What Was the First Life Savers Flavor?
Life Savers candies have been sold in the United States for almost one hundred years. With a wide variety of products and flavors, Life Savers have something for everyone. From their invention in 1912 to the gummy and crème varieties sold today, Life Savers have become an American icon. Does this Spark an idea?
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History
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Life Savers candies were introduced to the American public in 1912 after their creation by Clarence Crane. Crane, a chocolate-maker by trade, invented the candies so that they would not melt in the summer heat like chocolate. These new candies with their hole-in-the-middle shape resembled life preservers, so he called them Life Savers. Crane's creation was manufactured using a pill-making machine and was originally sold in only one flavor, a brisk, peppermint hard candy.
Business
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Edward Noble purchased the recipe for Life Savers from Crane in 1913, and renamed the peppermint candies "Pep-o-Mint," which they are still called today. According to a Time magazine article from 1939, Noble's Life Savers empire was making four million dollars per year at that time. Life Savers were manufactured as a subsidiary of Kraft foods from 2000 until 2004 when the Wrigley Company purchased the enterprise.
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Flavors
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Beginning with peppermint, Life Savers next introduced its second flavor, Wint-o-Green in 1918. The year 1939 brought the now-famous five-flavor pack with cherry, pineapple, orange, lemon, and lime flavors. The famous five flavors were changed in 2003 to include raspberry, watermelon and blackberry in place of orange, lemon and lime. Over the candy's history, other popular flavors included butter rum, wild cherry, orange mint, sweet mint, tropicals, and Cryst-o-Mint.
Other Products
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Life Savers are no longer just hard candies. Wrigley's now manufacturers other varieties of the popular candy, including gummy versions and fruit explosions. Life Savers gummies can be purchased in tangy fruit, wild berries five flavor and sour varieties. The Fruit Tarts, introduced in 2007, are a sour candy made with fruit and sold in a convenient tin. Additionally, Crème Savers are a creamy version of the original candies.
Fun Fact
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When Edward Noble first marketed Life Savers, he sold them for five cents each from the displays on countertops of barber shops, saloons, drug stores and the like. Then, he asked retailers to always give a nickel back in change to their customers, hoping the customer would then use the nickel to purchase his candy.
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