Hanukkah 101: The History of Hannukah Gelt

Every holiday has an affiliated candy and Hanukkah is no different. To learn more the history of Hanukkah’s gelt, we went to the candy experts.

Every first and third Wednesday, a new episode of Candy is Dandy drops. One of the three hosts, Greg Gonzalez, Beto Sistos and Daniel Zafran, picks a candy and presents its history. Then, all three taste and review. It is during the reviews that arguments can get hilariously heated. The podcast started in 2022 and episodes have covered such sweet treats as Tootsie Rolls, Pop Rocks, and Airheads.

Last year for the holidays, Candy is Dandy covered the fascinating history of the candy cane as well as Ferrero Rocher, and this year their focus is Hanukkah gelt. I spoke to Daniel to learn more.

In the end, gelt is only going to be as good as the chocolate it is made of and for the most part, Hanukkah gelt is not usually made from the most high-quality chocolate but the tradition of eating it is firmly established. Daniel explained that there are a few possible explanations for how gelt became the go-to candy of the holiday.

After the defeat of King Antiochus the Fourth by the Maccabees and the miraculous burning of oil for eight nights, coins were minted to commemorate what inspired Hanukkah. Those coins could have been the inspiration. Although, in Eastern Europe in the 1700’s, parents started giving children coins, or as they are called in Yiddish, gelt, to donate as a way of teaching them generosity and charity. Somewhere along the way, that real money may have become chocolate coins instead. Regardless, by the 1920’s in New York City, Loft’s Candies began to mass produce gelt and was the first to wrap them in foil and sell them in mesh bags.

If you want to learn more, Candy is Dandy’s Hanukkah gelt episode is out now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. —Bronwyn Lewis