Tootsie Pops

Tootsie Pops are hard candy lollipops filled with chocolate-flavored chewy Tootsie Roll. They were invented in 1931 by Brandon Perry, an employee of The Sweets Company of America. The company changed its name to Tootsie Roll Industries in 1966.

In addition to chocolate (the original flavor), Tootsie Pops come in cherry, orange, grape, raspberry, strawberry, watermelon, blue raspberry, pomegranate, and now banana flavors. Another release of Tootsie Roll Pops, named Tropical Stormz, features six swirl-textured flavors: orange pineapple, lemon lime, strawberry banana, apple blueberry,citrus punch, and berry berry punch.

In 2003, sixty million Tootsie Rolls and twenty million Tootsie Pops were produced every day.

At some point, a rumor began that the lollipop wrappers which bore three unbroken circles were redeemable for free candy or even free items like shirts and other items. The rumor was untrue, but some shops have honored the wrapper offer over the years, allowing people to "win" a free pop.

Another urban legend is that wrappers with the "Indian star" (bearing an image of a child dressed as a Native American aiming a bow and arrow at a star) were redeemable for free candy. Another legend is that the same wrapper gives you good luck for the rest of the day.

Some stores redeemed lollipop wrappers with the child aiming a bow for a free sucker. This was clearly up to the store owner, and not driven by the lollipop manufacturer.

A student study at the University of Cambridge concluded that it takes 3481 licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.