Tootsie Pop Drops

Tootsie Rolls and Tootsie Roll Pops are some of the most well-known sweets that are sold in the US. These classic treats are popular year-round but at also the mainstay of many people’s Halloween candy purchases. Nearly everyone loves fruity lollipops with a Tootsie Roll center, and these candies have been popular for generations.

However, if you really hate having to hold onto a lollipop stick, you might wish that all your favorite lollipops were sold without the added nuisance of something to be used to hold them in your mouth. For these folks, the Tootsie Pop Drop is a lifesaver. Imagine being able to enjoy a Tootsie Roll Pop without the annoyance of a stick that you have to hold onto!

History

Tootsie Roll Pops have been around since the 30s. The Tootsie Roll that was at the center of the lollipops in question had been invented in the late 1800s but was not paired with a hard candy shell until the 30s. The company claims that the idea for a lollipop with a Tootsie Roll center was born when a man working for the company licked his daughter’s lollipop while he was chewing on a Tootsie Roll. This idea was pitched to everyone at the next snack ideas meeting, and the rest, they say, is history!

The Tootsie Roll Pop has long been associated in popular culture with the slogan, “How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll Center of a Tootsie Pop?” This phrase is usually uttered by a cartoon owl who eventually just crunches the candy in half and eats it. The follow-up catchphrase that ends most of these commercials is, “The world may never know.”

While you will miss out on counting the licks till you get to the chewy center of your Tootsie Pop Drop, you might not mind if you don’t like having to hold onto a stick while you eat hard candies. Not everyone enjoys the experience of eating lollipops in this traditional way. After all, hard candies came first and were very popular well before the addition of the paper stick to make it easier to hold onto them.

These candies are also individually wrapped like the larger lollipop version of the snack, but they do not have the classic wrappers that have been associated with giveaways and other kinds of promotions. In the early days of the Tootsie Pop Drop, the candies were actually sold in tubes rather like Lifesavers, and so there were no unique wrappers used for the individual candies. 

Much of the fuss in popular culture about the wrappers of Tootsie Roll Pops being collectible or associated with some kind of prize giveaway is erroneous. At some point, many people began telling one another that if specific images were on your Tootsie Roll Pop wrapper, you would “win” a free sucker. This might have had something to do with giveaways that were staged by independent sellers that would offer kids a free lollipop in exchange for some unique wrapper designs.

The Tootsie Pop Drop product is sold in boxes and bags that are orange in color and which show the slightly oval Tootsie Pop Drops on the front of the container. The flavors that are contained inside each bag or box are also clearly listed on the outside. The tagline, “Tootsie Pops WITHOUT the Stick!” is on each package as well.

The chewy nature of the traditional sucker is preserved in each of these little hard candy treats as well. While they are not as big as a Tootsie Pop that is sold with the traditional stick, they are still a satisfying size. You will not feel like you have been cheated out of the enjoyment of eating a candy that lasts a long time when you get the Pop Drops version of this classic candy.

Contrary to what many people believe, the Pop Drops version of this popular candy has been around for a really long time as well. You might have enjoyed them in the 80s as a child, or maybe you ran across them in the 90s so that you could share candy with your friends at school. Some regional areas of the US are less familiar with these little treats, and you could have gone through your whole childhood without knowing that this candy treat was out there.

If you don’t want to deal with the stick that is in a classic Tootsie Roll Pop, you can buy Tootsie Pop Drops online directly from the Tootsie Roll Industries website. Other online businesses sell them as well, such as Amazon. Being able to enjoy your favorite suckers on the go can be much easier with a bag or a box of these sweet little snacks in your pocket.

What Are Tootsie Pop Drops Like?

Many people will tell you that they prefer the traditional Tootsie Roll Pop products because they last longer, and you get a slightly larger chewy center in the traditional lollipop product. However, if you think of the Pop Drops product as a “mini” version of the larger candy, you will probably enjoy this added variety of candy that you can snack on more easily as you do other things. Being able to eat your favorite lollipop with your hands-free is a big benefit of the Pop Drops version of this classic sweet.

For those who wish that they could just crunch through the bigger lollipops like the owl in the commercials, the Pop Drops version of the candy is probably ideal. There is something really satisfying about combining the chewy center of these sweets with the fruity candy shell, and this is much easier when you enjoy Tootsie Roll Pop Drops. 

The actual recipe for both of the ingredients that go into this candy are the exact same as the recipe that is used for the traditional lollipop products. Changes in the experience of eating these candies are likely entirely due to the smaller ratio of each product. The candy shell should taste just the same as in the larger lollipops, and the chewy center is still a traditional Tootsie Roll center.

It is amazing how much the way that you eat something can change your experience with a food product, however. Many people report that these candies don’t really remind them of Tootsie Roll Pops at all, and this is likely because of the experience of sucking on the whole candy at once instead of eating it in stages as you would with a traditional lollipop.

Logo

Ingredients

• Sugar
• Corn Syrup
• Palm Oil
• Citric Acid
• Condensed Skim Mil
• Cocoa
• Whey
• Artificial And Natural Flavors
• Soy Lecithin
• Artificial Colors (Including FD&C Red 40, Blue 1)
• Turmeric Coloring

The company warns that there is milk and soy in these candies, making them unacceptable for vegans and for those with dairy allergies. There is also a warning that there is a bioengineered ingredient in them as well. Safety warnings are on every box that indicates that these candies can pose a choking hazard as well, especially in children.

Nutrition

Serving Size:	4 drops (16g)	% Daily Value*
Amount Per Serving
Calories	60
Total Fat	0g	0%
Sodium	0mg	0%
Total Carbohydrates	14g	5%
Sugars	10g
Protein	0g

• The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

Varieties

The Tootsie Pop Drop comes in all the same flavors as the traditional Tootsie Roll Pops:

• Chocolate
• Cherry
• Blue Raspberry
• Orange 
• Grape

The products are sold in boxes or bags that offer all the various flavors inside. There are no single-flavor boxes or bags that are sold. You will have to tough it out and share the flavors that you don’t like from each box if you are not a fan of all the various flavors of Tootsie Roll Pop. Many people are grateful that one of the original flavors, lemon, was removed from the classic flavor offerings in the 80s. It could be worse when it comes to being unable to choose your own preferred flavors in each box!

There are no seasonal varieties of Tootsie Pop Drops either at this time. The traditional flavors are your only option when you buy these snacks. You will have to wait until the Tootsie Roll Pop products release seasonal products if you want to enjoy all of the more creative Tootsie Roll Pop flavors.

Pictures

Ads:

Since the Tootsie Pop Drops product has actually been around for a long time, you can find some delightful ads from the 80s showing a much different design for the product. These candies were wrapped in their own individual wax wrappers and sold in a tube format. The comparison to Lifesavers was frequently made in these ads as well:

A classic Tootsie Roll Pop ad with Gene Wilder in it. These are some of the most memorable commercials that were made for Tootsie Roll Pop products because Gene Wilder was so closely connected with Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory at this time. There is something delightful about seeing him evading children as he goes home from his “job” at the candy factory and snacks on a lollipop.