The candy market is on the rise again, and after a few years, more and more domestic buyers will indulge in some sweet delights. In accordance with consumer trends, novelties have emerged in the fruit gum and licorice markets as well, such as gluten-free or vegetarian gummy candies. Candy production today is thriving globally: the world’s candy market in 2016 exceeded USD 85 billion (Mordor Intelligence), which accounts for more than half of the global USD 180 billion global confectionery market. Demand for candy is expected to continue to grow steadily as the middle class is widening worldwide.

The origin of candies is derived from ancient Egyptians who combined fruits and nuts with honey at least 1,500 years B.C., but ancient Greeks, Romans and Chinese also made various sweets using honey. Around the 4-6 century B.C. with Persian and Greek mediation sugar set off from its native India, and became more widely known in distant lands.

The first modern candies were made in Europe in the 16th century.  Blended with herbs they were primarily sold as digestive tablets. In those times the consumption of inadequately handled, rotten food was frequent, and a strong, herbal candy could help digestion.

Because the price of sugar remained extremely high until the last century, confectionery as a luxury product was the privilege of the richest people. They could indulge themselves with candy canes which were already available in the 1600s. The canes were bent by a conductor in 1970 in Nürnberg to remind the members of the children’s choir of the good shepherd’s symbol: the crosier before Christmas. In the same period in Paris, in the court of the Sun King, the first bonbons were made.

Two hundred years later not only kings and the privileged can chew candies and bonbons. In the 19th century, parallel with the emergence of industrial mass production, candy became more and more widely available and the little sweets particularly became the favorites of the working class.

In Hungary at the time, the growing demand for candy was initially satisfied by the Austrian and Czech confectionery industry. Hungarian candy production was only started after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, with a rudimentary mechanization. Frigyes Stühmer who emigrated from Hamburg established a candy factory in Budapest in 1868, while József Weisz  founded one in Sopron. In addition, handcraft confectioners produced confectionery with rather primitive methods, until Stühmer modernized candy production in 1909. (Chemonet)

Later, iconic brands such as Negro, Francia Drazsé, or Dunakavics were born. The candy market has continued to grow and new product forms have emerged, which have already had great success in other countries and have become major players in the markets such as gummy candy. At present, besides domestic products, there are also imported products with different types of taste, texture and shape.

In addition to the Hungarian-developed brands – Fundy and Flórián – since the early 2000s, the globally popular Haribo gummy candies have been manufactured in Nemesvámos, Hungary too. Since then, the product range has expanded considerably, and in addition to single-layer gummy candies, foamed, double-layered, sugared, sour and coated products are also being produced in Hungary both for the local and export markets, thus contributing to the performance of the Hungarian economy.

According to a recent survey commissioned by the Association of Hungarian Confectionery Manufacturers most types of sweets are typically consumed at home, but the smaller the confectionery, the more likely it is to be eaten at work or on the go. Candies and gummies are primarily the favorites of children and youths, and when adults also get a taste, these types of sweets are consumed in family circles most of the time.

The presentation on the following link provides a brief overview of candy consumption habits: https://bit.ly/2lPUwsY

You can download the illustrations of the Hungarian Museum of Trade and Tourism for the material at the following link: https://bit.ly/2KI79ViT

CAOBISCO, the Association of European Confectionery manufacturers held its Annual General Assembly on 14-15 June 2018. The Association of Hungarian Confectionery Manufacturers (HUNBISCO), with an observer status, was represented by the vice-president and the secretary.

Reports

The General Assembly accepted the reports and the budget.

President

The General Assembly elected Mary Barnard (Mondeléz Intl.) as President of CAOBISCO for two years. Former President Alessandro Cagli (Ferrero) continues his CAOBISCO activities  as Vice-President and supports the new chairman in the next two years.

Moderate membership fee associations

The Hungarian, Spanish and Polish associations have so far paid moderate membership fees in exchange for no voting rights. The Polish and Spanish federations will pay the full membership fee from next year and will receive their voting rights. The position of HUNBISCO continues to be with the moderate membership fee, for us information flow is the key.

Mindful eating framework

The initiatives of the Australian ‘be treatwise’ or the Italian Merendine programs are recommended to the national associations but there is no common CAOBISCO approach in this respect. The Hungarian association has started this work very early through the voluntary commitments of ÉFOSZ, the National Association of Food Industrialists.

Child labour

CAOBISCO and ILO take a stand together against child labour.

Palm oil

CAOBISCO cooperates with the competent EU bodies to reduce palm oil use.

Intensive sweeteners

CAOBISCO initiates a permissive EU regulation for the use of intensive sweeteners in fine bakery products.

Sugar alcohols

CAOBISCO initiates a permissive EU regulation for the most extensive use of sugar alcohols in confectionery products in order to reduce energy consumption.

Taste is much more complicated than most people would think. The taste is just a tiny ingredient in flavour sensation, we can only differentiate between the  5 basic tastes based on chewing: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami. In addition to the taste the perceived aroma is complemented by vision and smell, among other things as well.

In recent years, more research has been carried out to highlight the relationship between vision and taste. In one of these experiments white wine was dyed red and then wine experts were asked to classify the obtained samples. Interestingly the experts used expressions associated with the classification of red wines to describe the wine samples. This also proves that taste is significantly influenced by vision not just in the case of wines but in food as well.

Already in childhood, connections are established in the brain, which is why we associate flavors or feelings with some colors and shapes. The more attractive foods we immediately feel are tastier, while foods that are different in colour, odour or shape to what we are accustomed to, are less preferred.

Another experiment was carried out with students, and lemonade was dyed with blue, red and green food colorants. 100 students were asked which drink tasted the best. The majority chose the blue soft drink because they prefer the flavor of blueberries the most, although each drink was a lemon and lime flavor. They did a similar experiment with vanilla pudding, where ‘chocolate’ pudding was the favourite, which was in fact the same vanilla pudding as the rest with added brown dye.

The latest test was carried out by the well-known Jelly Belly Candy Company’s Jelly Beans with the purpose of finding out how strong the effect of vision is in taste perception. The test participants had to identify the colour and flavour of 5 jelly beans while being blindfolded. Many of the participants particularly liked and knew the jelly beans both in terms of the colour and the flavours, but this did not show up in the results. The majority of participants performed rather poorly in the test, obtaining less than 4 out of 10 points, while there were just a few outstanding performances. Several people  claimed after having seen the tasted candy that the taste could now be easily be identified. This experiment is a very good illustration of the close relationship between vision and taste. /video/

The experiments clearly show how important the role of vision is in the sense of taste. We decide not on our tongue, but in our minds,  how we sense what we eat. Each colour evokes different feelings, complementing the image forming on our taste buds and olfactory cavities.