How Do They Do It?
 Pop Rocks were invented and patented by General Food research chemist William A. Mitchell in 1956. Pop Rocks are made with sugar, lactose, corn syrup and artificial flavoring like most other hard candies, but are processed with carbon dioxide gas at a high pressure level of about six-hundred pounds per square inch. This causes tiny carbon dioxide bubbles to form in the mixture, giving the candy its distinctive fizzling pop.
The candy went on the market in 1975 and though wildly popular, was taken off the shelves in 1983 due to rampant redistribution problems, which saw the product remaining in stores past its prime sale date. Though pop rocks returned under the ownership of Kraft Foods, which re-branded the product as "Action Candy" in 1985, wild rumors had begun to circulate regarding the reasons for the 1983 halt in distribution.
The Great Pop Rocks Bamboozle
Where it started nobody knows, but following the abrupt extinction of Pop Rocks in 1983, popular opinion maintained that the candy had been recalled due to certain instances of Pop Rock and soda mixtures proving fatal. As the rumors went, Pop Rocks contained a potently volatile acid/base ratio that required only the introduction of Coca Cola and stomach acid to literally cause a human being to explode. A further odd turn in an already strange rumor was the claim that John Gilchrist the actor who played "Mikey" in a 1970s era Life Cereal commercial had brazenly challenged the rumor, tried the mixture and promptly combusted. The fact that Gilchrist is, in fact, still alive, has tended to discourage belief in the rumor. Find out just how wrong the stories were and try some Pop Rocks today from Candy.com! |
