This image is the cover for the book Cincinnati Candy, American Palate

Cincinnati Candy, American Palate

For more than a century, Cincinnati's candy industry satisfied our national sweet tooth. Dive into its specialties and past.


Stick and drop candies appeared here long before their Civil War popularity. Opera creams, rich fondant-filled chocolate candy brought here by Robert Hiner Putman, provided decadence. Candy corn, which the Goelitz Company introduced to the United States before World War I, remains a ubiquitous treat. Marpro Products created and popularized the marshmallow cone candy. Doscher invented the French Chew and made caramel corn a baseball concession at Redland Field decades before Cracker Jack became synonymous with our national pastime. The city's many Greek and Macedonian immigrants influenced the unique Queen City tradition of finishing a Cincinnati-style "threeway" of spaghetti, chili and cheddar with a chocolate mint. Local food etymologist Dann Woellert tells these stories and more in this delectably sweet history.

Dann Woellert

Dann Woellert has been in the product marketing world for more than a decade. The way to his heart is through of Dutch black licorice and Green Tea Kit Kats. He writes the blog Dann Woellert the Food Etymologist, which discusses the origins of local and regional foods. Dann is affiliated with the Cincinnati Preservation Association, the German American Citizens League, the Over-the-Rhine Museum, the Brewery District and several local historical societies. He is a four-time recipient of the Ohioana Award for Literary and Artistic Achievement.

The History Press