10 Candies Popularized During Wartime

War is a divisive subject. There's nothing positive about the loss of millions of lives. However, despite the immense destruction caused throughout history, some of the world's most iconic foods have resulted from wartime. Take candy, for example. M&Ms were literally inspired by a need to create candy for soldiers that could withstand the terrible conditions of war. It's true what Plato said, that "Necessity is the mother of invention." And sadly, there are few conditions that drive food innovation better than wartime, when lives are at stake and everyday ingredients truly become luxuries.

The expansion of America's candy industry is, in fact, largely thanks to war. And many of your favorite confections were likely a result of it as well. From flavorless, nutrient-dense chocolate bars to fruit-flavored sweets considered bad luck, here are 10 candies popularized during wartime.

The candy that "melts in your mouth, not in your hand" was invented in 1941 by Forrest Mars Sr., the son of Frank C. Mars, founder of Mars, Inc. After falling out with his father, Mars Sr. relocated to England in 1932 to make Mars bars for British troops. Four years later, when the Spanish Civil War started, he noticed that volunteers from Britain were eating small chocolate candy rations coated in hard sugar shells. At the time, portable refrigeration technology wasn't as widespread, which meant that perishable foods like chocolate were less available during the summer season and generally had a short shelf life on the go. The coating prevented the chocolate from melting, which inspired Mars Sr. to develop his own version.

Mars Sr. partnered with Bruce Murrie, the son of Hershey president William Murrie, to create M&Ms, the name being an acronym for Mars and Murrie. They were initially made with Hershey's chocolate. Having worked with troops in England during wartime, Mars knew that chocolate and sugar would be in short supply after World War II began in 1939, so he gave Murrie a 20% stake in M&Ms and the two sold them exclusively to the U.S. military. The candy was originally packaged in cardboard tubes that included brown, red, orange, yellow, green, and violet coatings. World War II helped popularize M&Ms among soldiers, and later became popular in America after the war ended.

When tasked with making a chocolate bar for soldiers during wartime, Hershey was given one request, and that was to avoid making it too delicious. The order came from Captain Paul Logan, a U.S. Army Quartermaster who collaborated with the chocolate company to create the bar, which would be used as emergency rations for troops. His goal was to make densely packed chocolate bars that consisted only of essential carbohydrates, protein, fats, and minerals, with little sweetness. Logan was afraid that soldiers would eat too many bars if they were actually good. It took 300 experiments before Hershey and Logan settled on a recipe, which included oat flour, skim milk powder, vanillin, cocoa butter, chocolate liquor, and only a pinch of sugar. 

Captain Logan's strict guidelines didn't end there, because he also requested that the bar weigh under 4 ounces, be heat-resistant, and small enough to fit inside a pocket. The ration was created by Sam Hinkle, Hershey's chief chemist. Unlike the company's commercial bars, it was hand-molded because it was too dense for regular machines and reportedly required a sharp knife to cut. Soldiers were forced to nibble on the bar or soak it in water to soften it first. Ninety thousand bars were made between April and June 1937, though the reception was less than kind. Nevertheless, several soldiers reported that the bar helped save their lives.

U.S. troops endured the flavorless Ration D bar until 1943, when the Army's Procurement Division requested that Hershey create a better alternative, though still not as sweet as a commercial bar. The Tropical Chocolate Bar was similarly heat-resistant, available in 1 and 2-ounce sizes, and came wrapped in tan glassine paper with brown lettering, except for the word "Tropical," which was printed in either blue or red. The ingredients initially included chocolate liquor, skim milk powder, cocoa butter, powdered sugar, vanillin, vitamin B1, and oat flour, but in 1957, the oat flour was removed, and the skim milk powder and cocoa butter were replaced with non-fat milk solids and cocoa powder.

Designed to retain its shape for one full hour at 120 degrees Fahrenheit, the U.S. military produced nearly 380,000,000 2-ounce bars by the end of World War II. To address America's chocolate shortage during the war, chocolate brands printed advertisements in support. One from Whitman's Chocolates, a brand more than 175 years old, depicts a soldier returning home with a box of chocolates, embracing his wife. The Hershey Tropical Chocolate Bar remained in circulation until the 1990s and even traveled on the Apollo 15 shuttle with astronauts in 1971.

Formed in 1901 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Necco is one of America's oldest continuously operating candy manufacturers. Brothers and company founders, Oliver and Silas Chase, patented the first American candy machine, a lozenge cutter that was created by Oliver in 1847. The brothers used the machine to manufacture thin, multi-colored wafers made of sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, gum, colorings, and artificial flavoring. Necco sugar wafers were originally called "Chase lozenges" and came in eight flavors — orange, lemon, lime, clove, chocolate, cinnamon, licorice, and wintergreen — though later expanded to include tropical flavors like coconut, passion fruit, strawberry, banana, and mango, along with rolls featuring just chocolate.

During the Civil War, which lasted from 1861 to 1865, the Subsistence Department supplied Union soldiers with Necco sugar wafers. The war subsequently helped popularize the candy in the U.S. and was pivotal in helping to establish America's modern-day candy industry.

