Cherry Pop Rocks

Recently I was reviewing some customer submitted old time candy memories when I saw this one about Pop Rocks:

I first tried it with my friend Liz. We were at the supermarket. My health teacher told our class not to eat pop rocks, so we HAD to try them. We went into the store and bought 3 packs each. As we were leaving the store stuffing our faces with our new favorite candy who walks right past us but our health teacher! He gave us a good talking to but to this day I still eat pop rocks candy. ~ Jenn from New Jersey

After reading Jenn’s memory it reminded me that we just got new Cherry Pop Rocks in, which was one of the original flavors.  Ah Pop Rocks, those whimsical, crunchy bits of sugar that magically explode in your mouth.  Not only are they fun to eat, but they also were tied to a  great urban legend that anyone growing up in the late 70′s/early 80′s will surely recall whispering to a friend.  The story went that Mikey of the iconic Life Cereal commercial fame died after ingesting a combination of Coca-Cola and Pop Rocks.  Luckily nothing is further from the truth and Mikey (portrayed by John Gilchrist) is alive and well even today.

Pop Rocks were initially discovered in 1956 by William A. Mitchell who was working as a research scientist at General Foods.  When you put some of the candy in your mouth, it begins to melt and the tiny pockets of CO2 are released creating the popping sound and crackling sensation, very technical I know, but he was a scientist after all!  For reasons unknown, General Foods didn’t officially bring them to market until 1975.  Not long after their introduction the rumors of Mikey’s untimely (and thankfully!) untrue demise began to spread across playgrounds and school yards everywhere like wildfire.  Amazingly, despite a huge PR push involving print media and a campaign reaching out directly to educators nationwide, the rumor mongering was too strong and the product was cut around 1983.

The original flavors were Orange, Cherry and Grape, a classic combination of fruit flavors in candy.  In recent years they’ve only been available as Strawberry, Watermelon and Topical Punch, until now.  For those of you that remember and have been longing for the original Cherry flavor, your day has come!  Pop Rocks just came out with a Limited Edition run of the original Cherry flavor that are in stock and shipping now.  For a real throwback order some Cherry Pop Rocks today, grab a Coke and go silly, it’ll be ok, we promise!