It’s hard to think of Christmas without the bright red and white stripes of peppermint candies. While peppermint is used to flavor a few things like mints, lozenges, gum or toothpaste, it is front and center at Christmas. Peppermint coffees and cocoa appear. Chocolates are infused with it and you can pick up peppermint flavored M&Ms and Hershey Kisses. Peppermint candies hit the shelf like Peppermint Peeps and Brach’s Nougats. But there is nothing that screams peppermint like the red and white stripes of a candy cane. It just says the holiday is here.