October 31, 2024 • 37 mins
These coconut-based candy bars have supported soldiers overseas, jobs during the Depression, and even anti-Nazi espionage. Anney and Lauren dip into the bountiful history of Mounds and Almond Joy.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hello, and welcome to save our protection of iHeartRadio. I'm
Annie Reeves.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And I'm mourn bah blah bum And today we have
an episode for you about Mounds and Almond Joy the candies.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Yes, yes, fascinating episode. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Yeah, I was, you know, glancing around looking for a
Halloween candy that we hadn't done, and this story struck me.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
And yeah, yes because as we record this as it's
coming out, it is Halloween. This is one of my candies.
I have candies, Almondjoy specifically now Mounds. Okay, oh, all right,
candies I try to get. I love an Almond Joy.
(00:52):
I find they're very They're like usually people will give
them to me like people have strong opinions about them.
They do, they do, and I love them. I've said
before one of the few topics of like my favorite
foods we have not done is coconut, because that one
(01:14):
is going to be a big one, really big. Yeah,
but I love coconut. And so as long as I
can remember, I have loved.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Have we done all five of your must have Halloween
candies so far?
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Can you remember?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Do you know?
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Yeah? No, because it's Reese's kit Kats, M and M's
butter finger and I'm enjoy.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
How have we talked about butterfingers? Yeah, I think so, Okay,
I'm gonna believe you. I'm gonna believe you.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Well oh no, I think so.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Well, there's no way of finding out now.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
No, but if this is the last one, I feel
like a piece is puzzle was complete. You know what
I mean?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
We have we have not I checked, we have we
have not done an episode on butter fingers.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
So blast, Yeah, I will say almon Joy and better
fingers are the hardest to come by.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah. They were a lot more common when we were
growing up. And certainly almon Joy is considered pretty old fashioned.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
So Noll stinks. No, It's funny because I had a
friend text me the other day out of the blue
and she said her mic and ikes old fashioned, and
I said yes, and she said, how dare you? That's great.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
I love that she asked you specifically and then got
mad at your answer.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
That's true.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
I'm nothing it's bad for that reason. I'm just saying no,
that's how they feel.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yes, yes, So I would love to hear from younger
listeners if you're like all joy, Oh.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
I love them too.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I also am a fan oft I'm a fan of chocolate.
I'm a fan of candy. I yeah, almonds are great.
I feel like I'm eating a health food because it
has an almond in it, you know.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah, And in doing this research, I forgot it's been
a minute, and they do come in different sizes, but
I forgot that for a while they came. We've got
too in the same package, you know, too small.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah, I feel like that's the standard. I feel like
that's still the standard.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Is I think it is? But no, I think it is.
But I in the past few years have gotten the
many ones. It's just totally Yeah. Yes, we have done
not coconut, but we've done coconut adjacent episodes, and we've
done chocolates. We also have not done almond.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Nope, nope, we haven't all coconuts. Two really big ones
that I'm even in this uh, even in this year
in which we are tackling many topics, I had been
avoiding those two. Or I'm just like, you know, maybe
maybe not the week, not gonna do that to myself.
That's a lot. That sounds like a lot.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
It is, indeed, it is, indeed, But we have done
other nut based topics. Huh, and all the other candies
barring Butterfinger. But yeah, plenty of episodes to check out. Sure, yes,
(04:25):
but I guess this brings us to our question. M
Mounds and Almond Joy what are they? Well?
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Mounds and Almond Joy are two similar candy bar brands,
both produced these days by Hershey's. They each consist mainly
of chunky, shredded coconut in a kind of sweet and
creamy vanilla sugar base, formed in two bars of various
sizes and coated in chocolate. Mounds is that coconut stuff
coated in dark chocolate, and Almond Joy is that coconut
(04:57):
stuff with a toasted whole almond placed on top, one
for every like inch or so of candy, and then
that whole thing is coated in milk chocolate. The chocolate
coatings are fairly soft and thin, like you get more
like of a chew and melt from them than like
a snap and crumble kind of situation, and the coconut
filling is thick and chewy and like very sweet. The
(05:20):
chocolate and coconut are both rich, but you get that
like nice, slightly bittersweet roasty notes from the chocolate, contrasting
with the like nutty, creamy vanilla coconut and in the
case of Almond Joy, an additional crunch and sweet toasty
flavors from the almonds.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
They are.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
They are considered a bit old fashioned, but like they're
soft and comforting, like the densest pillows, like a like
a weighted pillow, and you sort of feel like you
should probably brush your teeth after eating one, even if
you've only had a snack sized one. You're like, well,
this is good for my dentist. I'm I'm gonna fix
this now.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
They are really soft. I hadn't considered that before. But
you're right about the chocolate. It's a very it's just
an easy bite to experience.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yeah, it's not like a crunch until you get to
the almond, right. Yeah, it's just soft, just nice.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
I already got my Almond Joy for this.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Oh you did, Okay, good good.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
I haven't eaten it yet, I got it. Oh I
have not.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
I have not had an Almond Joy yet this season.
