Sprinkles, hundreds and thousands, jimmies, confetti — no matter what you call them, these small but mighty candies are great to have on hand to add a decorative flair and sugary crunch to everything from ice cream sundaes to funfetti cake batter. Sprinkles can transform ordinary dishes into works of art; after all, there's a reason it's called "fairy bread" and not "slice of toast with sprinkles on top." But these tasty little treats aren't just about showmanship.
The added crunchy texture and sweet flavor can add a complex layer to your sweet treat. But before you add a sprinkle of childhood nostalgia to your dessert, you need to ask yourself an important question: Rainbow or chocolate? Surprisingly, rainbow sprinkles have been around longer than their chocolate counterpart. Per Insider Food , rainbow sprinkles have been around since the late 18th century, crediting French confectioners as the first to use rainbow sprinkles to make their pastries even more enticing.
Chocolate sprinkles didn't arrive on the scene until the early 20th century, although the exact origins are a hotly contested topic. Origins and flavor Candy company Just Born claims that founder Sam Born invented the technology around 1930 that led to chocolate sprinkles, later referred to as "jimmies." While this is the most commonly recognized origin story, there are other contradictory retellings about who and where exactly chocolate sprinkles came from.
Some believe it was actually Dutch chocolatiers who .