Hot Tamales
Hot Tamales is a chewy, cinnamon flavored, oblong-shaped candy introduced in 1950. It is manufactured and marketed in the United States by Just Born, a family-owned, Pennsylvania-based candy company.[1]
Deriving its name from the sometimes pungent (spicy hot) flavor of tamales, Hot Tamales was the top selling cinnamon candy, as of 1999.[2]
Variations
In addition to the original variant, Just Born also markets Hot Tamales Fire (originally Super Hot Hot Tamales) with a hotter flavor and darker color.
In 2011, Just Born released Hot Tamales 3 ALARM containing a mix of three candies: orange (hot), pinkish (hotter) and dark red (hottest). In 2014, Just Born released Hot Tamales Tropical Heat that contains three candies, combining the original pungent, spicy flavor with lemon, mango and pineapple flavor.
A spearmint version, Hot Tamales Ice, was marketed in the late 2000s, but was subsequently discontinued. It was reintroduced again in 2018 combined with the regular Hot Tamales and marketed as Hot Tamales Fire & Ice.[3]
Ingredients
As listed on the original Hot Tamales box and Hot Tamales Fire boxes:
Sugar, corn syrup, modified food starch, contains less than 0.5% of the following ingredients: dextrin, medium chain triglycerides, fruit juice from concentrate[dubious – discuss] (pear, orange, strawberry, cherry, lime, lemon) sodium citrate, pectin, citric acid, malic acid, fumaric acid, confectioners glaze, carnauba wax, white mineral oil, artificial flavors, artificial color, sodium citrate, magnesium hydroxide, red #3, red #40, yellow #5 (tartrazine), yellow #6, blue #1.
In popular culture
The late Ricky Wilson of The B-52's notes his love of Hot Tamales in their 1983 single "Song for a Future Generation".
The candy appears in the 1991 documentary Madonna: Truth or Dare, in a scene where Madonna is getting her make-up done while she's talking with one of her Blond Ambition Tour dancers (Oliver Crumes). At the very end of the conversation, the back of a Hot Tamales box is shown when Madonna takes a couple of candies.
In the beginning of the episode "The Duel" on The Office, Pam announces there will be a new candy on her desk for the new year, being Hot Tamales.
See also
References
- ^ Andrew Adam Newman (April 11, 2012). "Reviving Two Characters by Tearing Them Apart". The New York Times.
- ^ Andrew Adam Newman (October 11, 1999). "Company Is Making More Than a Peep in the Candy Industry". Bill Bergstrom.
- ^ "Hot Tamales". Snack History. Retrieved July 26, 2019.