy May introduces Sylvia France, native Floridian, #self-taught cook, food history researcher, and new co-host of Family Tree Food & Stories [https://podcast.familytreefoodstories.com/]. Sylvia's family food memories didn't come from a recipe box. They came from survival, from a grandfather with suspenders AND a belt (you've got to just smile at that one), from a trip to India where she politely moved food around a plate rather than offend a host, and from a Thanksgiving tradition she loved more, the night before, stealing uncooked #Pepperidge Farm stuffing straight from the bowl. Meanwhile, Nancy shares her own table: a father who made her walk with books on her head and ordered the cheapest thing on every menu, a St. Lucia trip that included donkey trails, squealing pigs, and being invited into a stranger's home for a meal that she still thinks about decades later. Two women hosts and at different tables. One show. WHAT FOOD ACTUALLY IS: Sylvia puts it plainly: food is the one human experience that uses all five senses at once. It's how she showed love to her three kids, including enforcing the "one bite or you get a plain peanut butter sandwich" rule that turned them into adults who seek out Vietnamese, Indian curry, and golden curry for birthday dinners. Food is how connections are built across cultures, across class, across a table you've never sat at before. And it's why, when you share a sourdough starter with a friend (as she did with Nancy) and Nancy has named her two sourdough offspring Sophia, and the evil twin, Sylvia says, "you feel like you've given them something that matters." Nancy agrees. Fred the sourdough starter has been alive for years. So has the idea that food is how we find each other. WHAT YOU'LL HEAR AND LEARN: * Sylvia's mother, the worst cook in America, and the sweet potato marshmallow dish three-year-old Sylvia named "puppy dog noses," and why that name stuck forever * The grandfather who took his grandkids to high-end French restaurants in Sarasota with zero parents allowed and said "order anything you want" * The dishwasher salmon experiment that made Sylvia the coolest mom in the house (it worked) * Nancy's St. Lucia story: donkey trails, market flies, squealing pigs, and being invited into a stranger's home for a meal that changed how she thinks about food * Fred the sourdough starter: registered in an international sourdough registry, now a grandfather, and the origin of Sophia and her unnamed evil twin LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE Pull up a chair. The table just another place setting. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, or right here at podcast.familytreefoodstories.com. [https://podcast.familytreefoodstories.com/] SHARE YOUR FAMILY FOOD STORIES! What was your non-recipe meal recreated from memory? We'd love to hear your stories. Maybe you have a Mythbusters one too! Share Your Story With Nancy & Sylvia! [https://podcast.familytreefoodstories.com/voicemail/] ADDITIONAL LINKS SHARED:❤️ * SURVEY: Please Help Us Learn How To Do More For You [https://podcast.familytreefoodstories.com/survey/pull-up-a-chair-listener-survey/] * Book: My Family Tree, Food & Stories Journal [https://www.amazon.com/Family-Tree-Food-Stories-Memorable/dp/1734841613/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2ETT1Z6Q5J84F&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.9aDj51eTPwkVydIsxOUcm0psz2pwwjU2tA9464i0LYelVWMWkmc9-ft1v7W5bmJM1R9TCjrBIraYcmsIZ8wog4X4ogtbNhkG3EBH1R8jPV1zolTi0TmPdaAy0F7Jsp6SvGSwsUzfPqfaj0BfDOr2fZtOmQ4i1na0rqL3HXfBGiuIhKthz4OOetpp0nORqAyyNTZ_RR6xVoXiMRHTaYKNLZtcygneMGYBWpX9B0np3YU.S3u-1CFzDJusx_U7X3_txBApkxautt9G1C3qrLcNeTw&dib_tag=se&keywords=my+family+tree+food+%26+stories&qid=1730918662&sprefix=my+family+tree+food%2Caps%2C135&sr=8-1] Awarded #1 New Release on Amazon * Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/familytreefoodstories/] Story updates 📸 * Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/FamilyTreeFoodStories/] Family Tree Food Stories GROUP👍 * TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@nancymay877]: Family Tree Food Stories * 👇Share Your Story With Nancy & Sylvia! [https://podcast.familytreefoodstories.com/voicemail/]: Leave us a voicemail * You can send us a DM on Facebook. [https://www.facebook.com/FamilyTreeFoodStories] ABOUT YOUR AWARD-WINNING HOSTS: Nancy May [https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancyamay/] and Sylvia Lovely [https://www.linkedin.com/in/sylvialovely/] are the powerhouse team behind Family Tree, Food & Stories [https://familytree,food&stories/], a member of The Food Stories Media Network, which celebrates the rich traditions and connections everyone has around food, friends, and family meals. Nancy, an award-winning business leader, author, and podcaster, and Sylvia, a visionary author, lawyer, and former CEO, combine their expertise to bring captivating stories rooted in history, heritage, and food. Together, they weave stories that blend history, tradition, and the love of food, where generations connect and share intriguing mealtime stories and kitchen foibles. If you missed the first time around... now's your time to listen to Family Tree Food & Stories [https://podcast.familytreefoodstories.com/] and get inspired to make better use of what’s already in your kitchen. Then visit our page to share how you're using your leftovers this year. Waste less. Cook smarter. Tell the story behind your fridge. "Every Meal Has a Story, and Every Story is a Feast." (tm) is a trademark of Family Tree Food & Stories podcast (c) copyright 2026, all US and International Rights Reserved. @familytreefoodstories, #DIYcook, #badcooks, #momscooking #Indiafood #indianfood #stlucia #localmarkets #foodwithfriends #mealswithfriends #generationalfood #sdfoodhistory #geneology #familyhistory #placesetting

