Updated September 27, 2021 7.7k votes 1.5k voters 138k views
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Vote up the in-treat-ing stories behind how your favorite Halloween treats got their names.
Halloween and candy go hand-in-hand, literally. People have their go-to treats, indulging in something of the chocolate variety or a fruity delight. (Tootsie Roll lovers, we're not sure what camp you fall into, but we see you, too.)
As trick-or-treaters and candy lovers of all ages sort through piles of goodies, bright wrappers with well-known names foreshadow sugar rushes and aching stomachs. But what about the names on those wrappers? Where did they come from?
Luckily, Reddit has answers. We found out how some of our preferred Halloween sweet treats got their names and were pretty impressed. Now it's your turn. Vote up the most interesting stories the names of your favorite Halloween candies.
Initially intended to be round balls of caramel covered in chocolate, Milk Duds proved difficult to manufacture. When Hoffman and Company of Chicago first tried in 1928, they struggled to create perfectly shaped spheres.
They eventually stopped trying, naming their product Milk Duds for the milk in the chocolate and the caramel - and for the "dud" of their appearance.
Created in 1932, the 3 Musketeers candy bar was originally three smaller pieces. With individual chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry mini-bars, the tripartite goodie adopted the name of the Alexandre Dumas novel, The Three Musketeers.
Sugar rations and the high price of strawberries during the WWII resulted in changes to 3 Musketeers. In 1945, the Mars product became a single, chocolate nougat candy bar.
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were developed after Harry Burnett Reese set up a candy-making shop in his basement.
As a farmer and an employee of Milton S. Hershey, Reese began selling his own chocolate and peanut butter treats in 1928. He even used Hershey chocolate in his recipes.
Reese called his candies Penny Cups, and sold them in bulk. Later they could be purchased individually for one cent. As a result of the peanut butter cup's success, Reese abandoned all of his other products. The name changed, presumably, when the price did.
Candymaker Leo Hirshfield named his pseudo-chocolate candies after his daughter, Clara. Nicknamed "Tootsie," Clara's Austrian-born father had a candy shop in Brooklyn, New York. He first made his hand-rolled chewy candies in 1896 - intent on producing a form of chocolate that didn't melt.
Selling his candies for only one penny and limited in his ability to expand his customer base, Hirshfield joined with fellow confectioners Stern and Staalbert in 1897. Hirshfield opened larger factory in 1905 and delivered Tootsie Rolls via horse and buggy.
The Butterfinger candy bar, created by the Curtis Candy Company in 1926, was named by the winner of a contest to do just that. The bar, with its peanut butter innards and chocolate coating, is said to bear the nickname of Nikola "Butterfingers" Jovanovic, a self-identified klutz.
The phrase "butterfingers" was used as early as the 17th century to describe someone who was clumsy. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was among the favorite words sports observers applied to baseball and cricket players with seemingly slippery fingers.
M&Ms are based on British Smarties - small, coated nibs of chocolate Forrest E. Mars, Sr., witnessed troops eating during the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s. Mars came up with his own version of the candies when he got back to the United States.
Mars joined forces with Bruce Murrie, the son of Hershey Corporations's executive, Bill Murrie. Together, Mars and Murrie to introduce a new product in 1941- with the letter "M" written on the little candies for each of their names.
Because the chocolate pieces were coated in sugar, they didn't melt and, with the onset of WWII, were used as rations for troops. Mostly Mars's idea, Murrie had a 20% stake in M&Ms until Mars bought him out in 1949.
