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BY RHICK LARS VLADIMER ALBAY
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IF YOU HAVE family or relatives working abroad, it is a guarantee that you’ll be knee-deep in pasalubong and balikbayan chocolate and candy by the time Christmas rolls around.
From Snickers and Mars bars to large tubs of assorted bonbons and truffles (though my personal favorite is still the cheap – compared to the other brands – Nestlé Crunch), being spoiled for choice can very easily lead you to your point of sweet saturation. So today, why don’t we take a quick nosedive into a brief history of our favorite guilty pleasures?
The English word “candy” derives from Arabic “qandi,” meaning something made with sugar. While chocolate has its Aztec origins in xocolātl, a Nahuatl word meaning “bitter water,” because of the intense bitter taste of cacao tree seeds before these are roasted and fermented.
Historians generally believe that the consumption of sweat treats can be traced back to the time of cave men who harvested honey from beehives. The Egyptians, Chinese, Indians, the people of Middle East, and the Greeks and Romans all had dishes in their cultures that combined fruits and nuts with honey to make candy.
Sugar processing and production was discovered as civilization began to develop. It became a highly traded commodity in the Middle Ages, but its price was relatively high, limiting the consumption of the product to only the elite and upper-class. In the seventeenth century, as sugar became a little more available, people in England and in America experimented with boiled sugar candies mixed with fruit and nuts. By the mid-1800s over 380 factories were built in the United States to manufacture candy.
Meanwhile, it was the Ancient Olmec civilizations of Mexico that made the first chocolate drink. By the 16th Century, the Spaniards introduced Europe to chocolate. Cocoa powder was made in 1828 but chocolate was not mass produced until the middle of the nineteenth century when it was introduced into the candy industry.
In the beginning the chocolate was made of a bittersweet chocolate. The first candy bar for the mass market was created by Joseph Fry in 1847. It was Richard Cadbury who introduced the first Valentine’s Day box of candy and chocolates in 1868. The first milk chocolate bar was created in 1876 by David Peter and Henry Nestle from Switzerland
In 2013, the Confectionery market was estimated to be worth $ 171 billion, with Sugar Confectionery products accounting for 39 percent of consumption and Chocolate leading at around 61 percent. The confectionery industry is viewed as being resistant to recession. The total annual sales in the United States are well above $30 billion, rising about three percent each year. Consumers spend on average $93 per person each year for these treats.
The Top 5 confectionery companies worldwide are (1) Kraft Foods, with $19.96 billion in annual net sales, (2) Mars Inc., with $16.20 billion, (3) Nestlé, with $12.80 billion, (4) the Ferrero Group with $9.61 billion, and (5) Hershey Foods Corp., with $6.11 b illion.
Here in the Philippines, the confectionery market is led by Universal Robina in 2014 with a 39 percent share of the market, maintaining its lead from the previous years. The company’s strength lies in its wide brand diversity and name recognition. For instance, it’s subsidiary company, Jack ‘n’ Jill brand, is present in boiled sweets, lollipops, mints, other sugar confectionery plus toffees, caramels and nougat.
Meanwhile, its Maxx brand continues to dominate medicated confectionery with its competitive price positioning and extensive distribution, which even includes street vendors.
Have a sweet and merry Christmas! (maverhick.blogspot.com)/PN
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