Charleston Chew


Charleston Chew is a candy bar consisting of flavored nougat covered in chocolate flavor coating. It was created in 1925 by the Fox-Cross Candy Company, founded by stage actor Donley Cross and his friend Charlie Fox. The candy was named after the Charleston, a popular dance at that time.

History

The company was purchased in 1957 by Nathan Sloane and later sold to Nabisco in 1980. Although Sloane did not invent the Charleston Chew, he did change the candy's original form, chocolate-covered vanilla nougat. In the 1970s, he introduced such new flavors as chocolate and strawberry. Warner-Lambert purchased Charleston Chew from RJR Nabisco in 1988, then Tootsie Roll Industries purchased the brand from Warner-Lambert in 1993.

Flavors and varieties

The candy is available in vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry flavors. At one time, there was a fourth flavor, banana. "Mini Charleston Chews" are a bite-sized, similarly-shaped version of the candy bar, introduced in 1998. The original packaging for Charleston Chews was a grey box that had the brand name in small red font at the bottom of the box.

In science and technology demonstrations

Charleston Chew candy bars have been used to demonstrate rheology to students in university geology labs.

In popular culture