Episode 44: The Jolly Rancher Origin Story and the Mold That Flavors Our Food
This week on True Crime Culinary, a drug bust involving cocaine disguised as individually wrapped candy sent me down a surprisingly sweet rabbit hole.
How did hard candy become so intensely fruity? Where did Jolly Ranchers come from? And why does one of the world's most common food ingredients come from... mold?
Join me as we explore the history of sugar, the invention of hard candy, the origins of Jolly Ranchers, the chemistry behind fruit flavor, and the remarkable story of citric acid—from Sicilian lemon groves to modern fermentation tanks. Along the way, we'll discover why citric acid is…
The skinny
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