Well, it’s almost March and I hope you still have a bag or two of candy hearts left and that you’re beginning to gather a surplus of jelly beans and other candy treats that only come around every Easter. You see, candy isn’t an occasional thing or an impulse purchase or some kind of fuckin’ reward for getting a C+ on your report card, it’s a way of life, a state of mind, a sweet-and-sour sugary religion. So you need to plan ahead and keep your head on a swivel for candy rarities and bulk purchasing opportunities. Whatever you do, eat some candy every day, be a kid for a minute or two, and remember that the sweet things in life don’t happen for the person who outgrows candy.

Here are some facts to help you get the candy conversation started today in your house.

• In 2012, total worldwide candy sales were $118 billion. Hershey and Mars typically compete for the top spot in the United States and Mars, Ferrero, Kraft and Nestle are the biggest candy players internationally.
• The Goo Goo Cluster was the first “combination” candy bar (with multiple ingredients like nuts, nougat, etc.), introduced by the Standard Candy Co. in 1912.
• Milk Duds were invented by Hoffman and Co. of Chicago in 1926. They were trying to make perfectly-round candy, and when that failed, the resulting “Duds” became the thing.
• Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups first arrived in the candy world in 1923. Harry B. Reese worked for Hershey’s and wanted to start his own company. Mr. Hershey said okay and after Reese died in 1963, Hershey bought the company Reese founded.
• Candy only accounts for six percent of the total sugar consumed in the American diet.
• The Mr. Goodbar was/is utterly delicious. It was invented in 1925 when Hershey employee William F. Murrie had the idea of launching a Hershey Bar with peanuts. Hershey was skeptical and the only way he would allow the bar to be sold was if it did NOT include the Hershey name.
• Good and Plenty candies were created by the Quaker City Chocolate and Confectionery Co. in 1893 making them the oldest branded candy in the US. The candy-coated licorice treat was named after a racehorse, Good and Plenty, owned by a Quaker City executive. Good ‘n Fruity were introduced in 1959 (damn tasty).
• Hershey was nothing if not competitive. When the Nestle Crunch bar was introduced in 1937, Hershey launched the Krackle bar in 1938. We all know the Crunch bar is superior.
• In 1908, Brooklyn alone had over 560 shops dedicated to the sale of candy, but as recently as a century before, in the early 1800s, most Americans lived and died without having ever eaten manufactured candy.
• Frank C. Mars had his first candy bar hit when he devised the Milky Way bar in 1923. The Milky Way was touted as “a chocolate malted milk in a bar.”
• Candy was a key ingredient in the ration kits soldiers carried during World War II and by 1943 US soldiers were eating fifty pounds of candy per soldier per year.
• Frank C. Mars had a son, Forrest Mars. By most accounts, he was a pain in the ass, so Mars sent his son to Europe in the early 1900s, where he mostly stole candy ideas. He saw that the Europeans were eating candy-coated chocolate pellets that resisted melting. When Forrest returned to the States he teamed with the son of Hershey employee William Murrie. They invented plain M&Ms in 1941 (get it, Mars & Murrie?). Peanut M&Ms came along in 1954.
• Remember Flicks? They were essentially big chocolate chips packaged in a toilet paper tube and wrapped in colorful foil. Flicks were awful and they were the first thing the Ghirardelli chocolate company was known for.
• Quaker Oats entered the candy business in 1971 when it sponsored the Willy Wonka movie. They introduced three candies, Peanut Butter Oompas (big M&Ms with peanut butter in them), Super Skrunch (a crunchy peanut butter chocolate bar) and Scrumpdiddlyumptious (a chocolate and caramel crisp bar). The only real thing you need to know about Willy Wonka candy today is Nerds.
• It is said that the number of licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop is somewhere between 144 and 3,481.
• Peanut M&Ms originally only came in one color – tan. Legend has it that if you’re eating M&Ms and the last one in the bag is yellow, you should stay home sick from work or school. If the last M&M in a pack is red, make a wish and it will come true.
• You probably never had a real 3 Musketeers bar. It was introduced by Mars in 1923 and originally had three separate pieces, one with chocolate nougat, one with vanilla nougat and one with strawberry nougat. A lot more intriguing than the boring nougat bar we all know.