The focus of today's Advent is a candy that I looked forward to because of it's unique flavor profile. Made from a blend of chocolate and carob, these candies bear a distinctive malt flavor which I absolutely love. I'm talking about Sixlets.
Created in 1960 by the highly underrated Leaf company, these candy shell coated treats have many theories as to their name. Some think it's because of the 6 colors that the candy originally came in: red, green, yellow, orange, brown and blue. They must have discontinued blue because A) I don't remember it and B) current photos on the Internet only have the first 5 colors in the assortment. Others believe that it's because they were originally sold in a 6 pack cellophane tube in vending machines; a half dozen for only a penny.
The way I received Sixlets as a kid was inside of a plastic tube in the shape of a candy cane. Many a Christmas morning, I found one of those Sixlets candy canes hanging from our tree. I also would get on filled with M&Ms. But I preferred the Sixlets. I never really knew why until I was researching candies for this Advent. I love a chocolate malted and based on what I learned about the Sixlet blend of chocolate and carob, which is a dark brown bean pod with molasses overtones, from the Mediterranean, it all makes sense know why I like the Sixlets candy canes versus the M&M variety.
These days, Sixlets candy canes are filled with a Christmas mix of red, green and white. In my youth, the canes were filled with the autumn looking colors. If you were to offer my the holiday mix, I'd eat them. I'd probably even enjoy them. But no matter how you presented it to me, if just wouldn't be the same.
Now for my Advent present for you today, I could share some video about Sixlets. However, today I want to gift you with some interesting insight about the ingredient of carob. The chocolate substitute goes by many names, including St. John's Bread. When you realize that this stuff is also called locust bean, you realize that it's possible that the locusts eaten by John the Baptist might not have been those pesky crop eating bugs. Here's a very short video that talks about the theory behind carob being called St. John's Bread along with some other neat facts from the Bible.
Enjoy!
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