Pop Rocks!

Hey everyone,
Well it looks like we won't be having a white Christmas this year which hasn't happened in a couple of years. Pop Rocks were the top seller today at Glacier Candy...Yummy!!! Pop Rocks is a carbonated candy with ingredients including sugar, lactose, corn syrup, and flavoring. It differs from typical hard candy in that it creates a fizzy reaction when it is placed in the mouth. The idea of the product was patented by General Foods research chemist William A. Mitchell in 1956. The Pop Rocks candy was first offered to the public in 1975. Around 1983, General Foods stopped selling the candy. Some incorrectly believed that this was because of an urban legend that mixing Pop Rocks with carbonated soda could result in a person's stomach exploding. In fact the candy was withdrawn for reasons largely owing to its lack of success in the marketplace and to its relatively short shelf life. Distribution was initially controlled to ensure freshness, but with its increasing popularity unauthorized redistribution from market to market resulted in out-of-date product reaching consumers. In 1985, Kraft Foods bought the rights to the candy product and remarketed it as Action Candy through a company called Carbonated Candy. Since 1979, Zeta Espacial S.A., a company based in the municipality of Rubí in Barcelona, Spain, has manufactured, sold, and exported the product under the brand name "Fizz Wiz". In 2006, Dr. Marvin Rudolph, who led the group assigned to bring Pop Rocks out of the laboratory and into the manufacturing plant, wrote a history of Pop Rocks development. The book, titled Pop Rocks: The Inside Story of America's Revolutionary Candy, was based on interviews with food technologists, engineers, marketing managers, and members of Bill Mitchell's family, along with the author's experience. The candy is made by mixing its ingredients and heating them until they melt, then exposing the mixture to pressurized carbon dioxide gas (about 600 pounds per square inch) and allowing it to cool. The process causes tiny high pressure bubbles to be trapped inside the candy. When placed in the mouth, coming into contact with saliva the candy breaks and dissolves, releasing the carbon dioxide from the tiny atmosphere bubbles, resulting in a popping and sizzling sound and leaving a slight tingling sensation. The bubbles in the candy pieces can be viewed when aided by a microscope.