Dear good folks at the fine Willy Wonka Corporation,

My name is James and I have been an avid eater of your delicious Fun Dip product since I was but a young boy with a growing palette. My transition from mashed bananas to more sophisticated edibles such as Now & Laters and Jolly Ranchers was made easy by your delicious Fun Dip candy. I look back fondly on the times when I would anxiously wait near my front door in anticipation of the sweet sound of the ice cream man's glorious jingle. I would run out into the street, my glands salivating for sugar, ready to spend my week's allowance of fifty cents on something that could truly sooth my soul. The neighborhood children would clamor for the cigarette bubble gum, Kool's, so that they could pretend like they were smoking when they put the tube to their lips, exhaled, and powdered sugar flew off into the air. I never thought those kids were very cool. Cool for me was dipping that mysterious white stick into the powdery goodness, making sure to attach only as much as I needed. That kind of freedom, at that age, was liberating.

Which brings me to my pressing question. From that glorious day when I first ran out of my cherry flavored Fun Dip powder and realized that I could take a bite of my eating utensil, to today, as I eagerly lap up every last granule of my purple dipping sauce as I sit typing at my desk, I have always and forever wondered exactly what that white stick is made out of. Parents, teachers, medical personnel. None could offer any type of glimpse into the true nature of my most favorite eating apparatus. Not even a spork can compete. Sugar? Chalk? Baking Soda? Even at a young age I was aware that they were all just guessing. No one knows. As I have grown older, and hopefully wiser, I have begun to do some research on one of my life's more vexing inquiries. Just what is the stick made out of? I've searched the halls of my public libraries, I've scoured the internet relentlessly, and I've even placed a few phone calls which were, unfortunately, never returned.

I implore, no I beg you to shed some light on this dark mystery that has tested the limits of my already fragile sanity. What are the ingredients of your Fun Dip dipping sticks? What kind of process is required to manufacture them? Has the recipe or the process ever changed in the history of the product? Are there any foreseeable changes that may occur to the Fun Dip dipping stick?

Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy candy-making schedules to humor a dedicated lifetime Fun Dipper. I hope and pray that "The Dip", as I affectionately call it, will always be a part of my life.

Warmest Regards,

James Spiller