Home Made Lollipops

Home made lollipops AG WORLD Ag World 11-6-18 Home-made lollypops have "licked" an unemployment problem for Yvonne and Nelson Williams, of Truman, Minn. Both were working at a local bulk gas station which was sold, leaving them out of work. Between unsuccessful job searches, Yvonne worked on her hobby of making home-made suckers. Her daughter Kristine started selling them to friends at school. Then the school's FFA Chapter placed an order for 800 suckers. Local filling stations and other stores started selling them. ' One thing led to another and the entire Williams family, including daughter Kris, 17, and son Thomas, 12, who's better known as "TJ", soon found themselves in the midst of a booming lollypop business which they've appropriately named "The Licker Store." A year ago, they were turning out a respectable 2,000 suckers per month, with most of the orders coming from within a 15 mile radius of Truman. Today, they're working six days a week and turning out 18,000 to 20,000 suchers per month. Orders are pouring in from all corners of the U.S. and Canada, thanks to a flurry of national radio, TV and newspaer coverage of their "Licker Store." In addition to long hours of hard work, the "secret" to their success, according to Nelson, is the special flavoring used.to create about 30 different flavors. "With ordinary suckers, the flavor is generally only skin deep. With ours, the flavor carries through the entire sucker right to the stick. People of all ages can tell the difference," says Nelson. A mixture of water, corn syrup and the "secret" flavoring is brought to a boil, then poured into forms. One kettle full makes 60 suckers. Clips are used to hold the sticks in place until the suckers harden Once they've set up, the forms are removed, the seams cut down with a knife and each sucker is wrapped in clear plastic. There are two sizes ù regular 1 in. dia. suckers, which account for most of the orders, and large "mega" suckers about the size of a baseball. Best seller among the 30 or so flavors the "Licker Store" sells is strawberry dackeri. Other favorites include chocolate sundae, bubblegum, licorice, cherry cheese cake, and rootbeer. Regular suckers are packaged 100 to a bag, with each bag containing 4 of each of 25 different flavors. They retail at "The Licker Store" for 30 cents per sucker ($1.50 each for "mega" suckers) but most retail stores charge 50 to 75 cents each for individual suckers sold over the counter.

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