Editing Pop Rocks (section)

==Background and history==
The concept was initially patented by [[General Foods]] research [[chemist]]s Leon T. Kremzner and [[William A. Mitchell]] on December 12, 1961 (U.S. patent #3,012,893),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US3012893A/en|title=Gasified confection and method of making the same|work=U.S. Patent Office|date=December 12, 1961}}</ref> with a subsequent patent by [[General Foods]] research [[chemist]]s Fredric Kleiner, Pradip K. Roy, and Michael J. Kuchman on September 15, 1981 (U.S. patent #4,289,794),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US4289794A/en|title=Process of preparing gasified candy|work=U.S. Patent Office|date=September 15, 1981}}</ref>

The candy was not offered to the public until 1976,<ref name="H50">{{cite book |last1=Berry |first1=Steve |last2=Norman |first2=Phil |title=A History of Sweets in 50 Wrappers |date=2014 |publisher=[[The Friday Project]] |location=London |isbn=9780007575480 |pages=86–87}}</ref> before General Foods withdrew it in 1983, citing its lack of success in the marketplace and its relatively short [[shelf life]].

Distribution was initially controlled to ensure freshness; but with its increasing popularity, unauthorized redistribution from market to market resulted in out-of-date product reaching consumers. After that, [[Kraft Foods]] licensed the Pop Rocks brand  to [[Zeta Espacial]] S.A. which continued manufacturing the product under Kraft's license. Eventually, Zeta Espacial S.A. became the brand's owner and sole manufacturer. Pop Rocks is distributed in the U.S. by Pop Rocks Inc. (Atlanta, Georgia) and by Zeta Espacial S.A. (Barcelona, Spain) in the rest of the world. Zeta Espacial S.A. also sells popping candy internationally under other brands including Peta Zetas, Wiz Fizz, and Magic Gum.

In 2008, Marvin J. Rudolph, who led the group assigned to bring Pop Rocks out of the laboratory and into the manufacturing plant, wrote a history of Pop Rocks development.  The book, titled ''Pop Rocks: The Inside Story of America's Revolutionary Candy'', was based on interviews with food technologists, engineers, marketing managers, and members of Billy Mitchell's family, along with the author's experience. In the book, Rudolph points out that the Turkish company HLEKS Popping Candy flooded the market with popping candy in the year 2000.

A similar product, ''Cosmic Candy'', previously called ''Space Dust'', was in powdered form and was also manufactured by General Foods.<ref name="H50" /><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/rumorinmarketpla0000koen|url-access=registration|quote=space dust cosmic candy pop rocks.|title=Rumor in the Marketplace: The Social Psychology of Commercial Hearsay|first=Fredrick|last=Koenig|date=12 April 1985|publisher=Auburn House Publishing Company|via=Internet Archive|location=Dover, Massachusetts|isbn=9780865691179|page=[https://archive.org/details/rumorinmarketpla0000koen/page/76 76]}}</ref>

In 2012, [[Cadbury Schweppes]] Pty. Ltd. (in Australia) began producing a chocolate product named "Marvellous Creations Jelly Popping Candy Beanies" which contains popping candy, jelly beans and "beanies" (candy-covered chocolate).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://joyville.cadbury.com.au/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120923014555/http://joyville.cadbury.com.au/|url-status=dead|title=Cadbury|archivedate=September 23, 2012|website=www.cadbury.com.au}}</ref> By 2013, Whittakers (New Zealand) had also released a local product (white chocolate with a local carbonated drink [[Lemon & Paeroa|Lemon and Paeroa]]). Prominent British chef [[Heston Blumenthal]] has also made several desserts incorporating popping candy, both for the peculiar sensory experience of the popping and for the nostalgia value of using an ingredient popular in the 1970s.<ref>{{Cite episode | title         = Heston's Titanic Feast| series        = Heston's Feasts | series-link    =Heston's Feasts| network       = [[Channel 4]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite episode | title         = Chocolate | series        = How to Cook Like Heston | series-link    =Heston Blumenthal| network       = [[Channel 4]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite episode | title         = Potato | series        = How to Cook Like Heston | series-link    =Heston Blumenthal| network       = [[Channel 4]]}}</ref>