It's widely accepted that the white candy cane originated in Wooster, Ohio, in 1847, when a German immigrant named August Imgard decorated a tree with paper ornaments and candy canes. The distinctive red and white stripes didn't show up until the turn of the 20th century, emerging as the most popular color scheme once mass production was possible, according to Schildhaus.
Benjamin noted that legend has it that the stripes served as "a secret code among persecuted Christians in Germany or England in the 17th century," with the stripe representing the blood of Jesus, although she isn't sure of the truthfulness of this claim. She did dismiss the theory that the candy cane's shape references a "J" in honor of Jesus, calling it an urban legend.
Today I Found Out reported that some credit candy maker Bob McCormack with adding the stripe to a candy cane in the 1920s, although it's possible that McCormack merely popularized the stripe rather than inventing it. Per CBS News, McCormack's candy factory in Albany, Georgia cornered the market on candy cane production, and Bob's Candies became the top candy cane maker by volume in the world. McCormack's brother-in-law, a Catholic priest named Gregory Harding Keller, invented the Keller Machine for use in the factory, which increased production from the thousands to the millions and automated the bending process that creates the candy cane's signature hook. Pretty sweet.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qL7Up56eZpOkunB%2Bl25namhfrLW6edaeZJ6ZpGKworrDsmScmZ6awG6t02aaoaqZqMGurdJo