History of caramel apple

The Caramel apple was invented in 1950s by Dan Walker, a sales representative for Kraft Foods. Before that there was a traditional candied apple the one with the cinnamon flavor and the vivid red color which was invented by candy maker William Kolb.

Like candy apples, which are made by coating an apple with a layer of sugar that has been heated, caramel apples’ invention also resulted from experimentation with holiday candy. According to Walker, caramel apple was discovered when he experimenting with excess caramels from Halloween sales; he simply melted them down, and added apples, and the rest is history.

While caramel apples were made manually by hand for the first decade or so of their existence, Vito Raimondi of Chicago, Illinois decided it was time for an automated way to make caramel apples. He invented and patented the first automated caramel apple dipping machine in 1960.

Making caramel apples got a lot easier in 1977 when Kraft Foods introduced its craft sweet wrapples. Wrapples came with sheets of caramel that can be wrapped over fresh apples then stuck a popsicles stick through the top.

Caramel apple has evolved today with many people dipping and decorating them in chocolate, nuts and other candies. One of the caramel apple variants, taffy apples - Caramel apples are often called “taffy apples” when further ingredients such as peanuts are applied.
History of caramel apple