Developed as a heat-resistant alternative to chocolate in 1912 by Clarence Crane, a chocolate manufacturer, Life Savers are one of America's most recognizable candy brands. Crane sold the rights of the candy to Edward John Noble in 1913, who started the Life Savers company. The iconic ring design with a hole in the center resembled life preservers, hence the name. Noble was born in Gouverneur, NY, where a giant statue resembling a package of Life Savers Pep-o-Mints, the original flavor, was constructed in his honor. The classic fruit flavors lemon, lime, orange, pineapple, and cherry would arrive in 1935, a few years before World War II began.

Due to their heat resistance, Life Savers were used as rations during the war, with around 23 million boxes delivered to the military. In an advertisement that appeared in the February 1943 issue of Life Magazine, various flavors of Life Savers are depicted as anthropomorphic versions of military figures marching across the page. The caption reads: "Today our armed forces are ordering more and more LIFE SAVERS hard candy for shipment out to (CENSORED), (CENSORED), and (CENSORED). So ... if you have trouble getting some favorite flavor ... you will know that some soldier, sailor, or marine is enjoying it somewhere, someplace."

Jelly beans are one of the world's most popular candies, and they are way older than you think. Historians are unsure where they originated, but most believe them to be a combination of Turkish delight, a confection from the Middle East, and Jordan almonds, an ancient candy-coated Roman confection. How they made their way to America is also murky, but the most popular story involves the Civil War and a Boston-based candy maker named William Schrafft, who convinced families with relatives in the Union army that jelly beans were the ideal treats.

Some historians, however, push back against that narrative and say that it's more likely that Schrafft would have promoted Necco sugar wafers. That said, there is some evidence that supports the jelly bean tale. Another jelly-style candy called Jelly Babies was being produced in England as early as 1864, the year before America's Civil War ended. So, considering the time frame, there is a slight chance that Schrafft was making jelly beans around that time, though it's hard to say.

In most cases, candy has been a welcome reprieve for soldiers during war. Charms were another type of candy used as rations during wartime. They were initially introduced during World War II as "high-energy food supplements," otherwise known as K-rations, which were lightweight, compact foods for combat. Charms candy subsequently remained a popular ration for soldiers. That is, until the army transitioned to MREs, or "meals, ready to eat," consisting of self-contained, complete meals.

In the '90s, a folklore developed among soldiers who claimed that Charms were cursed, and the flavor of the candy determined your fate. Lemon meant a vehicle breakdown was imminent, lime signaled a torrential downpour, and raspberry even predicted death. The superstition became so pervasive that Charms were removed from MREs completely in 2007.

In the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, which took place in November of 1950 during the Korean War, folklore has it that a division of United States Marines would've perished were it not for Tootsie Roll candy. Trapped inside North Korean territory, where temperatures were -36 degrees Fahrenheit, the marines were surrounded by Chinese forces, which had joined North Korea's advance. They had minimal ammunition, their equipment and vehicles were beginning to freeze, and many were developing frostbite.

The military uses code words as a means of communication without revealing secrets to the enemy. In this case, "Tootsie Rolls" was the code for requesting the deployment of 60-millimeter mortar explosives, which were needed to hold back the enemy. Funny enough, or maybe not so funny for the soldiers trapped there, the U.S. Air Force Operator did not have the correct code sheet on hand, leading him to mistake the request for actual Tootsie Rolls, which subsequently came raining down on the soldiers. In addition to providing nourishment, the candy was used to plug up bullet holes in radiators and fuel tanks.

Military historians, however, say the folklore is not exactly true. Tootsie Rolls did, in fact, help soldiers survive the Chosin Reservoir operation, but it's unlikely that they were air-dropped. The candy was a popular ration during the Korean War, marketed as energy food that didn't melt. As such, the military typically carried a large inventory of them into battle.

KitKat bars were a popular ration for soldiers during World War II, a period in which the packaging was temporarily changed to blue and white due to there being a shortage of milk chocolate. The original wrapper was red and gold. Rowntree's, the major British confectionery company that created KitKat bars, owned it at the time. The company's name was emblazoned on the wrapper in large white lettering, above a simplified KitKat logo and a paragraph that warned that the bar was temporarily being made with plain chocolate due to the unavailability of milk chocolate. 

The signature red and gold wrapper returned in 1947, along with KitKat's original milk chocolate recipe. Today's iconic red and white colorway wouldn't arrive until 1973. Thanks to World War II, the popularity of KitKat skyrocketed, which led to the brand opening facilities in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa, followed by Europe and Japan.

Cadbury, what many consider the Hershey of the United Kingdom, was one of several confectionery companies that produced chocolate bars for British soldiers during World War II. Britain imported a large percentage of its food when the war started, so in 1940, the government instituted rationing to prevent a supply shortage and to promote fair food distribution. In 1941, a ban was placed on the use of fresh milk in chocolate, which was considered a luxury. As a result, Cadbury was forced to halt production of its flagship Dairy Milk chocolate bar and to start producing ration bars according to strict nutritional guidelines imposed by the military.

The typical ration bar consisted of cocoa powder, milk powder, sugar, and sometimes oat flour and vitamins, and was intended to be a great source of energy and calories for soldiers on the front lines. Cadbury's ration bar came in a tan parchment wrapper with the words "Ration Chocolate" in blue lettering, along with a paragraph that emphasized the candy was intended to make the best possible use of the ingredients during wartime. Unlike the ration bars that Hershey produced in America, Britain offered a variety of options, including bars with nuts or raisins.