"Baltimore" Lemon Sticks (1911 or 1913?)

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   Two Marian Burros articles for the NEW YORK TIMES in the 1980s caught my
attention.  In the July 1987 article, she put Baltimore lemon sticks right up
there with Buffalo Wings and the New York Egg Cream.
   Did this idea really come from Baltimore?  I checked several Baltimore
guidebooks (written recently)--not one mentioned "lemon sticks."
  Sucking juice through a candy straw--who invented that?


(PROQUEST DATABASE)
   A May Day Frolic and How It Came About
The Washington Post (1877-1954). Washington, D.C.: May 9, 1915. p. M7 (1
page):
   "We can have sandwiches of jelly or lettuce, and cakes and candies, and,
best of all, a lemon and lemon stick.  Then, if the weather is fine, we can eat
out of doors, or we can be perfectly comfortable inside.  The boys can bring
the candy and lemons and lemon sticks, and we girls will supply the sandwiches
and cakes."


   Flower Mart To Be Largest In Its History
The Washington Post (1877-1954). Washington, D.C.: Apr 26, 1942. p. R12 (1
page):
   The children who visit the mart this year will be favored with attractions
offered for their special interest such as a booth of pets, another featuring
a doll house and still another selling gingerbread, cookies and lemon sticks.

   An Excursion To Baltimore's Inner Harbor
By MARIAN BURROS. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Aug 14,
1983. p. XX19 (2 pages):
Pg XX19:  The Oasis sells good lemon ices as well as the traditional
Baltimore lemon stick, a peppermint stick inserted in a whole lemon.  The proper way
to eat this is to suck on the peppermint stick, allowing the lemon juice to
mingle with its sweetness.

   A Fourth of July Toast to Foods That Made America Great
By MARIAN BURROS. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Jul 1,
1987. p. C1 (2 pages)
Pg. C6:
   _Baltimore Lemon Stick._  There was a lemon stick crisis at this year's
Flower Mart, Baltimore's annual fund-raiser for the women's Civic League.  The
candy can supplier had gone out of business and the available canes were either
"too porous, so they start dissolving, or too hard, so you can't draw the
juice up through it," said June Goldfield, a chairman of past Flower Marts.
Eventually, a North Carolina company saved this Baltimore tradition.  Lemon sticks
are lemon halves into which a candy cane is inserted.  Suck on the candy cane
and pull up the sour lemon juice.  Mrs. Goldfield said lemon sticks were born
in either 1911 or 1913.

   Lemon Candy
HELEN N. ROSENBERG. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Jul
22, 1987. p. C8 (1 page):
To the Living Section:
   In "A July 4 Toast to Foods That Made America Great" [July 1], Marian
Burros asked, "Who but a Baltimorean would know how to eat a lemon stick (a candy
cane stuck into a lemon)?"
   My father, who was raised on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the
1890's and never set foot in Baltimore, often explained his fondness for sucking
lemons by recalling a favorite confection.  It was half a lemon into which was
stuck a long, thin lemon-flavored candy stick, through which the lemon juice
was sucked.
   HELEN N. ROSENBERG
   New York


(ANCESTRY DATABASE)
   30 June 1934, MANSFIELD NEWS (Mansfield, Ohio), pg. 4, col. 5:
   We were poor in money.  In fact coin was a nebulous thing, but we were
happy.  I wish I had the appetite that was mine when I was 10 years old.  I would
walk into Frank Barnes store, lay down a nickle, and buy sticks of candy.
There would be one of peppermint, one of wintergreen, one of lemon, one of
hoarhound, one of clove, and best of all a stick with a pink "o. k.," running from
end to end.  It was porous.  I would stick one end into a dipper of water and
suck good tastes and perfume until my little stomach was as tight as a drum
head.

   28 June 1935, CHILICOTHE CONSTITUTION-TRIBUNE (Chilicothe, Missouri), pg.
4, col. 2:
_A Real Fourth_
_of July Party_
_For the Kiddies_
(...)
      _Recalled From Childhood_
   The Fourth of July appetizer is an inspiration from my own childhood when
we used to force a stick of lemon candy into half a lemon and suck the lemon
juice through it.  Instead of lemons, oranges, thoroughly scrubbed and chilled,
one for each child, may be used.  To prepare, cut a slice from the top of
each fruit, and with a sharp knife loosen flesh from shell and cut between
segments.  Insert a stick of  red and white peppermint candy.  Stick a small flag in
the orange rind and serve.

   2 July 1935, CHARLESTON DAILY MAIL (Charleston, West Virginia), pg. 14,
cols. 2-3:
(Same story as above, but with a nice photo containing this caption--ed.)
   Old-fashioned sugar stick candy serves as a sweetening straw for this
unusual children's party dish--stick the candy into a lemon or orange and let the
guests suck out the juice.

   23 December 1975, Edwardsville Intelligencer (Edwardsville, Illinois), pg.
6B, col. 1:
_PEPPERMINT ORANGES_
   Roll fresh oranges gently on table top to soften, and cut small hole on
the top of each one.  Insert stick of peppermint candy.  Small fry can suck the
juice through the candy stick, making a double treat!