Pop Rocks: The Inside Story of America's Revolutionary Candy

William A. (Bill) Mitchell invented Pop Rocks Crackling Candy in 1956 as an attempt to create an instant carbonated drink. The fruit-flavored candy contained entrapped bubbles of carbon dioxide, which when released created tiny explosions with sound effects. As a research chemist at General Foods during the Pop Rocks heyday, Marvin J. Rudolph led a group assigned to bring Pop Rocks out of the laboratory and into the manufacturing plant. During that time, he was awarded six US patents based on Pop Rock production improvements, and one for Increda-Bubble, a popping bubble gum. Drawing on interviews with food technologists, engineers, marketing managers, and members of Bill Mitchell's family, Rudolph takes readers from the day Pop Rocks were invented to the present day.

Marvin J. Rudolph has been a food product developer for 35 years for such companies as General Foods Corporation (merged into Kraft Foods), Ragu Foods (purchased by Unilever), Lehi The Farmers Dairy, and Arthur D. Little, a technical and business-consulting firm. He holds nine U.S. patents in such areas as confections (Pop Rocks processing; Increda-Bubble), snack foods, and ice cream. He is a frequent speaker on managing innovation and strategic partnerships within the food industry. He holds a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA where he was raised.