Nerds (candy)

Nerds

History

Nerds are a form of candy currently sold by Nestlé under their Willy Wonka Candy Company brand. Nerds are small irregularly-shaped bits of sugar crystal (similar to rock candy) which are covered with a thin candy-coating. Nerds are produced in a variety of colors and flavors and are usually sold in a box that has two flavors separated into distinct compartments, each with its own opening mechanism. Nerds are anthropomorphized on the cover of its distinctive box package. Larger-sized packages have been produced with an assortment of colors, sometimes branded "Rainbow Nerds". "Nerds were first launched in 1983 by Angelo Fraggos, who was brand manager, eventually becoming vice president of marketing and technical services until he left in 1992. Robert Schuppan led his team with the product development and commercialization of Nerds." “Nerds were named the "Candy of the Year" in 1985 by the National Candy Wholesalers Association (NCWA)” . Over in the United Kingdom, they had a three box chambered package of Nerds that the United States never had. One of the flavors in this box contained strawberry cola, which is also unheard of in the United States . Throughout the years, Nerds have sold their product in a box separated into two compartments with two different flavors . With all of this history comes a boundary on people wanting to know how nerds are made.

Production Process

The show called unwrapped explains how Nerds are made seperately from a Nerd Rope. A factory worker being interviewed claimed that, “Basically we start off with a sugar crystal and we just keep coating it with uh, more sugar, liquid corn syrup” . The factory spins huge barrel like containers containing the sugar crystal where they keep getting coats of sugar until the irregular shaped Nerds are formed. After the Nerds have received all of their sugar coats, they are pure white. They then receive their color in separate barrels. After the nerds are colored, each different barrel is then transferred into the different nerd boxes. For instance, strawberry and grape go together which is also the most famous flavor among Nerds .

Nutritional Facts

Like most candy, there are nutritional facts that are beneficial to be aware of before consuming these tasty bits of heaven. One example that comes from “Nerds Candy Nutrition” says, “Nerds primarily consist of sugar. The top three ingredients are dextrose, sugar and malic acid. The rest of the candy contains less than 2 percent of corn syrup, artificial flavors, carnauba wax and artificial coloring. The artificial coloring varies by flavor” . The allergy warnings of this candy warn that Nerds are created “in a facility that also produces wheat and egg” . “The serving size of original Nerds candy is one tablespoon or about 15 grams. The most common portions are between 15 grams for the Halloween hand out size and 170 grams for the larger boxes. One serving of Nerds contains 60 calories. Nerds contain no fat or protein, indicating that their calorie count comes primarily from carbohydrates” . The product Frosty Nerds made by Willy Wonka is said to have dangerous chemicals in the dyes of the candy. For instance, “The artificial color content of Red 40 and Yellow 5 was found 25 mg of each synthetic dye per package. They typically add lower amounts of Blue 1 because this artificial colorant is more intense, so we found its content was 5 mg per package. While the amounts may seem small, it may be enough to trigger ADHD, a neurological disorder in which brain functioning is involved.” . Although it might be slightly unhealthy, it can be enjoyed in moderation.

Variety

Nerds are of varied flavors and color, ranging from extremely sweet to extremely sour; often the two flavours in one box will contrast, and a single flavor may even exhibit both extremes. They are thickly glazed with carnauba wax, which gives them a hard bite and a gloss. The nucleus of each candy is composed of one or more complete sucrose crystals. These optically clear monoclinic crystals are about 0.2–1 mm in length and help define the irregular shape. A Nerds breakfast cereal based on this concept appeared in the 1980s, but had a short life.

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Nerds (Pinktricity & Electro Orange)

Some of the regular flavors of Nerds sold today are:

• Strawberry and Grape (pink and purple)
• Wild Cherry and Watermelon (orange or red and green)
• Double Dipped Lemonade-Wild Cherry and Apple-Watermelon (red and yellow)
• Sour-Lightning Lemon and Amped Apple (yellow and light green)
• Surf 'n Turf- Totally Tropical Punch and Road Rash Raspberry (red and blue)
• Wildberry and Peach (blue and orange)
• Watermelon and punch and Wildberry (Green and blue)

There are many other flavors available.

There are also several Nerds spin-off products by Willy Wonka:

• Sour Nerds are normal sized Nerds, usually come in Lightning Lemon and Amped Apple, and are in a regular box. Also, a second flavor with Shocking Strawberry and Electric Blue was released.
• Giant Chewy Nerds have a chewy jelly bean center with a bumpy, crunchy nerd shell. They are the same product as the jellybeans, but available year-round. Also known as "Future Nerds".
• Nerds Rope consists of gummy string with a variety of Nerds attached to the outside. It comes in original, berry and tropical flavors.
• Rainbow Nerds is a box of regular Nerds of multiple flavors, with no partition or organization.
• Jumbo Nerds is a box of Nerds of multiple flavors which are much larger than regular Nerds. The box depicts one jumbo nerd on a teeter-totter with several regular sized nerds trying to counter its weight.
• Nerds Gum Balls are bubble gum balls filled with multiple flavors of Nerds on the inside.
• Theme Nerds are sometimes manufactured seasonally for holidays such as Halloween or Valentine's Day with names such as "Spooky Nerds". Flavors can include fruit punch, strawberry, and orange.
• Nerds Cereal, a now discontinued breakfast cereal that, like the candy, featured two separated flavors to a box. The cereal came with a mail-in offer for a Nerds cereal bowl, which also could be divided in two like a standard Nerds box.
• Techno-Nerds, a lesser-known variety, was composed of three compartments; green, blue, yellow, and multicolored.
• Nerds Gum consisted of pieces that looked like regular Nerds, but were actually bubble gum. The box featured a Nerd floating away with a bubble gum bubble.
• Dweebs, now discontinued, were a soft, chewy version of Nerds released in the mid-1990s, that contained three separate flavors rather than two. Dweebs were available only for a short time.
• Neon Nerds were introduced in 1996 and came in Pinktricity and Electro Orange flavours. They are still sold in Australia and New Zealand.
• Nerd Jelly Beans, produced for Easter, are jelly beans with a coating of carnauba wax, which makes them taste like Nerds.
• Wonkalate, A UK-only chocolate bar which, aside from being purple unlike regular chocolate bars, had snozzberry-flavored Nerds put into it.

Throughout the 1980s several new flavors of Nerds were introduced from time to time; for example, "Hot and Cool" Nerds (cinnamon & wintergreen flavored), Blueberry and Raspberry, and Lemon and Lime.

External links

• Nerds | Official website