UNION COUNTY, Pa. — It's an iconic staple and treat during Christmas time. Colors of red, green, and white—all twisted together with a cool peppermint taste. That also makes the perfect stocking stuffer or gift as well.
"We started making them about a week or two before Thanksgiving we like to have them all ready so when people are traveling for the holidays they can pick them out and bring them to wherever they're heading," said John Burfeindt Purity Candy owner.
But the sweet, minty treat is not so easy to make. It requires a lot of skill and patience to make the Christmas treat. The holiday season is one of the busiest times of the year for candy makers at Purity Candy in Allenwood.
"I have no idea how much we get out of every batch because we do so many different things with it, we do some lollipops in the beginning," said Burfeindt.
The smell of peppermint tickles your nose when you walk into Purity Candy's kitchen as staff make candy canes by hand. A tradition that goes back more than 100 years.
"We cook up our sugar and water to 320 degrees, pour it on a greased marble, as it cools I color the different stripes for—every flavor has a different base color and stripe color and then I pull anything that needs to be white over a taffy hook and it turns white before your eyes," said Burfeindt.
From there, candy makers work in front of a batch warmer and shape it into a cane. It takes about half an hour to make the candy canes.
For those wondering if workers ever get sick of the strong smell of mint, "We don't even smell it anymore. People come in all the time and go, oh, it smells so great, or even if we haven't made anything in a week it still has that smell," said Burfeindt.
Owner John Burfeindt says the sweet, sugary treat doesn't stay on the shelves for long. Customers have the tough decision of choosing from over a dozen of candy cane flavors.