Green, green, and even more green. That's pretty much the theme for St Patrick's Day. This is one holiday that really doesn't do candy very well either. There aren't that many St Patrick's Day candies, and of the small amount that there is, it all seems to be green. This green candy is often not very creative, and not Irish at all.
I've decided to take on the challenge of designing St Patrick's Day candy that's both creative and not green. Keep in mind that I've never actually been to Ireland, or studied Irish culture in any way. I certainly don't want to offend anybody, but I also want to be sure that even someone with no knowledge of Irish culture will know what these are representing.
I'm told that one of the prides of Ireland is their beer. If we think of Ireland and beer one word comes up on top all of the time, Guinness. St Patrick's Day is often a time that many adults take up a pint of Guinness to celebrate the fine people of Ireland, but what about those that do not drink and prefer sweets instead. Why not have a gummy Guinness? It's a strong flavoured beer that would translate really well into gummy form. You could even fill the gummy with a liquid Guinness centre to make it more authentic. Best of all, it represents something very Irish, and it’s not green.
Probably one of the most famous expressions from Ireland is to "kiss the Blarney Stone". You may or may not know that the Blarney Stone is a real stone that with some difficulty you can kiss. Legend has it that if you kiss the stone you’ll be given the gift of gab and flattery. The thing is, most people won't have the opportunity to kiss this stone and gain all of the magic that comes with it. So why not bring some of this magic home, in candy form with a Blarney lollipop. A reproduction of the famous stone made of rock candy is easy to kiss or lick till your heart's content. Why not give yourself some sweet Irish magic on St Patrick's Day. The trick here is to make it look as much like real stone as possible, the only green you might find is a bit of moss growing on the bottom.
It seems that almost every holiday has some kind of hollow chocolate treat available, except St Patrick's Day. It's a no brainer that a chocolate leprechaun would be perfect for the kids to celebrate this Irish holiday. The leprechaun could be size appreciate, and you could have smaller ones as well. Best of all, like many holiday hollow chocolate treats, this one could be filled with more treats. The best, and most obvious filling could be gold coins, however Lucky Charms would be cool too. The fun of breaking open a small Irish fictional character, to reveal a whole bunch of chocolate coins would be great. It would also answer the question as to where they hide their pot of gold. My only hope is that they make it out of tasty milk chocolate; white chocolate coloured green would not be great.
As usual these candy ideas are free for the taking for any candy maker out there. All I ask is if you make them please send me some to try. It's about time that kids were brought into the St Patrick's Day fun. By the end of the day parents will be drunk and kids (myself included) can enjoy a wonderful sugar buzz. Most importantly, they're not green.
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