But I also don't have anything like I don't have
a superstition about different candy bars.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Yeah, the world ending, the world ending if you don't
five Yeah, Wow, it's a responsibility. I almost there. Yeah, no,
I understand, I understand.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
It's like Cabin in the woods.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
But with candy.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, okay, Almond Joy and mounds. They have come in
various shape for from bite sized two king sized, plus
things like egg shapes for Easter. Though right when you
get a full bar size, it's actually two or more
smaller pieces in a single wrapper. And I'm assuming that
(07:12):
that is to maintain the structural integrity of the candy,
because right, because they are so soft, I guess it
would just kind of go whoomp if it was a
big long bar. There have been a few experiments with
additional flavors being added to the basic product over the years.
I think mostly in the early two thousands. There was
(07:33):
like a Pina Colada flavor with white chocolate and pineapple
in it, a key Lime pie with white chocolate milk
chocolate with passion fruit, things like that. But for the
most part, it's kind of just the standard. There's also
been some co branded products, including an Almond Joy iced
coffee from Dunkin Donuts and an Almond Joy Coffee Creamer
coffee creamer episode from International Delights. Also like Almond Joy
(07:58):
in quotation marks. Is definitely a flavor concept that's out
there in the world now, even when people do not
license the actual name, you know, like coconut almond chocolate
is just a flavor that is in our zeitgeist. You can, yeah,
just eat the candy bars, but people do also chop
them up into other desserts like cookies or ice cream,
or use like little chunks of them as like a
(08:20):
topping for things like frosted cupcakes.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Maybe. Wow, Yeah, we love our treats.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
We do.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
We're speaking of what about the nutritiit Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Yeah, treats are nice, treats are great. Candy is a treat. Yeah,
I'm speaking to myself in this sternly, Lauren, Candy is
a treat. It's not dinner. It's not dinner.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
You can't do that.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Just because you can, just because you're an adult and
no one will stop you, doesn't mean that you should.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
H all right, I guess, so, don't take care of
vice from us.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
No, No, can't tell you what to do.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
No we can't. No, we can't try. No, we would never.
We do have some numbers for you. We do.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
As of twenty eleven, Almond Joy was generating some sixty
point eight million dollars in revenue every year, making them
the tenth most popular candy bar in the United States. Mounds, meanwhile,
this isn't a number. This is like a cultural note.
Mounds is a candy that people really enjoy dissing. There
(09:36):
is all kinds of Mounds hate out there. Furthermore, almond
Joy doesn't get it as bad, but when it gets it,
it really gets it. Like for some reason, the TV
show The Boys over the past four seasons, past four
years has like dissed it so hard that it used
it as a plot device.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Oh jeez. I was trying to think of, like, well,
we'll talk about this more in the history section. Actually,
but I prefer dark chocolate to milk chocolate same. I
don't know if that usually. I don't know if that
would have been true as a kid, But now Mounds, Yeah,
I was like, no thanks, But almond Joy absolutely And
(10:23):
I think as I do like that crunch. Maybe because
the chocolate is softer, I don't know, but it does
crack me up that there are this divide between me.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah, very similar, harries, very similar. I people have strong opinions.
We love a strong opinion.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Here we do.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Despite all of this, I will say that as of
twenty sixteen, Almond Joy was the most popular Halloween candy
in Connecticut by online sales on candystore dot com.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
And there might be a historical reason for that.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
There might, indeed, and we are going to get into
that history as soon as we get back from a
quick break for a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
And we're back. Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you. Okay.
So we're going to unpack a lot from this statement.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
But mounds were first invented in Connecticut in nineteen twenty
by candy seller Peter Halligeann. Haligeann was born in Armenia
in eighteen sixty four, and he immigrated to the US
in eighteen ninety with aspirations of starting his own company.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Yeah, and we're pretty sure we're saying that his name correctly.
