In the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, Smarties are a type of tablet candy produced by Smarties Candy Company, 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 the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. The candies distributed in Canada are marketed as Rockets, to avoid confusion with Smarties, a chocolate candy produced by

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

which holds the

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...

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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, 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. Edward Dee founded Ce De Candy in Bloomfield, New Jersey, in 1949. In 2011, the company was renamed Smarties Candy Company, after its most famous product. In 2004, Ce De Candy Co., Inc., in conjunction with

Rock The Vote Rock the Vote is a Nonprofit organization, non-profit organization in the United States. Through registering new young voters, the group aims to "channel the energy among young people around racial, economic, and health justice into one of the mo ...

, manufactured 500,000 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 August 2011, the company confirmed that Smarties are vegan. Starting on October 2, 2022, Smarties launched National Smarties Day, hosting a year supply giveaway of candy and launching a TikTok challenge to celebrate Edward Dee’s birthday.

Snorting controversy

In January 2011, a middle school in

Provo, Utah Provo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Utah County, Utah, United States. It is south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front, and lies between the cities of Orem, Utah, Orem to the north and Springville, Utah, Springville to the south ...

, reported that its students had started to crush the Smarties into a fine powder and inhale them, mimicking a form of drug consumption, following a

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trend. Health effects of this trend could be scarring of the

nasal cavity The nasal cavity is a large, air-filled space above and behind the nose in the middle of the face. The nasal septum divides the cavity into two cavities, also known as fossae. Each cavity is the continuation of one of the two nostrils. The nas ...

, irritation, and a possible risk of allergic reaction. A similar trend also observed at the same time at the Portsmouth school was "smoking" the Smarties, taking in the dust orally and blowing it out, resembling cigarette smoke.

Production

The Smarties Candy Company operates two factories, one in Union, New Jersey, and one in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. The factories produce Smarties 24 hours a day, 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. Smarties Candy Company produces over 2 billion Smarties rolls every year.

Ingredients

The ingredients in Smarties candies are

dextrose Glucose is a sugar with the molecular formula , which is often abbreviated as Glc. It is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. It is mainly made by plants and most algae during photosynthesis from water an ...

citric acid Citric acid is an organic compound with the formula . It is a Transparency and translucency, colorless Weak acid, weak organic acid. It occurs naturally in Citrus, citrus fruits. In biochemistry, it is an intermediate in the citric acid cycle, ...

, calcium stearate, natural and artificial flavors, and

colors Color (or colour in Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though color is not an inherent property of matter, color perception is related to an object's light absorpt ...

. There are 25

calories The calorie is a unit of energy that originated from the caloric theory of heat. The large calorie, food calorie, dietary calorie, kilocalorie, or kilogram calorie is defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one liter o ...

and 6.9 grams of sugar in a roll of Smarties.

Flavors

Each package contains an assortment of

pastel A pastel () is an art medium that consists of powdered pigment and a binder (material), binder. It can exist in a variety of forms, including a stick, a square, a pebble, and a pan of color, among other forms. The pigments used in pastels are ...

colors in the following flavors: * White: Orange 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 "Lollies and Giant Lollies". In October 2015, the company launched Smarties 'n Creme, which are quarter-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