The Ferrara Pan Candy Company is a Chicago and Forest Park, Illinois, based candy company that makes a variety of popular candies. Their popular confections include Lemonheads, Jaw busters ("The Original Jaw Breakers"), Atomic Fireballs, Chewy Fireballs, Original Boston Baked Beans, Grapeheads (formerly Alexander the Grape), Apple Heads, Punch Heads, Orange Heads, Cherry Heads, Chewy Lemon Heads & Friends, Tropical Chewy Lemon Heads & Friends and Red Hots.
According to the Ferrara Pan Candy Company website, the company was founded in 1908 by Salvatore Ferrara, Salvatore Buffardi and Anello Pagano. The company is located on the outskirts of Chicago at 7301 W. Harrison St., Forest Park, Illinois. It continues to be owned by the Ferrara, Buffardi, and Pagano families. Originally, Ferrara Pan developed and sold sugar-coated almonds or confetti as they are called in Italy. The original manufacturing facility located at 2200 W. Taylor Street now is the Ferrara Bakery.
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Atomic Fireballs (known as Atomic FireBlast in the UK) are a round, cinnamon-flavored hard candy invented by Nello Ferrara in 1954. They are a form of jawbreaker. The outer layers of the candy are a bright red color while the interior layers are white.
When initially introduced by Ferrara Pan, the company had a manufacturing capacity of 200 cases per day but demand quickly rose to 50,000 cases per day. According to the company, approximately 15 million Fireballs are eaten weekly.[1] "The spicy flavor and the exceptionally long lasting candy was instantly popular (coupled with the popular culture obsession with all things atomic at the time).[2] The outside layer of the Fireball is quite mild. After a moment in the mouth, the smooth ball of hard candy releases an intense spicy cinnamon flavor. Capsaicin is the ingredient found in the Atomic Fireball that causes the burning sensation.
They are made with the hot panned process with ingredients of a single grain of sugar, syrup and flavor. The hot pans tumble the ingredients around until the fireballs snowball into the appropriate size. The process lasts for about two weeks. By the end of the process the fireball consists of at least one hundred layers. The fireballs come in two sizes, a pea size and the more popular full-size (7/8ths of an inch in diameter) which comes individually wrapped.
Also available are chewy fireballs, with the same flavor of the original with a chewy texture.
Atomic Sourballs come in various colors (including green, purple, yellow, and red) and are sour. They are round with a sour shell and a hard inside.
Original Boston Baked Beans are sugar-coated peanut candies.
The serving size of Original Boston Baked Beans is 11 pieces or 15 g. One serving contains 70 calories (290 kilojoules) and 20 calories (80 kJ) from fat.
Red Hots are small cinnamon-flavored candy created and trademarked by the Ferrara Pan Candy Company in the 1930s. They are used in some apple sauce recipes and as confectionery decorations.