We couldn't find a direct pronunciation, so that is our
best guess based on our internet resources.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Oh, I've also seen his birthdate listed as eighteen seventy five.
At any rate, this was a time the eighteen nineties
that a lot of Armenians were fleeing the Ottoman Empire
amidst growing civil and political unrest that was turning the
climate significantly against the largely Christian Armenian population, there by
(12:21):
the largely Muslim Ottoman authorities. So Peter and his family
got out before the genocide. Yay, didn't know I was
going to have to deliver that note in the middle
of our mountain. I'm enjoy episode, but here we are.
A lot of Armenian immigrants were settling in New England
at the time, and Peter's family joined the community of Naugatuck, Connecticut,
(12:42):
where a lot of rubber was manufactured. Then Peter got
a job at one of those plants. But yes, he
wanted to start his own business.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Right, So after selling homemade candy and fruit door to
door and to commuters, he opened his own treat shop
along with his daughters on Water Street in Naugatuck in
eighteen ninety five. The stores ran ads with creative slogans.
With the help of his brother in law and a
few other Armenian immigrants, they eventually opened other locations and
(13:14):
a manufacturing plant. Pretty good, but he was worried that
his last name would hinder the success of an American company,
so halla Jian legally changed his name to Peter Paul.
In nineteen nineteen, Paul founded the Peter Paul Candy Manufacturing Company,
where he often employed Armenians. The company produced other candies.
(13:39):
It had a couple of candies like a chocolate candy
bar with coconut, fruit and nuts that was called a
ConA bar. Mounds followed after that, dark chocolate wrapped around
a shredded coconut mix. Customers were big fans of the
candy bar, and it soon became their most popular offering.
(13:59):
It was strat as well, this candy bar, because there
was a lot of candy competition in the United States,
and at the time, Mountains was relatively unique.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Yeah, it was also combining like classic beloved chocolate with
posh coconut. Coconut had been out of reach like aspirational
for most American consumers throughout the eighteen hundreds, but a
few technological and business happenings at the end of the
century made especially dried shredded coconut fairly readily available. But
(14:31):
it still hadn't like lost its sheen. It's it's cool factor.
And it seems that by the way, Peter was sourcing
his from the Philippines, which had just been annexed by
the United States in eighteen ninety eight. By nineteen twenty two,
just three years after they formed, after they opened this
(14:52):
manufacturing plant and formed this candy company, the company was
doing so well that it needed to expand the plant.
There was a little bit of a curve fuffle overfunding.
Apparently the first bank that they went to thought that
there was too much competition in candy making and that
they couldn't possibly do well enough to excuse the loan.
But jokes on them. The company wound up paying it
(15:12):
back in two years. Wow Yeah Wow.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Paul died in nineteen twenty seven, passing ownership to his
brother in law, Cal Kazanjian. Under his leadership, the company
doubled down on their most popular products. By the end
of the twenties, the company no longer produced many of
the other candies that they used to, freeing up more
time and resources for the somewhat tricky to make mounds.
(15:42):
To speed up the process, which until then had been
done by hand, the company automated it. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
There was a machine for scooping the coconut meat out
of the shell. There was one for coating the coconut
bars and chocolate there were refrigerated conveyor belts to preserve freshness,
and a wrapper machine that they convert from wrapping soap
bars to wrapping candy bars. Well, all of these measures
were successful, and by the thirties the company was the
(16:09):
largest coconut consumer in the world. Wow Yeah. They even
soared through the depression by like leaning into quality and quantity.
In order to keep sales up, they started selling twin
bars for the same price, depending on like savings from
making bulk purchases to make up the difference, and it
(16:31):
paid off. In nineteen thirty four, they expanded the plant
again and introduced a new chocolate bar with diced almonds
in with the coconut filling, called the Dreams Bar, and
throughout the decade they raised wages for workers and kept
shareholders happy. They also made really good use of radio advertising.
(16:52):
World War Two put a crimp in the business, though,
when Japan invaded the Philippines in nineteen forty two, they
lost their entire supply of coconuts, so in order to
resume production, they started sourcing coconuts from the Caribbean, although
to do that they had to sneak their supply boats
past the German Navy who were patrolling the Atlantic Ocean.
