The Bizarre Jolly Rancher Snack You Never Knew Existed

If you have ever tried to answer the phone while eating hard candy, only to find that the candy has glued your teeth together to the point where you are only able to greet your caller with a strangled "ggllmmpphh!!," then we probably know just what kind of candy you were sucking on. It could only have been a Jolly Rancher, a candy so super-sticky it could probably double as an industrial strength glue if you melted it down.

Today, Jolly Rancher is owned by the Hershey company, and many of us are probably most familiar with the brand's fruit-flavored hard candies that come in green apple, watermelon. cherry, grape, and everyone's favorite, the neon-hued blue raspberry. Jolly Rancher has also branched out into offering products such as gummies, jelly beans, lollipops, Twizzlers, candy canes, and even lemonade, yet most of these items retain those same familiar fruit flavors. In its earlier, pre-Hershey days, though, Jolly Rancher once offered a candy that may have been a bit more extreme in the taste department.

The Jolly Rancher company started out making ice cream in Golden, Colorado in 1949 (via Golden History), but soon began offering candies, as well. One of their most popular items was a stick of cinnamon-flavored taffy that cost a nickel. Over time, that taffy stick, while retaining its cinnamon-y flavor, apparently morphed into ... well, that same translucent super-sticky stuff that Jolly Ranchers are made from today. The candies were also re-branded in latter years as Fire Stix.

While Jolly Rancher Cinnamon Fire candies are still available today, their "Stix" form appears to have faded into obscurity. Or rather, notoriety, at least according to food blog So Yummy. They seem to be under the impression that the cinnamon flavor, as it existed in the '80s, was so fiery hot that the candy was actually painful to eat. If that was ever the case, Jolly Rancher must have toned down the heat of their Fire candies in more recent years, as the current reviews on their website, as well as on the Amazon product page, indicate that the spice level is far from incendiary.  There was evidently another hazard with Fire Stix, though. Jolly Ranchers in thin slab form will, when licked for a sufficient amount of time, become so thin and sharp that they form razor-like edges. This meant that even if the Fire Stix heat didn't get you, you still ran the risk of slicing open your tongue.