Food product containing expanded cellular material and method of manufacture

A method for the manufacture of edible products using a container, comprising assembling pieces of confection material into the form of wafers of predetermined uniform thickness and configuration, the pieces being sugar based confection material having expandable properties, heating the pieces to make the surfaces soft and sticky and to cause the same to adhere together, cooling the wafers, assembling a group comprising a multiplicity of such wafers in a container in parallel relationship with void spaces between parallel opposing side surfaces of adjacent wafers, inserting non-edible separating elements in the form of thin sheets or films between and across the opposed side faces of the wafers and in the void spaces before expansion, and then expanding the wafers by heating to soften the same and by subjecting the wafers to a partial vacuum, the expansion serving to cause the wafers to expand in thickness to substantially eliminate the void spaces between the same and to bring opposing side surfaces of adjacent expanded wafers into juxtaposition with formation of bonds between adjacent expanded wafers, and then permitting the expanded group of wafers to cool to form a final product consisting of a self-supporting group or stack of expanded wafers.