This is a web edition of GBH Daily, a weekday newsletter bringing you local stories you can trust so you can stay informed without feeling overwhelmed.
🎃 Chance of showers today, but it’ll be warmer with a high of 61 — perfect timing for trick-or-treating, for those who celebrate Halloween! Sunset is at 5:38 p.m. It’s day 31 of the federal government shutdown.
Would you eat 200-year-old Halloween candy? Our video team went out to answer that question for themselves. They recently stopped by Ye Olde Pepper Companie in Salem — the Halloween capital of the world, of course — to sample centuries-old recipes like Gibralters and Black Jacks. Open since 1806, the shop predates the town’s infamous Spooky Season and has long been known for its year-round fancy treats.
What’s your favorite Halloween candy? Reply to this email or drop us a line at daily@wgbh.org, and we might include your response in a future newsletter.
Four Things to Know
1. Hurricane Melissa has devastated parts of Jamaica, leaving many areas without infrastructure or electricity. It is now the most powerful storm on record in the island nation. At least 40 people have died in Jamaica and Haiti, and the storm is currently heading toward Bermuda.
In the Boston area, many residents are beginning to hear from family members dealing with the storm’s aftermath. They’re eager to help rebuild and support nonprofits doing work in Jamaica.
2. Ask the two candidates hoping to become the next mayor of Somerville what sets them apart, and you’ll get two starkly different answers.
Councilor-at-Large Willie Burnley Jr. stresses that — like roughly two-thirds of Somerville’s residents — he’s a renter himself. He casts himself as an agent of big, substantive change at a moment when he says that’s exactly what Somerville needs. Councilor-at-Large Jake Wilson, in contrast, says he has executive management experience from serving as Somerville Youth Soccer’s full-time volunteer president — experience that his opponent lacks. What might this mean for the Somerville mayorship?
3. The city of Worcester and the Greater Worcester Community Foundation are teaming up to support small nonprofits across the region. They’ve earmarked $3 million for at least a dozen grassroots organizations with annual budgets under $500,000. According to the foundation, each recipient will receive between $10,000 and $30,000 per year for two to three years, helping them grow and become more sustainable.
The new funding comes at a time when leaders of small nonprofits say they usually miss out on grant opportunities — either because they don’t meet strict application requirements or lack the connections to the philanthropic community that larger, more established organizations typically have.
4. Ahead of public food benefits running out for more than a million Bay Staters on Saturday, Gov. Maura Healey announced yesterday that the state will advance a scheduled $4 million payment for food pantries — but won’t tap into the state’s reserves, despite calls from advocates to do so.
Healey said her administration will advance funds to food pantries for the month of November to help ease the added pressure. Marty Martinez with United Way also announced that the relief fund Healey launched with the organization last week — aimed at gathering private donations — has topped $1 million.
A Closer Look
Would you eat 200-year-old Halloween candy?
By Renuka Balakrishnan
…We did, and the experience was… interesting.
When we decided to make a Halloween video, Salem came to mind as the obvious location, — home of the infamous Witch Trials turned Halloweentown, USA.
Then we found out that the nation’s oldest continuously operating candy store is also in Salem.
Ye Olde Pepper Companie is an institution, and it’s been continuously operating since 1806!
On Derby Street, steps away from Salem’s busiest drag, you can see the people queuing up outside the entrance before you even get there. The second you get inside, you’ll have to rejoin the line snaking around the shop — there’s no room anywhere else, but you can grab what you need from where you’re standing. Any spare area is filled to the brim with colorful candy. One employee told us it had been that crowded all this month.
But we weren’t there for all the fancy new candy on display. We wanted the oldest items there: Gibralters and Black Jacks, two recipes that have remained untouched since the 1800s. The store boasts a jar of wrapped Gibralters that have been there since that time.
Gibralters are a type of rock candy made with sugar, water, cream of tartar and flavored with lemon or mint. Black Jacks are a single-ingredient stick candy — basically a molasses candy cane.
Our verdict: For the resources they had at the time, these candymakers did the best they could. Both candies hurt our teeth and have flavors we aren’t used to today, with all the complicated formulas that go into making modern candy. But it’s comforting to realize that even people living back then still found ways to scratch the itch we all have for that sweet treat after dinner.
Of course, we couldn’t help ourselves — we picked up some modern candies on the way out that definitely stole the show. We recommend you try the orange sour pumpkins, penuche fudge and chocolate-covered gummy bears. The leftover candy hasn’t gone to waste either. Stirring the Black Jack molasses into a hot cup of coffee has become a bit of a trend around our newsroom.
We won’t be showing this video to our dentists.
Want more videos like this? Click here to subscribe to GBH News on YouTube.
GBH Daily
Your essential daily newsletter delivering trusted news, local insights, ways to connect, and can't miss programs from Boston and beyond.