4 de jun de 202632 min

The Blue Willow China Love Story That Sold 50 Million Plates Was Fake: The Marketing Lie Is Still Working 250 Years Later

THE TRUE HISTORY OF BLUE WILLOW, NORITAKE, AND SPODE CHINA: WHAT YOUR FAMILY'S HEIRLOOM DISHES ARE REALLY WORTH IN 2026 The most recognized china pattern in Western history is built on a fabricated love story, and neuroscientists say your brain is wired to fall for it every time. In Episode 86 of Family Tree Food and Stories [https://podcast.familytreefoodstories.com/], Nancy May and Sylvia Lovely trace the invented legend behind Blue Willow china, the pioneer women who abandoned their Noritake and Spode in the Wyoming dust at a place called Camp Sacrifice, and the brain science that explains why grandma's dishes are physically impossible to throw away. If you have ever held a piece of old china and felt the person who owned it standing next to you, you’re about to lean why. What if the most beloved china pattern in Western history was built on a complete lie? Blue Willow china has been printed on more than 50 million plates across six continents for 250 years. Most people who own it believe they are eating inside an ancient Chinese love story: a forbidden romance, a willow tree, two doves, a bridge escape. The story is painted right there on the dish. Except that the story was invented. By a marketing team. In England. In 1779. In Episode of Family Tree, [https://podcast.familytreefoodstories.com/] https://podcast.familytreefoodstories.com/Food and Stories [https://podcast.familytreefoodstories.com/], Nancy May and Sylvia Lovely sit down at their podcast studio table, and ask the question most families never think to ask: what are these things actually worth, and to whom? There’s a lot in those dishes that most of us even realize. Did you know that there’s real Brain Science Behind Why You Cannot Let Go of Grandma's China? Interestingly enough, grief counselors recommend keeping a physical object belonging to someone you have lost. The reason is neurological, not sentimental. Neuroscientists call the phenomenon an episodic memory cue: a sensory trigger that activates the hippocampus as if the person were actually in the room with you. So, a plate is not just a plate. It is a potential spiritual portal to a real person you love. That is sentimental or nostalgia. That is neuroscience. From Goodwill Shelves to Wyoming Dust: The Sacrifices Nobody Talks About Nearly complete sets of Noritake china are sitting on Goodwill shelves right now for five dollars. Noritake was founded in Nagoya, Japan in 1876. Certain patterns were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. U.S. servicemen carried sets home from military bases around the world to give to their families. And today those sets sit under fluorescent lights next to paperback novels and mismatched coffee mugs, six plates for five dollars. What could you find on a dusty trail in Wyoming? Two hundred years before Goodwill existed, pioneer women crossing the American West faced an older version of the same question. At a stretch of trail outside Laramie, Wyoming, known as Camp Sacrifice, wagon trains grew too heavy for the animals to continue. Our Great-grandmothers had to choose between the livestock that would keep them alive and the china, silver, and pianos that kept them human. Most of the china did not make it to the other side. Those dishes that survived didn’t make it by accident. Someone decided they were worth carrying. Key Takeaways: * The Blue Willow china love story is completely fabricated, and it still works as well in 2006 as it did when first told in 1779 * Black grandmothers in America built china collections as proof of dignity, not decoration. At a time when society did not expect Black families to own beautiful things, generations of Black women assembled heirloom china piece by piece, from churches, from family, from careful saving over decades * The next generation is not indifferent to your heirloom china. They just have not been told the story yet. Research consistently shows that younger generations are more drawn to objects with provenance and personal history than any generation before them, precisely because they grew up in a digital world where almost nothing is tangible. * The reason your family's china feels sacred at Thanksgiving and invisible the rest of the year is a neurological phenomenon, not a coincidence. Ritual use of objects strengthens episodic memory encoding. When grandma's dishes come out once a year at the same holiday, in the same room, with the same people, the hippocampus builds a layered memory file around that object that deepens every single time the ritual repeats * Frank Lloyd Wright designed Noritake china patterns in 1922, and most people who own a piece of that collaboration have no idea they are eating off an architectural masterpiece. The Imperial Hotel commission in Tokyo produced one of the most collectible Noritake