The symbol of candy cane's came from the ancient shepherds' crook, which represented their humbleness to the worship of the newborn Christ. Around 1670, the choirmaster of Cologne Cathedral handed out sugar sticks to keep his young singers quiet throughout the long Living Creche ceremony. In honor of the event, he bent the candies into shepherds' crooks. In 1847, a man named August Imgard of Wooster, Ohio, used candy canes and some paper ornaments to decorate a blue spruce.

It was till the turn of the century that the red and while stripes and peppermint flavors became the norm. Bob McCormack, in the 1920s, began making candy canes as special Christmas treats for his children, friends, and others in Albany, Georgia. Candy cane was made with the laborious process of pulling, twisting, cutting, and bending the candy by hand. Unfortunately, it could only be done on a local scale.

In the 50s, Bob's brother-in-law, Gregory Keller, a Catholoc priest, invented a machine to automate the mass production of candy canes. Younger McCormacks' innovation of packaging made it possible to tranport the candy canes in a scale that turned Bobs Candies, Inc. into the largest producer of candy canes in the world.

Although modern technology has made candy canes accessible and plentiful, yet they have not lost their purity and meaning as a traditional holiday food and symbol of the humble roots of Christianity.