History of Candy School

In the summer of 1963, J.H. von Elbe, a new professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, drove down to Herb Knechtel’s research and development laboratory in Skokie, Illinois to pick up the equipment needed for the first Resident Course in Confectionery Technology. Decades later, the course, hosted by the UW–Madison Department of Food Science, has become an important training ground for the candy industry.

Over a thousand students — from line workers and company owners to technical staff and suppliers — have learned the science of candy from the world’s confectionery experts. “The word to describe it is probably impossible,” says consultant Walt Vink, who spent 26 years with LifeSavers and attended, sent employees to, and taught in the course that is affectionately called “Candy School.” Students are often competitors, Vink says, but when they get to campus, they share information. As the confectionery school continues through its second half-century, private support is key to improving students’ candy-making experience.