The story of candy begins in India. Between the 6th and 4th centuries BC, the Persians and Greeks learned that the people in India had, what they called, reeds that make honey without bees. These reeds were actually sugarcane, which is indigenous to Southeast Asia. Ancient Indians would boil sugarcane juice, turning it into individual pieces of sugar, which they called “khanda.”

The story of modern hard candy began in a town in Yorkshire, England, when Samuel Parkinson began making butterscotch as a hard candy in 1817. Today hard candies of all types are enjoyed by millions of people around the world.