Sugar Babies are bite-sized, pan-coated, chewy milk caramel sweets in the US which are relatively soft to chew. Tootsie describes them as "slow-cooked, candy-coated milk caramels" sold as movie-theater candy.[1]
History
Sugar Babies are a confection originally developed in 1935 for the James O. Welch Co. by Charles Vaughan (1901-1995), a veteran food chemist who also invented Junior Mints for the James O. Welch Company.[2] Babies were produced in response to the success of the company’s previous Sugar Daddy caramel lollipop, and similar to Highlander Partners’ Milk Duds.[1][3]
The company was purchased by Nabisco in 1963. The Welch family of products changed hands a few more times, going from Nabisco to Warner-Lambert (in 1988) then to Tootsie Roll in 1993. Presently, packages of Sugar Babies name Charms LLC of Covington, TN, a subsidiary of Tootsie Roll, as manufacturer.[4][5] Welch produced them along with the rest of the Sugar Family (Sugar Daddy and Sugar Mama).[6]
See also
References
- Sugar Babies Tootsie, Tootsie Roll Industries, nd, retrieved 2025-06-07^
- Paula Gray. Candy creator spends retirement years sweetening his community The Register, 1984-10-18, retrieved 2023-02-17^
- Andrew Smith. The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink Oxford University Press, March 2007^
- Sugar Babies April 25, 2007, retrieved August 2, 2014^
- Beth Kimmerle. Candy: The Sweet History Collectors Press, Inc, November 2003^
- Sugar Babies True Treats Historic Candy, retrieved 2024-07-09^