Once Paskesz candy burst onto the scene, well... Purim was changed forever

Photos: Paskesz Candy

Sweet Beginnings

Imagine walking into the grocery store in search of a yummy, delicious treat — maybe a sweet lollipop or a chewy cookie. But what’s this? You look from package to package. Sure, there’s a smattering of kosher items. Some boxed candy. Some kosher hard candies and one brand of lollipops. If you go to a department store, you can get Barton’s fancy chocolates. Pesach time there are some chocolate lollies. But that’s it. Unless you count some chalav stam chocolates, and gum that could be brought from Eretz Yisrael if someone you knew would bring it, there wasn’t much to choose from.

This was the world of kosher candy that Mr. Lazer Paskesz discovered when he arrived in the US from Hungary in 1954. Many new immigrants had recently arrived in America, dismayed to find the general Jewish-American public consuming candy without a hechsher. As long as there were no nonkosher ingredients listed on the wrapper, they thought it was fine. Mr. Paskesz had worked in the food industry in Hungary, and he loved sharing the happiness that was candy. This made him just the right person to change the status of American sweets. On the Satmar Rebbe’s suggestion, he set out to develop a line of kosher candy. Paskesz first opened its doors on Kingston Avenue in Crown Heights. In the back of the store was a section that served as the warehouse, storing the huge quantities of candy that had been shipped from the factories. But Mr. Paskesz needed a bigger market. He started traveling to Williamsburg and Boro Park, peddling his kosher candy. And the rest, as they say, is history!

How a new product is developed

How many types of candy and snacks do you think are on the shelves of your local supermarket? Besides the regulars like lollipops and jellybeans, chips and cookies, there are all sorts of unusual ones too, like Oodles, Milk Munch, and Sour Bitez. And the flavors! Strawberry, raspberry, green apple, cherry, grape, cotton candy, pink lemonade — more flavors than you could think of on your own. But how did we get from a few kosher candy options to hundreds? Well... one by one!

Step 1

Imagine it: The first step on is the idea. Did you think there was one super creative person inventing all those new varieties of candy? Think again! Paskesz has an entire team studying food trends and figuring out what sort of candy people would like. They go all over the world coming up with new, innovative ideas!

Step 2

The Ingredient Search: In order to make a quality kosher product, Paskesz needs to hunt throughout the world for kosher ingredients. Gelatin, for example, is usually made out of nonkosher animal bones. When it started being made out of fish, Paskesz could finally get the ingredient it needed to make the marshmallows we know and love.

Step 3

Pack it: Not all colorful candy packages are created equal. With the sheer amount of kosher candy lining the shelves of the grocery store, Paskesz needs to make sure their new candy can grab attention. The packaging makes a huge difference. When Paskesz changed the package of their Stix Mix from striped to yellow, people started buying them more.

Step 4

Quality control: Paskesz tastes, tests, and retests (sometimes with non-Jewish tasters) until they finally have an amazing product.

Now the stage is set for a new kosher candy. Although the process can take up to three years to get to this point, it won’t take much longer for a new candy to hit the shelves.