In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, Smarties are a type of tablet candy produced by

Smarties Candy Company Smarties Candy Company (formerly Ce De Candy, Inc.) is a confectionery company well known for its namesake candy, Smarties. Edward "Eddie" Dee founded Ce De Candy in Bloomfield, New Jersey, in 1949. Dee emigrated from England to the United States. ...

, formerly known as Ce De Candy Inc., since 1949. Smarties are produced in factories in both Union Township, New Jersey, and Newmarket,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. The candies distributed in Canada are marketed as Rockets, to avoid confusion with

Smarties Smarties are colour-varied sugar-coated chocolate confectionery. They have been manufactured since 1937, originally by H.I. Rowntree & Company in the United Kingdom, and now by Nestlé. Smarties are oblate spheroids with a minor axis of about ...

, a chocolate candy produced by

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since ...

which owns the

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from othe ...

in Canada. The New Jersey factory produces approximately 1 billion rolls of Smarties annually, and in total the company produces over 2.5 billion in a year. One individual candy is a biconcave disc in shape, with a diameter of roughly 1 cm (0.39 in) and a height of roughly 4 mm (0.16 in). Larger ones have a diameter of 2.5 cm (0.98 in) and are about 6 mm (0.24 in) thick. Smarties come in combinations of colors within their wrapped rolls; these include white and pastel shades of yellow, pink, orange, purple, and green. Each color's flavor is different. They are usually packaged as a roll of 15 candies. Smarties candies are peanut-free, gluten-free, fat-free and dairy-free. All Smarties candies are free of animal products and therefore vegan.

History

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the Dee family bought pellet machines and repurposed them to make candy. This gave the candy its resemblance to tablet-style pills in shape and texture. When sugar prices spiked in the 1970s, Ce De Candy switched from sucrose to dextrose. In 2004, Ce De Candy Co., Inc., in conjunction with

Rock The Vote Rock the Vote is a non-profit progressive-aligned organization in the United States whose stated mission is "to engage and build the political power of young Americans." The organization was founded in 1990 by Virgin Records America Co-Chairman ...

, manufactured 50 special edition Smarties with "Rock the Vote" on the wrapper. A 3.5-ounce Theater box was released in 2009, with a retro look on the boxes. In 2011, Ce De Candy Company, Inc. changed its name to Smarties Candy Company. In August 2011, the company confirmed that Smarties were vegan.

Production

The Smarties Candy Company operates two factories that produce Smarties 24 hours a day for five days a week, amounting to over 70,000 pounds (around 32,000 kilograms) per day. After mixing the dry ingredients they are pressed into tablets and then stacked and rolled into a Smarties wrapper for packaging.

Ingredients

The ingredients in Smarties candies are dextrose,

citric acid Citric acid is an organic compound with the chemical formula HOC(CO2H)(CH2CO2H)2. It is a colorless weak organic acid. It occurs naturally in citrus fruits. In biochemistry, it is an intermediate in the citric acid cycle, which occurs in ...

calcium stearate Calcium stearate is a carboxylate salt of calcium, classified as a calcium soap. The salt is a component of some lubricants, surfactants, as well as many foodstuffs. It is a white waxy powder. Production and occurrence Calcium stearate is pro ...

, natural and artificial flavors, and

colors Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associa ...

. There are 25

calories The calorie is a unit of energy. For historical reasons, two main definitions of "calorie" are in wide use. The large calorie, food calorie, or kilogram calorie was originally defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of o ...

and 6.9 grams of sugar in a roll of Smarties.

Flavors

Each package contains an assortment of pastel colors in the following flavors: * White: cream * Yellow: pineapple * Pink: cherry * Green: strawberry * Purple: grape * Orange: orange Smarties Candy Company also produces "X-treme sour" and "tropical" varieties of Smarties as well as lollipops in three sizes. In October 2015, the company launched Smarties 'n Creme, which are

quarter A quarter is one-fourth, , 25% or 0.25. Quarter or quarters may refer to: Places * Quarter (urban subdivision), a section or area, usually of a town Placenames * Quarter, South Lanarkshire, a settlement in Scotland * Le Quartier, a settlement ...

-sized candy tablets with Smarties flavor on one side and creme flavor on the other.

References

External links

{{Commons category, Smarties (Ce De Candy)
Smarties website
Brand name confectionery Products introduced in 1949 Candy