(17:14):
So they employed several small wooden schooners that they nicknamed
the Flea Fleet to bustle coconuts from the Caribbean to
processing plants in Florida and Puerto Rico. And apparently the
boat well okay, so the boats were too small for
the Germans to warrant paying any attention to and apparently
(17:35):
the crews sometimes passed on information about the Germans whereabouts
to the American military. A little bit of espionage in
there too. With the wartime shortages and things like sugar, though,
they shrank their production lines down to just mounds, caramels,
and chewing gum.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Wow. Another why haven't you done this right? Well? According
to the Hershey website, the US Army was responsible for
eighty percent of mounds purchases during World War Two. These
mounds were sent to soldiers overseas who were very fond
of the candy. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
At their peak they were sending five million bars a month.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Wow, uh okay, So Almondjoy. Almondjoy came out in nineteen
forty six largely because of the success of Mounds without
mounds No Almondjoy yeah or I also sell nineteen forty eight,
somewhere in there after the war. After the war, it
was first developed to replace Dreams Bars and Yeah. Almondjoy
(18:47):
was very similar to Mounds other than the chocolate malek
instead of dark and the addition of a whole chocolate
covered almond. The two layers of chocolate kept the almond attack.
At the time, that was the idea was yeah Yes.
The similarities between Mounds and Almondjoy drew many comparisons, and
(19:08):
the company sometimes leaned into the perceived competition in ads.
So you have the red packaging of Mounds the blue
packaging of Almondjoy, and it really made for some vivid
depictions of this rivalry. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
And Peter Paul was the first candy company to produce
full color television ads at the time.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Right, And according to people who work in advertising, it
was actually pretty clever because essentially they were advertising two
candies at the same time. Yeah Yeah, which brings us
to something I had forgotten was unlocked in my brain.
Probably one of the most well known instances of this
(19:55):
in nineteen seventy Leo Cordet and Leon carp jingle sometimes
you feel like a nut, Sometimes you don't almon Joy's
got nuts Mounds, Don't sometimes you feel like a nut?
Commercial was produced in nineteen seventy six and it first
aired in nineteen seventy seven. These ads often featured someone
(20:17):
displaying some kind of nutty behavior, like riding a horse backward.
So silly, yeah, but it was catchy, like people remember it.
The jingle entered the Advertising Slogan Hall of Fame in
two thousand and two, and more recent marketing has involved
(20:38):
a like tropical beach vibe with the jingle and sort
of an instrumental callipso thing. Okay, But in twenty twenty one,
the company ran an ad that featured the words, and
it was very popular. I don't know how much of
it was nostalgic, but definitely a lot of it was nostalgic.
People like I remember this.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
I have to tell y'all that, like I get this
jingle stuck in my head about once a month. Really,
it just pops in there. It just it just haunts me.
It's just it's just there. It's just one of those
things that that and the pizza bagels, Oh, just just
(21:25):
jingles that live in my head.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Yeah, sometimes you feel like a nut.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
And sometimes you don't you know, you get it, My
cats don't get it as much.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Yeah, that's fair, that's fair. But I do think it's
very clever because it's it's quick, it's to the point,
it's advertising two candies at the same time from the
Yeah there you go. Yes, all right, So it did work.
It did work. The companies access caught the attention of others,
(22:02):
and in nineteen seventy eight, Peter Paul was purchased by
Cadbury Schwepps. Yes, that one. Though the manufacturing remained in Connecticut,
instances of the location were removed from packaging. So previously
it had said like it's made here in New England,
but they were sort of slowly removing that from the packaging.
(22:22):
And then in nineteen eighty eight Hershey purchased Cadbury Schweps
and got Mounds in Almondjoy as part of the deal. Yeah. Yeah,
so this is something that really interested me. If you
have been to the UK, there is a very similar
candy that we can't get here in the US. And
(22:43):
I thought it was just sort of a europe has
their own candy things that we were not allowed to access.
But yes, the success of Mounds and Almonjoy also kept
the British chocolate coconut candy bar Bounty off us shelves.
And I have to tell you, every time I've been
to Europe, I love this candy bar. I seek it out.
