TALLAHASSEE, FL — The Christmas holiday may have passed but it’s not too late to celebrate National Candy Day on Dec. 26.

Florida shop owner Greg Cohen of Tallahassee operates one of the only old-fashioned confectionaries in the nation where the art of candy-cane making is on display each holiday season.

Sign up for our free Sarasota daily newsletter and news alerts

“Candy canes started in northern Europe or somewhere in southern Scandinavia,” said Cohen, who owns Lofty Pursuits. “The best story I found is there was a bishop who wanted to quiet the kids in his congregation for Christmas mass so he made these white hooks that were bishop’s hooks and gave them out to the congregation so the children were sucking on something and not making noise.”

Cohen said the red stripes were added around 1902 with the advent of artificial food colors.

“Candy canes probably started as peppermint,” he explained. “Peppermint oil was so easy to preserve and transport. We now make candy canes in tons of flavors.”

Click Here: geelong cats guernsey 2019

Watch below as a Florida candy maker demonstrates the art of candy-cane making:

The striped treats date back to 1844 when a recipe for a peppermint candy stick with colored stripes was first published, according to the National Day Calendar website.

“There are folklore tales of the origin of the candy cane, yet there is no documented proof of its real beginning,” the website said. “It has been mentioned in literature since 1866 and was first known to be mentioned in association with Christmas in 1874. As early as 1882, candy canes have been hung on Christmas trees.”

Photo by Paul Scicchitano. Video courtesy Lofty Pursuits.