Twizzlers is the product of Y&S Candies, Inc., of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Twizzlers were first produced in 1929 by Young and Smylie, as the company was then called. The licorice company was founded in 1845, making it one of the oldest confectionery firms in the United States. Twizzlers ingredients consist of corn syrup, wheat flour, sugar, cornstarch, and smaller amounts of palm oil, salt, artificial flavor, glycerin, citric acid, potassium sorbate, Red 40, and soy lecithin. Because only black Twizzlers contain extracts of the licorice plant, they are collectively referred to as licorice-type candy. 70% of the annual production of Twizzlers are strawberry, the most popular Twizzlers flavor. Company history The manufacturer of Twizzlers candy is one of the oldest confectionery firms in the United States. The company was established in 1845 as Young and Smylie, and adopted Y&S as its trademark in 1870. National Licorice Company was created in 1902 through the merger of three small firms: Young & Smylie, S.V. & F.P. Schudder and H.W. Petherbridge. In 1908 a plant was opened in Montreal and in 1929 the Twizzlers brand was created. The company changed its name to Y&S Candies Inc. in 1968. Y&S Candies was acquired by The Hershey Company in November 1977 in a pooling-of-interests, then merged into Hershey in January 1982. Since 1999, Twizzlers have been manufactured in Memphis, Tennessee, as well as Lancaster, in a Y&S plant that makes chewing gum and other candies. From 1970 through 1999, it was manufactured in Farmington, New Mexico, but relocated the operation to Memphis due to rising transportation costs. According to the Guinness Book of Records, the longest licorice twist ever made measured and and was made at the Y&S Candy Plant in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1998. Nibs history Nibs are bite-sized licorice pieces made for nibbling. The confectionery industry has long used the word nibs to describe small pieces of a product. The origin of the industry's use of the word comes from cacao nibs, which are the bitter but very flavorful chocolate bits made from the beans of the cocoa tree. No one knows when Y&S introduced its Nibs to the Twizzlers licorice line, whether it was in the 1930s right after Twizzlers were first produced or some time later. Candy packaging collectors provide first-hand accounts of specific Nibs package features on specimens from the 1960s and 1970s. Even though the company sold nearly 50 million