(23:05):
It is similar to Almond Joy minus the almond, so
it's milk chocolate. It's like a milk chocolate Mounds. It
doesn't have the almond. But there is a dark chocolate
version available. Okay, all right, yes, Mars attempted. Mars the
company attempted to break into the American market a few
(23:25):
times of Bounty, but eventually gave up in the face
of the dominance of Mounds and Almond Joys.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
We're like, well, never mind, so we can't have Bounty.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Manufacturing of these candies moved from the original Connecticut location
to Virginia in two thousand and seven. This year, manufacturing
is moving to Illinois, if it hasn't already. But yeah,
these candy episodes are always interesting, That's true. They are.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
I and I love how, I love how A lot
of these candies that are I mean considered a little
bit old fashioned but still feel like, I mean like
I would still gladly buy and eat one, right now
we're created like over one hundred years ago. That's that's wacky, right.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
It is really wacky. It's because when you think about
not to be that person at a party that you're like,
please stop talking to me. But when you think about
like the history of coconut being posh in the United
States and the people who like why this candy bar
was popular when it was, it is interesting. It does
(24:48):
kind of feel like you're biting into history. I'm sorry, no,
it does. It does.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Oh heck, so okay. So I was tabling last weekend
at the Little Five Points Halloween Festival, and we had
a bowl of candy on the table and by the
end of the weekend, the chocolate was gone. We were
down to dumb dumb pups and Smarties, and some people,
(25:19):
like people's reaction to that was terrific because some people
would like look at the bowl and be like, I'm good, thanks.
Some of them would like painstakingly find the flavor of
lollipop that they wanted, and some people were like, oh
my heck, they're Smarties, yes, yes, Smarties. Yeah, and that's terrific,
Like yeah, and that's another candy that is so old
(25:43):
and like so based in this very specific type of
manufacturing process that was new and shiny ones and has
just stuck with us chocolate ever since.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
I don't know. I loved it, Like what a nice moment.
I really do enjoy. We love strong opinions in general,
but I love like candy opinions. And a very good
friend of mine he's throwing a Halleen party this weekend
and she made everybody She found out everybody's favorite candies
and made them these like little cauldrons of their favorite
(26:17):
candy goodness, and she sent me a picture of it.
And I just feel like I'm looking at the story
of someone's life almost like wow, you like it's like
so different and so specific, and some of them I'm like,
I would never but it like brings me joy because
I know it brings them joy and there's some reason.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
That they like it. Yeah, huh, so I do. I
really enjoy.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
I love hearing people's candies candy opinions. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
It was great because I mean the booth that I
was at was also giving out like like harm prevention
supplies and like pregnancy tests and so so I was like, listen,
do you need some FETANL test strips or smarties.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
I woe. You see, when you're a kid, you go
you go to the doctor, they give you candy, and
you're like, yes, this is the best. We need to
continue that for adults. Oh absolutely, yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
I did by the end of the first day move
the bowl of condoms away from the bowl of candy
because kids would go for both and their parents were like, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope,
those are those Those are for grown ups.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Friends. Yeah, but you know, the idea is.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
It's not their fault they have like cartoons on them
and stuff like that. Anyway, Yes, yes, indeed, Well, listeners,
if you have candy opinions, oh please let us know,
please do, please do.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
Yes, I think I think this might be our last
full episode of Allween. Maybe if it's not, well, then
I'm wrong. But if it is happy Halloween.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Maybe Halloween, yes, and anything else that you're celebrating, anything
else you're celebrating.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
But yeah, we would love to hear your candy opinions.
But I think that's what we have to say about
Almond Joy and Mountains for now. It is it is.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
We do already have some listener mail for you, though,
and we are going to get into that as soon
as we get back from one more quick break for
a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Now we're back, Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you, and
we're back with very very spooky, oh terrifying, terrifying. Auric wrote, So,
(29:02):
Buffalo mozzarella is a wonderful cheese, especially when you can
get the real dop one. Mixed ones are okay, but
the real thing is just so wonderful. Try putting some
on top of a burger, just off the grill and
drizzle a balsamic reduction on it to really take a
burger to an unexpected place. As mentioned, it can really
add some different depth and flavors to any number of things.
(29:25):
Loved the revisit of Thirteen Days of Halloween. That was
a great episode and shows the writing talent. That was
a great series and I was hoping it would happen
again this year, but it'll last. Everyone did great jobs
on that, and Lauren, I absolutely loved your phone operator.
You completely and fully nailed the character. I think it
(29:46):
was the perfect vibe between evil and helpful to keep
you on the edge as to what it would be.
Since you both enjoy horror, you might enjoy this podcast.
House of ghouls, talk about all different kinds of horror movies,
especially the indies, and do a lot of fun interviews
with people. I also love that they do everything possible
(30:08):
to avoid spoilers and really appreciate they won't crap on
a movie. They may not like it, and they will
say they don't like something not for them, but they
won't tear apart someone's work is trash. They understand that
everyone likes different things. Oh yeah, see I appreciate that. Yeah,
that's why.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Again, like we appreciate strong opinions. But you know, like
we're never gonna say that food is that a food
is trash?
