The Truth and Myth behind Baby Ruth candy bars

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Subtitles: Jose Mendoza | IG @worldagainstjose

PHOTO CREDITS
Box of Curtiss’ Baby Ruth candy Bars

#tastinghistory #babyruth

[shavanerad]

My mom, b 1921, made these and she made the little ones.

Her innovation was to freeze the candy and shatter it, and then she kneeded the candy into the chilled and rested dough.

If you do this, both the pieces are smaller and then the short baking time doesn't slag the cookies as you experienced because the dough sets before the candy fully melts?

I don't know if she got the recipe from the wrapper or if it was parallel evolution, heh. But the Baby Ruth was her fave candy bar as a young woman, so maybe she just picked this over chocolate chips.

[BenGazur]

Thank you Max for the kind words you said about my book, A Feast of Folklore! "A must read the next time you are sitting down to a sausage roll", is the best praise I could imagine.

[mikedunn]

A softer cookie would be more moist, therefore due to long shipping times, likely to mold or spoil. The crisper cookie might survive the months-long transit times common in WWII.

[SafetyBriefer]

'A 12 year old boy was hired to drop the candy parachutes onto children. He later dropped a nuclear bomb on Japan.' Damn, history.

[berrie-nice-to-meet-you]

This recipe came at the perfect time, now I have a flimsy excuse to go buy a bunch of Baby Ruth candybars. For science, of course. Delicious science

[joshbrown]

Child dropping candy bars from airplane:
"Gee this is fun. I only wish I could drop something more impactful..."

[sallyhamilton]

You mentioned that these cookies were the most desired thing the soldiers of WWII wanted from home. Perhaps that's why the smaller size cookie was in the recipe. You said they were crispier, and also the smaller size would make them less likely to crumble apart after a cross-ocean voyage to their intended recipient.

[mbp]

1936: you can hike 7 1/5 miles with the energy in a babe ruth candy bar! eat up!
2024: you have to hike 7 1/5 miles to burn the calories from just one babe ruth candy bar. stay away from them.

[B.McAllister]

The Baby Ruth Cookies are EXACTLY what I thought snickerdoodles were supposed to be when i was a kid. I was so pissed when I got to try my first snickerdoodle and found out they didn't have any chunks of snickers bars in the cookie.. They're good cookies just not what I was expecting. So I made them myself with a chocolate chip cookie dough with snickers chunks along with the chocolate chips. Better than I expected them to be.

[kramermariav]

Max, my daughter was saying she doesnt like learning history in school because its all wars...so I got her started on your videos. She loves them! Thank you Max!

[rchlletters]

My grandma, who grew up during the depression, always made her cookies small-sized as a way to stretch out the recipe and give you a sensible taste. Bigger cookies (like huge candy bars) are a modern development. Back then people had more restraint and knew that a cookie had a lot of expensive ingredients reserved for a special treat.

[kimberlyterasaki]

The whole thing of Baby Ruth touting itself as a health food actually kinda feels like the modern "eat a snickers" ads or even the fact that most "energy bars" are like 70% sugar with maybe a bit of protein.

[ezioauditore]

We need to bring dropping candy out of planes back. Imagine having a bad day, and a pack of Reese Cups drops right in front of you on a little parachute. Day saved.

[charlesstout]

Just one small correction to a wonderful presentation about a great candy bar: in 2018, Nestle sold its candy division to Ferrero, who makes such wonderful delights as Nutella and Ferrero Rocher. So, confections such as Baby Ruth, Butterfinger, Crunch, 100 Grand, SweeTarts, Gobstoppers, Nerds, Runts, Spree, Bottle Caps, and many others are now made by Ferrero, or labeled under its domestic division, Ferrara Pan.

[hoilst]

Truly, Liberty Pups were the Freedom Fries of their day. And with fewer carbs!

[susanholler]

I wish you would do an episode about the kitchen before modern appliances and tools. In particular I would love to know how kitchens ran before plastic. How did they store food, what were kitchen items made of, etc. just an idea. Love your channel!

[im]

As a German, i consider the smaller cookie as a normal sized cookie. Since Otto Schnering seemed to be of german origin (if one can go by the name) and might have been used to smaller cookies, maybe that is the reason he went with a cookie size considered small in the US.

[QwertiusMaximus]

“Rich in dextrose.” Olde timey way of saying it’s full of sugar.

[jimgore]

The airplane Baby Ruth drop was the precursor to the WKRP helicopter Thanksgiving turkey drop.

[Shorkshire]

Holy crap, fruit stripe! I remember being a kid in the 90s and my parents would let me get a pack at the checkout of Toys R Us and by the time I got to the car the flavor would be gone!