Rock It to Me

Feeding a candy craze

The giant semi raced through the night, across America from California to Brooklyn. Inside was a precious cargo whose street value in New York would be double its West Coast price. Thousands of packs were unloaded at one distributor's warehouse, then channeled stealthily to selected candy and variety shops. Candy shops? Yes, the cargo was destined to feed the latest kid candy craze: Pop Rocks. Says the Brooklyn distributor: "The kids are like junkies--hungry for the stuff. It's the fastest-moving new candy I've ever seen."

The candy, so goes a Wall Street analyst's version, was born when a General Foods Corp. chemist mixed a little "Kool-Aid technology" with carbon dioxide and came up with Pop Rocks. Crystalline in shape and so far available in three flavors (cherry, orange, grape), Pop Rocks are made of sugar, corn syrup, milk derivative and artificial coloring and flavoring. When the small crystals of candy are placed in the mouth, tiny chambers of trapped CO2 are activated by moisture. The result: a popping and crackling that delights the kids.

Pop Rocks are hard to get in most places, which only adds to their appeal. General Foods markets the candy mainly in California, although there have been other test sales around the country in the past three years. GF tries to confine sales of the candy to its test markets, where a one-fifth-ounce package sells for 20-c- retail, but entrepreneurs have managed to obtain supplies and spirit them elsewhere, at prices up to 50-c- a package. Despite the potential demand, GF is moving cautiously before going national. Reason: although the company makes more than 400 food products, it has never before sold a candy.

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