patterns: a design by Frank Lloyd Wright himself, made in 1922 specifically for the hotel's dining service. Wright was famously near bankruptcy at the time, and the commission kept him solvent Nancy and Sylvia Are 100 Percent Real (And Why That Matters in 2026) AI-generated podcasts are flooding the platforms right now: synthetic voices, manufactured stories, fabricated histories. Nancy and Sylvia want you to know that Family Tree Food and Stories is none of that. Every story in this episode happened. Every person is real. Every dish has a name behind it. In a world where AI can fake a grandmother's voice and invent a family story in seconds, the most radical thing a podcast can do is tell the truth about a real table. That is what this show does. And why every episode matters. Share Your Story With Us: What is the piece of china in your cabinet that holds someone you love? What got left behind on a trail, carried across an ocean, rescued from a Goodwill shelf, or pulled out of a closet every Thanksgiving? We want to hear it. Every meal has a story, and every story belongs at the table. Send your story to us at Podcast.FamilyTreeFoodStories.com [https://podcast.familytreefoodstories.com/] If someone in your life still has grandma's dishes and has never been asked why they kept them, send them this episode. You may be the one who saves the story. Pull up a chair at podcast.familytreefoodstories.com [https://podcast.familytreefoodstories.com/] and bring your story with you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It takes 20 seconds, and it puts this show in front of one more person who has a grandmother's dish and no one left to tell them what it means. Share this episode with someone who still has the china. You might be the only one who thinks to ask them about it. Additional Links ❤️ * SURVEY: Please Help Us Learn How To Do More For You [https://podcast.familytreefoodstories.com/survey/pull-up-a-chair-listener-survey/] * Book: My Family Tree, Food & Stories Journal [https://www.amazon.com/Family-Tree-Food-Stories-Memorable/dp/1734841613/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2ETT1Z6Q5J84F&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.9aDj51eTPwkVydIsxOUcm0psz2pwwjU2tA9464i0LYelVWMWkmc9-ft1v7W5bmJM1R9TCjrBIraYcmsIZ8wog4X4ogtbNhkG3EBH1R8jPV1zolTi0TmPdaAy0F7Jsp6SvGSwsUzfPqfaj0BfDOr2fZtOmQ4i1na0rqL3HXfBGiuIhKthz4OOetpp0nORqAyyNTZ_RR6xVoXiMRHTaYKNLZtcygneMGYBWpX9B0np3YU.S3u-1CFzDJusx_U7X3_txBApkxautt9G1C3qrLcNeTw&dib_tag=se&keywords=my+family+tree+food+%26+stories&qid=1730918662&sprefix=my+family+tree+food%2Caps%2C135&sr=8-1] Awarded #1 New Release on Amazon * Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/familytreefoodstories/] Story updates 📸 * Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/FamilyTreeFoodStories/] Family Tree Food Stories GROUP👍 * TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@nancymay877]: Family Tree Food Stories * 👇Share Your Story With Nancy & Sylvia! [https://podcast.familytreefoodstories.com/voicemail/]: Leave us a voicemail * You can send us a DM on Facebook. [https://www.facebook.com/FamilyTreeFoodStories] About Your Award-Winning Hosts: Nancy May [https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancyamay/] and Sylvia Lovely [https://www.linkedin.com/in/sylvialovely/] are the powerhouse team behind Family Tree, Food & Stories [https://familytree,food&stories/], a member of The Food Stories Media Network, which celebrates the rich traditions and connections everyone has around food, friends, and family meals. Nancy, an award-winning business leader, author, and podcaster, and Sylvia, a visionary author, lawyer, and former CEO, combine their expertise to bring captivating stories rooted in history, heritage, and food. Together, they weave stories that blend history, tradition, and the love of food, where generations connect and share intriguing mealtime stories and kitchen foibles. If you missed the first time around... now's your time to listen to Family Tree Food & Stories [https://podcast.familytreefoodstories.com/] and get inspired to make better use of what’s already in your kitchen. Then visit our page to share how you're using your leftovers this year. Waste less. Cook smarter. Tell the story behind your fridge. "Every Meal Has a Story, and Every Story is a Feast." (tm) is a trademark of Family Tree Food & Stories podcast (c) copyright 2026, all US and International Rights Reserved. @familytreefoodstories #wellnessmeat #herloomdishes #goodwillfinds #foodpodast #franklloydwright #familyhistorypodcast #storytellingpodcast #heritagepodcast #foodhistory #real podcast #notAI #truestories #neuroscience @foodandmemory #genZwants #vintage #thriftstore #heirloomrevival #griefandobjects #hippocampusmemory #brainsciencepodcast.

14 de may de 202635 min

The Surprising History of Penny Candy: NECCO Wafers, Tootsie Rolls, Corner Stores, & Church Steps

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