The Atomic Fireball candy was born out of a figment of imagination of Nello Ferrara, who one day in 1954 thought, ‘how about a spicy candy?’

In the name ‘Atomic Fireballs’, the Fireballs part is surely due to the hotness of the candy and the Atomic, well, simply because of the obsession in 1950’s to name most things (especially crazy ones) atomic.

The candy when rolled out became an instant success with the crowd. Today over 15 million Atomic Fireballs are consumed every week worldwide.

What sets this candy apart from others is its strangeness. Where candies are all about sweet confections, Atomic Fireballs step in and change the logic a bit. The candy has an outer red covering that is mild in taste but as it dissolves it becomes literally ‘too hot to handle’ as it releases the spicy cinnamon flavor. For kids, it’s especially the hot and spicy cinnamon flavor that they cannot handle and hence most of the times they take out the candy for some respite and then go on to have it again.

Some do it more often and some kids even have bets as to who can keep it in much longer. For adults, it simply brings back memories of what they did with Atomic Fireballs when they were kids. Some even use it today for alertness when driving.

Another quality of Atomic Fireballs that makes it a favorite among many is that you can go on relishing it for longer time as it is a hard candy. You have to go through at least the first three layers to be able to bite into it. Longer time equals longer fun. And it only gets better as you traverse the layers.