Pop Rocks

"For the music, see pop rock".

Pop Rocks (referred to in the United Kingdom as: Space dust) is a carbonated candy with ingredients including sugar, lactose (milk sugar), corn syrup, and flavoring.

Background and history

The idea of the product was patented by General Foods research chemist William A. Mitchell in 1956. The Pop Rocks candy was first offered to the public in 1975. Around 1983, General Foods stopped selling the candy. Some incorrectly believed that this was because of an urban legend, which held that mixing Pop Rocks with carbonated soda could result in a person's stomach exploding. In fact the candy was withdrawn for reasons largely owing to its success in the marketplace and to its relatively short shelf life. While distribution was initially tightly controlled to ensure product freshness, with its "exploding" popularity, unauthorized redistribution from market to market resulted in out-of-date product reaching consumers, many of whom complained that the candy was not performing as expected.fact|date=August 2008 In 1985, Kraft Foods bought the rights to the candy product and re-marketed it as Action Candy through a company called Carbonated Candy. Since 1979, Zeta Espacial S.A., a company based in the municipality of Rubí in Barcelona, Spain, has manufactured, sold, and exported the product.

In 2006, Dr. Marvin Rudolph, who led the group assigned to bring Pop Rocks out of the laboratory and into the manufacturing plant, wrote a history of Pop Rocks development. The book, titled, Pop Rocks: The Inside Story of America's Revolutionary Candy, was based on interviews with food technologists, engineers, marketing managers, and members of Bill Mitchell's family, along with the author's experience.

Manufacturing

The candy is made by mixing its ingredients and heating them until they melt, then exposing the mixture to pressurized carbon dioxide gas (about 600 pounds per square inch) and allowing it to cool. The process causes tiny high pressure bubbles to be trapped inside the candy. [ [http://www.poprockscandy.com/faq.html Pop Rocks Candy FAQ ] ] When placed in the mouth, coming into contact with saliva the candy breaks and dissolves, releasing the carbon dioxide from the tiny 40 atmosphere bubbles, resulting in a popping and sizzling sound and leaving a slight tingling sensation. The bubbles in the candy pieces can be viewed when aided by a magnifying glass.

Urban legends

During the product's heyday, rumors persisted that eating Pop Rocks and drinking cola would cause a person's stomach to explode. The company spent large sums sending out flyers to debunk the rumor. This is, in part, caused by the false assumption that pop rocks contain an acid/base mixture (such as baking soda and vinegar) which produces large volumes of gas when mixed through chewing and saliva.cite web |url=http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/poprocks.asp |first=Barbara |last=Mikkelson |authorlink=Snopes |publisher=Snopes |title=Pop Rocks Death |date=20 January 2007 |accessdate=2007-08-19] The most famous of these myths involved a child named Mikey from the Life cereal commercials. Mikey was purported to have died after eating a Pop Rocks and cola mixture. The rumor is false and the former child actor who was in the commercials, John Gilchrist, is still alive and well.

Mentions in popular culture

*The TV series "MythBusters" examined the rumor by mixing Pop Rocks and cola inside a pig's stomach, and came to the conclusion that an explosion was impossible without eating pounds of the material. [ [http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mythbusters/episode/00to49/episode_11.html Discovery Channel :: Mythbusters: Episode Guide ] ]

*The UK television programme "" later performed a similar urban legend debunking using a female volunteer.

*The horror film "Urban Legend" used the myth in the opening scene when the class clown volunteers to test the myth and fakes a seizure and death, complete with foaming at the mouth.

*In the "Simpsons" episode "Homer Badman", Homer steals a special gummy Venus de Milo from a candy convention, and mixes Pop Rocks into a can of soda which he throws into an angry mob like a grenade.

*In the "Scrubs" episode "My Mirror Image", Turk is seen as a trend setter bringing back *NSYNC's Bye Bye Bye, and pop rocks, later on Ted and Keith try to find out if the pop rocks/soda myth is real (the mixture explodes and pop rock/cola is spread all over the room).

*The American pop-punk band Green Day wrote a song called "Poprocks & Coke," a previously unreleased track on their "International Superhits!" greatest hits album.

*In an episode of the TV Show "Robot Chicken" a kid dares another kid to drink Coke and eat pop rocks; the second kid complies, and immediately dies.

*The first season episode of "That '70s Show" "The Good Son" features Fez, Jackie and Kelso eating Pop Rocks in the Forman's basement. Fez remarks "It is popping! Help me... it is popping in my mouth!" and Kelso makes comments about how Pop Rocks in one's mouth could be used to pleasure a member of the opposite sex.

*In an episode of UK Channel 4 comedy programme "The Adam and Joe Show" , Adam Buxton eats the "deadly mixture" of cola and Pop Rocks as friend Joe Cornish puts his fingers in his ears and cowers away from the apparent approaching explosion. Instead of this of course, Adam simply drinks too much of the cola and it spills all over his face. Afterwards he claims that the mixture is, whilst not deadly, still "really, really bad."

References

External links

* General Foods Corporation's US patent|4289794 for Pop Rocks (pdf)
* [http://patimg2.uspto.gov/.piw?docid=US004289794&PageNum=1&&IDKey=3F73DA868BD3 Images of US patent 4289794 for Pop Rocks] from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
* [http://www.specialtypublishers.com/ Pop Rocks: The Inside Story of America's Revolutionary Candy] , book detailing the story of Pop Rocks development to Pop Rocks today
* [http://www.zetaespacial.com/ Zeta Espacial's website] , with list of Pop Rock-related products
* [http://www.poprockscandy.com/ Pop Rocks Candy] - Official website
* [http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/poprocks.htm Rumors about the dangers of Pop Rocks] , from the Urban Legends Reference Pages
* [http://science.howstuffworks.com/question114.htm How do Pop Rocks candy work?] , an article from HowStuffWorks that explains how pop rocks candy is manufactured and also has links to the original patent