History of Three Famous Ferrara Pan Candies – Atomic Fireballs, Jawbusters, and Lemonheads

by Hannah Brelsford

It all started in Chicago’s Little Italy neighborhood in 1908 when Salvatore Ferrara began selling candy-coated almonds from his bakery. Now the Ferrara Candy Company produces 800 million pounds of candy and 42 million pounds of fruit snacks every year.

The Ferrara family were bakers in Italy and when Salvatore immigrated to New York in 1900 he brought his talent with him. He opened a bakery and his family started what would become a candy empire. The Ferrara Candy Company changed its name to the Ferrara Pan Candy Company to reflect its main product, panned candy. Panned candy is a candy production method where there is a candy shell added to various candies or nuts.

The company is now just called the Ferrara Candy Company and has merged with another company, Farley’s & Sathers Candy Company. With this merger, the Ferrara Candy Company now produces beloved candies from Sweetarts to Lemonheads and cookies from Keebler to Little Brownie Bakers (the brand that produces girl scout cookies). Now let's get into the history of three of their best-selling panned candy products: the Jaw Buster, the Atomic Fireball, and the Lemonhead.

The Jaw Buster

One of their first products was the original jawbreaker, which is now called Jaw Busters. This delicious long-lasting candy was first made in 1919. When the classic candy lost its connection to customers they rebranded it to the Jaw Buster - The Original Jawbreaker. This branding trick worked because the candy has survived decades. It was actually inspired by sugar plum candies that were made in the 1590s which took about 2 weeks to make and had 100 layers. Jaw Busters live up to their name, if you try and bite it you could literally break a tooth, so it's safe to say Jaw Busters should only be sucked on.

These candies are certainly not for the impatient because it takes a while to make it through all the layers. Each jaw buster starts with a single grain of sugar that is then churned and submerged in melted sugar until it builds up to the jaw buster we all know and love. With each layer of the jaw buster comes a new flavor, keeping customers always on their toes, and each jaw buster has five layers. The five flavors contained within the jaw buster are orange, lime, cherry, grape, and lemon.

The Atomic Fireball

A twist on the classic jawbreaker is the atomic fireball, first created in 1954. This round cinnamon candy was invented by Nello Ferrara and contains outer layers that are bright red with interior white layers.

This spicy jawbreaker is not your everyday candy, it has a nice kick. This spicy kick is the level of 3,500 Scoville Heat units which comes from the compound capsaicin, which is found in jalapenos and chilis. When fireballs first went on the market they were making 200 cases a day but the demand quickly changed to 50,000 cases a day, a production rate they could not keep up with.

When Nello Ferrara invented this creative and fast-selling candy he wanted to bring invention and variety into the candy world while creating a unique candy that’s both spicy and sweet, an unlikely pairing.

This candy, like the Jaw Buster, is made using a hot pan method with the candy pieces being rotated within the revolving pans of sugar flavor with the color being added in. Fireballs still have their original flavor and have been kicking people's taste buds since the 1950s.

The Lemonhead

Soon after the spicy twist on the Jaw Buster came the sour one, the Lemonhead. The Lemonhead debuted in 1962 when Nello Ferrara invented this sour and sweet combination. When he created what we know today as the Lemonhead he wasn’t quite sure what to name it but as he was first making the candy he witnessed the birth of his son, Salvatore, and said that the child's face resembled a lemon.

The Lemonhead brings customers a strong lemon flavor that also doesn’t overpower them and balances tartness, sourness, and sweetness all within a candy the size of a gumball. This fantastic natural flavor comes from the real lemon juice involved in their production, in fact, Ferrara even says that Lemonheads have the “Real Lemon Pucker Power.”

There were even other variations of the Lemonhead introduced in 2007 which were in apple, grape, and cherry flavors. Now there are Lemonhead gummies that feature different flavors as well. But nothing packs the punch like the original Lemonhead which still is prepared the same way as it was in 1962, with its layers of sweet candy coating, sour soft shell, and hard candy core.

Made the same way as Jaw Busters and Atomic Fireballs, Lemonheads use a panned candy process to layer and layer the sour and sweetness until it gets its perfect shape. Now there are about 2 million Lemonheads produced daily.

The Ferrara Candy Company expanded its products of panned candies through its love for taste buds. They like to combine spicy and sweet, sour and tart, and sour and sweet, keeping your taste buds always guessing what the next flavor will be within their many layers.

To achieve the success of being one of the top confectionery firms in the US and being the top non-chocolate candy manufacturer, they focused largely on the dreams of our taste buds but also the appeal to the customer. From sports advertisements to being mentioned on the radio, Ferrara products have long been part of our culture and will always keep us guessing what the next layer will be.

Sources:

https://www.ferrarausa.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrara_Candy_Company

https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-business-magazines/ferrara-pan-candy-company