The 2021, and soon-to-be 2022 supply chain shortage is affecting EVERYTHING! 

But now, candy canes?

Weakness in peppermint crops and COVID-caused logistical issues.

This means that you'll probably have to use the old candy canes from last year if you thought to save them.

But then again that's a bad idea. Even when properly stored, candy canes should only for about 12 months at normal room temperature. If you thought of refrigerating them they could last longer, but who does that?

Child decorating Christmas tree in family living room with fireplace
FamVeld, ThinkStock Images
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Peppermint production in the United States has declined nearly 25 percent over the past decade, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

That makes me wonder if people are really consuming them. Though people love the flavor around Christmas I don't see as many hanging from Christmas Trees as I used to.

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“Legend has it that the candy cane dates back to 1670, when the choirmaster at the Cologne Cathedral in Germany handed out sugar sticks among his young singers to keep them quiet during the Living Creche ceremony,” says Carly Schildhaus, public affairs manager for the National Confectioners Association. “In honor of the occasion, he bent the candies into shepherds’ crooks.” (The History Channel).

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But while Susan Benjamin, founder of True Treats Historic Candy, truetreatscandy.com, and author of Sweet as Sin: The Unwrapped Story of How Candy Became America’s Pleasure, agrees the candy cane probably came about in 17th century Europe as pulled sugar, it was somewhere in Germany, where the twist was added.

At their beginning, Candy Canes were only white.

It was back in 1847 in Wooster Ohio, according to Schildhaus, when August Imgard, a German-Swedish immigrant, decorated small blue spruce with paper ornaments and candy canes. (The History Channel).

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Have you noticed that they have gotten shorter?

I remember long thick candy canes when I was a kid. I still see them but not as much as I see the little ones people hand out today.

Since we are being nostalgic, let's look at some toys kids used to play with, way back when.

Christmas Toys That Will Make Your Neighbors Nervous

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