Firewater Friday - Chery's Serious Caramel Candy Apple

Robert Treat was an American colonial leader and governor of Connecticut between 1683 and 1698. His family came to the New World from England to escape religious persecution. The Treats were early settlers at Wethersfield, Connecticut but eventually settled in Milford, Connecticut. Robert was one of the leaders of the New Haven Colony, serving in the General Court as its assembly was known. Robert Treat had eight children.

When the Connecticut Charter of 1662 forced the New Haven Colony to merge with Connecticut in 1665, Robert Treat left the colony with a group of followers. They created a settlement in New Jersey in 1666 where they were joined by other dissidents from Branford, Connecticut led by Rev. Abraham Pierson, Sr. The wanted to create a colony that followed the strict puritan rules similar to the one they had established in Milford, Connecticut.

Treat and the party bought the property on the Passaic River from the Hackensack Indians by exchanging gunpowder, one hundred bars of lead, twenty axes, twenty coats, guns, pistols, swords, kettles, blankets, knives, beer, and ten pairs of breeches.

Robert Treat wanted the new community to be named Milford, New Jersey. But Pierson, a devout Puritan, preferred the name New Ark or New Work. Through whatever means, Pierson won the name calling contest. The name was shortened and the place is now known as Newark.

Newark continued to grow and expand; soon becoming a major industrial center and one of the largest ports in the nation.

William W. Kolb, an established candy maker in Newark, invented the very recognizable treat known as the red candy apple. While experimenting in his candy shop with red cinnamon candy for the Christmas trade, he dipped some apples into the mixture and put them in the windows for display. He sold the whole first batch for 5 cents each and later sold thousands yearly. Soon candied apples were being sold along the Jersey Shore, at the circus and in candy shops across the country.