Chick-O-Stick is a candy produced by the

Atkinson Candy Company The Atkinson Candy Company is a candy company based in Lufkin, Texas, best known for producing the Chick-O-Stick. History Atkinson Candy Company is a private company founded in 1932 by B.E. Atkinson, Sr., and his wife, Mabel C. Atkinson. It st ...

Food Finds: America's Best Local Foods and the People Who Produce Them - Allison Engel, Margaret Engel
pp. 81-82. that has been manufactured since the 1950s. It is made primarily from

peanut butter Peanut butter is a food paste or spread made from ground, dry-roasted peanuts. It commonly contains additional ingredients that modify the taste or texture, such as salt, sweeteners, or emulsifiers. Peanut butter is consumed in many countri ...

cane sugar Sucrose, a disaccharide, is a sugar composed of glucose and fructose subunits. It is produced naturally in plants and is the main constituent of white sugar. It has the molecular formula . For human consumption, sucrose is extracted and ref ...

corn syrup Corn syrup is a food syrup which is made from the starch of corn (called maize in many countries) and contains varying amounts of sugars: glucose, maltose and higher oligosaccharides, depending on the grade. Corn syrup is used in foods to soft ...

, toasted

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the f ...

, natural

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus '' Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the Mexican species, flat-leaved vanilla ('' V. planifolia''). Pollination is required to make the plants produce the fruit from whic ...

flavor, and

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...

with no hydrogenated oils or artificial preservatives added. There is also a sugar-free version of the candy which uses

Splenda Splenda is a global brand of sugar substitutes and reduced-calorie food products. While the company is known for its original formulation containing sucralose, it also manufactures items using natural sweeteners such as stevia, Siraitia grosveno ...

as a sweetener. Chick-O-Stick is currently produced as a naturally-colored stick of varying length and thickness, dusted with ground coconut. The interior of the stick is honeycombed with peanut butter and a hardened syrup/sugar mixture that also forms the shell. When eaten fresh, the candy is dry and brittle, but it has a tendency to absorb moisture and become hard and chewy if left in the open air for an extended period. Formerly the color of Chick-O-Stick candy was a rather bright-orange color produced by artificial red and blue coloring ingredients, however, in 2019, Atkinson announced that the Chick-O-Stick recipe would be simplified to utilize vegetable juice and turmeric root for the new, natural light-brown color of the candy, and to replace artificial preservatives and hydrogenated oils with healthier alternatives. Chick-O-Stick is available in , , , and sizes, as well as bags of individually wrapped bite-sized pieces. Chick-O-Sticks are

Kosher (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...

gluten Gluten is a structural protein naturally found in certain cereal grains. Although "gluten" often only refers to wheat proteins, in medical literature it refers to the combination of prolamin and glutelin proteins naturally occurring in all grai ...

-free, and "

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. ...

friendly"Accidentally Vegan Food List - PETA
/ref> and are one of the few full-size products that Atkinson Candy Company makes. Most other products made by this company come only in individually-wrapped bite size or Halloween size portions.

Packaging and name

Chick-O-Stick's original wrapper design featured a stylized cartoon of a chicken wearing a cowboy hat and a badge in the shape of the Atkinson logo. The chicken is absent from the more recent wrapper; some commentators have indicated that it contributed to confusion over whether the Chick-O-Stick was candy or a chicken-flavored cracker. The Atkinson Candy Company's website states that one of their sales representatives just "came up with the name one day, and well, it just stuck." The company had once written in correspondence that they felt the Chick-O-Stick "resembled fried chicken" and that contributed to the name.

References

{{cite book , last1=Kimmerle , first1=Beth , title=Candy: The Sweet History , publisher=Collectors Press, Incorporated , year=2003 , pages=78–79 , isbn=1888054832

External links

Chick-O-Stick listing at the Atkinson Candy Co.'s website
Candy bars Peanut butter confectionery