It's National Lollipop Day!

I didn't know that today was National Lollipop Day, did you? I feel like I should know these things as an admitted candy addict. Wow, I guess I'm outta practice. So thankfully, my favorite candy website, the afore-mentioned Candy Addict (www.candyaddict.com or you can just link to it via my list of "Places I Like To Drop In On Daily" to the right and below), keeps me updated on all things candy and therefore, the fact that today, July 20th, is National Lollipop Day.

You can read a lot more interesting factoids about lollipops over there at Candy Addict, and I highly recommend that you do, and today I did indeed learn some cool stuff, but I'll only share one with you as I believe the folks at Candy Addict really deserve to be seen and read.

Have you ever had a Dum-Dum? That small, round, white paper-wrapped little lollipop that you can usually find in bowls at your local banks? I'm sure most of us have; after all, they've been around for a large chunk of our lives. If so, you are well aware of the Mystery Flavor, and it was those secret "mystery" indgredients that always called to me. What was I going to taste? What color would it be? With Pineapple or Pink Lemonade (a newer, hipper flavor), I knew exactly what I was gonna get, but with Mystery? Not a clue and that, my friends, is what has pretty much guaranteed that I'll always dig around in a bag or a bowl full of Dum-Dums to find the magical Mystery flavor and unwrap my taste adventure right there.

I never could figure out what the hell flavor I got, though, but it was always fun.

Now I know the reason why I could never pinpoint what I had going on in my mouth with a Mystery pop: the flavor is a combination of two different ones! Well, shoot, that explains everything. It seems that the cost of stopping the machine, cleaning it out and switching to another flavor isn't productive, so they simply dump a new flavor in on top of a small amount of the remaining flavor and for the next 20 minutes or so, the flavor coming out of the Dum-Dum lollipop machine is what gets labeled as "Mystery."

Who knew? Well, apparently the people at Candy Addict, for one, and I'm glad they shared. I love learning odd trivia about food, and given that I do love the sweet stuff, about candy, especially. If I had TV, I'd be glued to the Food Network, 24/7, I swear. I once spent an entire day watching FoodTV because they were doing a marathon of a delightful and exploratory show called "Unwrapped," all about what secrets and inner workings take place with different food products. I was completely hooked. And they did a number of shows on candy! Whoo-hoo!

I was housesitting and therefore alone in my obsession save for the disdainful looks I kept getting from the cat, but then again, cats tend to look like that, anyway. Hey, I was happy and the cat had food in her bowl, so pardon me, Ms. Kitty.

So to celebrate National Lollipop Day, why don't you go and grab yourself a sucker? Child or adult, we all love 'em, and it doesn't matter which brand, or even if you've never tried that kind before, just go for it and savor the flavor, texture and the experience of one of the oldest candies in our culture, the lollipop!

OK, if you'll excuse me now, I need to go troll the candy aisles at The Dollar Tree and Food City (the Mexican grocery stores here in Tucson). I think I hear a Jolly Rancher Tamarindo or Mango pop calling my name. Sweet, sour and spicy all on one stick...what's not to love?