Stock Up on Your Favorites With Classic Candy Boxes

The manufacture of sugar did not begin until the middle ages, but because it was so expensive, only the wealthy could afford candy made from real sugar. The commoners continued to eat honey-based candies until the Spanish Explorers re-discovered cacao, from which chocolate is made, in Mexico in the early sixteenth century.

s production techniques continued to improve, the price of manufacturing sugar fell, and by the early 1800s candy-making was a profitable cottage industry on both sides of the Atlantic. Homemade hard candies like lemon drops and peppermints were sold at general stores and on the street, often for only a penny a piece, hence the term "penny candy."