Please welcome Eric Gutman to Under The Streetlamp. After five years on the road with Under the Streetlamp, and three PBS specials, Michael Ingersoll has decided to move on with our full blessing. Michael is looking forward to his time at home and investing in his passion for producing.
That machine took an average of 364 licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop. Human volunteers at Purdue averaged 252 licks to reach the center. At the University of Michigan, a similar machine registered an average of 411 licks to reach the center of a Tootsie Pop, while Swarthmore College students in Pennsylvania used human test subjects, who averaged 144 licks to reach the center of the pop.
You might know the company better by its current name, Tootsie Roll Industries. At one point, 20 million Tootsie Pops were being produced every day for sale by this company. The Tootsie Roll, which was invented in 1896, has a unique story by itself before it ever became part of the center of a delicious lollipop. Credit for the recipe of the Tootsie Roll goes to Leo Hirschfeld, who was an Austrian immigrant who had a love for candy. The first Tootsie Rolls began being produced in 1896 and by 1917 they were a commercial hit.