Oh Henry! facts for kids
Oh Henry! bar
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| Type | Candy bar |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | United States |
| Created by | George Williamson |
| Invented | 1920 |
| Main ingredients | Peanuts, caramel, and fudge |
| Ingredients generally used | Chocolate |
The Oh Henry! is a tasty candy bar that was first made in the United States. It is filled with peanuts, gooey caramel, and soft fudge, all covered in a layer of chocolate. While the original Oh Henry! bar was sold in the U.S. until 2019, a very similar candy bar is still made and sold there by Hershey. It is called the Rally bar. A slightly different version of the Oh Henry! bar is still made and sold in Canada.
Contents
The Story of Oh Henry!
No one is completely sure how the Oh Henry! bar got its start. There are a few different stories about where it came from.
Who Created the Oh Henry! Bar?
The company Nestlé, which used to make the bar, says it was created by George Williamson in Chicago in 1920. He owned the Williamson Candy Company.
Another popular story says that a man named Thomas Henry invented a candy bar in the late 1910s. He was the manager of the Peerless Candy Co. in Arkansas City, Kansas. He called his bar the "Tom Henry Bar." The story goes that he sold his recipe to George Williamson in 1920. However, there is no clear proof that this story is true.
How Did It Get Its Name?
There are also different ideas about how the Oh Henry! bar got its name.
- One idea is that a boy named Henry often visited George Williamson's candy shop. The young girls working there liked him a lot. They would say "Oh Henry!" when they talked to him or about him. Williamson supposedly used this phrase to name his new candy.
- Another story suggests the name came from the famous writer O. Henry. Some people think Williamson was a fan of O. Henry's stories. It's possible he read a story by O. Henry that mentioned peanuts, which inspired the name.
Who Owned Oh Henry! Over Time?
The Williamson Company sold the Oh Henry! brand to Warner-Lambert in 1965. Warner-Lambert then sold it to Terson, Inc. Later, in 1984, Nestlé bought the rights to sell Oh Henry! in the U.S. from Terson. In 2018, Nestlé sold its U.S. candy brands to Ferrero SpA. Ferrero still makes some Oh Henry! bars in the U.S. today.
Oh Henry! Bars in Different Countries
The Oh Henry! bar sold in Canada is made by the Hershey Company. It looks a bit different from the U.S. version. The Canadian bar has fudge in the middle, surrounded by a thin layer of caramel. Nuts are around that layer, and then it's all covered in chocolate.
Hershey sometimes sells the Canadian Oh Henry! bars in the United States. When they do, they call them Rally bars. This name comes from a different Hershey candy bar that was popular in the 1970s but is no longer made.
Advertising the Candy Bar
Old TV commercials for Oh Henry! often showed someone desperately looking for the candy bar. They would finally find it, but then get into more funny trouble after eating it. For example, someone might be on a shaky ladder or at a store without money.
See also
