If you ask Buddy the Elf, candy canes are one of the four major food groups. And there's no denying they're an iconic holiday treat! You might hang them from your Christmas tree, give them out as ...

The candy canes occasionally depicted on 19th-century Christmas cards were pure white, so red stripes were a later addition. It also seems likely that hook-shaped candy sticks predated the ...

Though these early candy canes weren't striped but rather all white sticks, the choirmaster did bend the candy into the shape of a shepherd's staff as a nod to the religious story told.

Did you know there is a Catholic connection to the Christmas confection? The Arkansas Catholic explains the history: In the United States, handmade white candy canes were first recorded in 1847.