By Ines Keane
Open one and the surprise is the contrast. A hard, bright pink cinnamon shell. Inside it, bittersweet chocolate. People in Atlantic Canada have been giving them at Christmas for a long time, and the company that makes them claims a run of Canadian confectionery firsts.
The company
Wikipedia says the company was founded on 5 June 1873 in St. Stephen, New Brunswick, by brothers James H. and Gilbert W. Ganong, first as a commission merchant. Reader’s Digest Canada says the brothers started a general store that grew into chocolates and confectionery. The Weather Network, in a travel feature, says it began as a grocery that sold candy, and that when suppliers could not keep the shelves stocked, the Ganongs began making their own.
Chicken Bones
Reader’s Digest Canada says confectioner Frank Sparhawk created the candy in 1885, with bright pink, spicy cinnamon shells around a bittersweet chocolate centre, and that it remains a best-seller. The Weather Network says the candy was made by rolling pink cinnamon slabs over bittersweet chocolate and hand-pulling them into shape, so that each piece is slightly different, and that it became a Christmas-season favourite.
Dates in order
| Date | What the sources say | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1873 | Company founded in St. Stephen | Wikipedia; Reader’s Digest Canada; Weather Network |
| 1885 | Chicken Bones created | Reader’s Digest Canada; Wikipedia; Weather Network |
| 1999 | Chocolate Museum opens in the old factory | Wikipedia; Reader’s Digest Canada |
| 2000 | St. Stephen registered or recognized as “Canada’s Chocolate Town” | Wikipedia; Reader’s Digest Canada |
We do not choose. Our reading: “first” claims in a company’s own history are best taken as the company’s account, and no independent record of any of them appears in what we read.
The museum
Wikipedia says the Chocolate Museum opened in 1999 in the company’s old factory building. The Weather Network says that visitors can watch hand-dippers at work. The tourism board describes it as a museum that celebrates historic innovation and tells the story of candy-making in St. Stephen. We give no hours, since none of the pages we read gave any.
A gift, if you are buying one
Our reading: because the candy is tied to Christmas in Atlantic Canada and the company is old, it suits a gift from the region. We have no information on shelf life or where it is sold, so we say nothing about either.
What kind of sources these are
An encyclopedia, a national magazine’s travel pages, a media company’s travel feature and a regional tourism board’s listing. None is the company’s own site; we could not load it.
What we left out
Prices, liqueur and other flavoured spin-offs, factory locations abroad, employee numbers, and the names of living family members.
Quick answers
Who makes Chicken Bones? Ganong, of St. Stephen, New Brunswick, according to Wikipedia and Reader’s Digest Canada.
What is inside a Chicken Bones candy? A bittersweet chocolate centre inside a pink cinnamon shell, according to Reader’s Digest Canada.
When were Chicken Bones created? In 1885, by confectioner Frank Sparhawk, according to Reader’s Digest Canada.
Related on this site: jasper-dark-sky-preserve-alberta-stargazing, quebec-winter-tires-december-1-march-15-pictogram, naismith-basketball-almonte-springfield-1891
Roam first. Shop later.