While this hammer may look like a cigar hammer, it is missing the necessary notch used to break the seal and pry open the lid. So what is it? On one side it says “Makers of the Genuine Turkish Chewing Taffy,” while the other simply states with a flourish “Schwarz & Son, Newark, NJ.” As it turns out, Schwarz & Son were the manufacturers of Turkish Chewing Taffy from about 1915 until 1936. Contrary to what Wikipedia says, the recipe was discovered in 1912 when Herman Herer added too many egg whites to a batch of marshmallow and he brought it with him to Schwarz & Son. The candy, which shattered when broken off of large sheets with a hammer but was soft when chewed, is actually a non-Newtonian fluid (a fluid whose state depends on the force applied, think of when you mix cornstarch and water).
Schwarz & Son was sold in 1936 to the Bonomo family of Coney Island, New York. They renamed it “Turkish Taffy,” selling it in vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and banana. (They also sold a peanut butter flavor which was very short-lived.) Originally sold by weight from sheets broken apart with a ball-peen hammer at Woolworth’s, Bonomo began selling Turkish Taffy in bars from the late 1940s. They advertised the instructions ‘Crack it up! – Hold bar in palm of hand – Strike against flat surface – Let it melt in your mouth!” In 1949 it was one of the first kinds of candy advertised on television when it sponsored the show “The Magic Clown.”
In 1972 Turkish Taffy was sold to Tootsie Roll Industries, renamed “Soft and Chewy Tootsie Taffy” and was discontinued in 1980. After a 31-year hiatus, Bonomo Turkish Taffy was made available for sale once again from the Bonomo family in 2010 following a seven-year online campaign. They reintroduced the original four flavors and added “Wild Cherry” and “Blue Raspberry.” You can still buy Turkish Taffy today in specialty candy stores and from a variety of online sellers.