Candy cane

Candy canes are made from a sugar and corn syrup syrup cooked to the hard-crack stage, then cooled until it can be pulled and handled. Pulling works air into the white candy and makes it opaque, while separate colored strips are laid along the outside and twisted in to form the stripes. The rope is then cut and bent into its hook while still warm.

Besides being hung on trees, candy canes are crushed for baking. Crushed peppermint is sprinkled over brownies, bark and frosted cookies or folded into ice cream, and it softens and gets sticky if it sits in humid air.