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Yeah, you know, it's it's done good fun because I
have strong opinions. You have strong opinions, Yeah, we all do.
So it's nice that it's coming from a place of like,
you know what, that's not for me, here's why maybe yeah,
but but hey, I get maybe it's for you. That's
all right.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Yes, thank you for all the kind words about Thirteen
Days of Halloween.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Yes, Lauren did do an excellent job, and I was
reminded of the fact that we did an episode of
stuff they don't want you to know forever ago where
you were also playing creepy voice Demon lady.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Yeah, yeah, that was that was a drive through demon.
Totally separate thing, totally superent thing, character wise, very different,
very different, but yeah, very fun. They're fun for us
to do, as we said. And oh yeah, we like horror,
so my categories. If you just heard him out, he's
(31:39):
asking to be let out. I'm going to let him out. Okay,
and we're back. What were we talking about? Scary things?
Speaker 1 (31:47):
We like? Horror cat could be very scary for sure.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Oh they can be. They can be. They're certainly demanding
and make loud noises sometimes from other rooms that you
absolutely have to go check out.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
It does sound like a horror movie, Lauren. Yeah, yep.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Usually they've just destroyed something in my experience.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
That can have big horror attached to it. But oh yeah,
that's all right, okay, yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Oh but yeah, I don't think I've ever had especially
like real buffalo mozzarella on a burger And now I
really need to do that.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Oh yes, I haven't been able to find any I know,
I've found places I can get it, but I'm going
to have to put in some effort that I haven't
had time for yet. But I did find some Barrada.
Oh heck, I love Barda. I do love Barada as well,
so I I'm looking for different ways to use it.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Yeah, yes, this is good. Now I'm just thinking about cheese. Okay,
all right, Bo wrote, I've been a fan since the
first episode of food Stuff. I've always wanted to email
the show, but have never had anything to contribute or
a fun story that fit any of the themes of
the episodes until now. I've just finished listening to the
savor Ween Red Velvet episode. Fun fact, eggs and blood
(33:21):
show similar protein compositions, especially with the albumin that gives
them their coagulation properties. Due to this, you can use
sixty five grams of blood to substitute one egg, or
forty three grams of blood to substitute an egg. White
fun right, I thought so. Sometime last year, I decided
(33:42):
to try and bake a cake and test that theory.
I went to the local butcher shop to inquire about
some blood. Without question, he slammed a two liter bottle
of frozen cow blood on the counter and said that'll
be three bucks. Since I don't bake often and didn't
want to make anything inedible, I wanted to ease myself
in it. I didn't substitute all the eggs and the
recipe but most and went with a chocolate and beetroot cake.
(34:06):
I thought the earthy beetroot flavor and color would enhance
the blood properties and the chocolate would mask it a little.
If it didn't work out success, maybe it kind of
just looked like a dense chocolate cake, but maybe a
little darker. The taste was fine. I guess I'm not
a big cake guy, so I needed a second opinion. Unfortunately,
I couldn't get anyone else to try a piece.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
Oh my, this is a fun fact. Yeah, fun fact
and this weird show. Wow, that is amazing. Thank you,
it really is, it really is. I thank you for
doing this research. I love this interaction with your butcher. Yes,
(34:58):
but also we have an episode it's on. If we
haven't done straight episodes on them, we've done related episodes
on like blood putting our blood, sausage.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Yeah, yeah, stuff like that. But I think I'm still
saying wrong. I'm sorry, but yeah, yeah, you know, I hadn't.
I hadn't thought of it as like a one to
one substitute for egg but right, Yeah, sure.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
Because it would be a good binder. Sure right now, absolutely, which, yeah,
that makes sense. Maybe maybe we did a hagus episode.
Maybe I talked about it a little in there. I
don't know.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Anyway, I feel like I've talked about that.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
I feel like we have talked about it, and I
know I mentioned it in some episode. I did not
mention it in this rerun rerun, savorween red velvet. That
idea of like the blood, sweat and tears in a cake.
I loved the movie Matilda. Oh yeah, and it has
(35:59):
that scene yeah, cheers, and it just looks like a
regular cake. So I think there's a lot. There's a
lot going on here. But I appreciate you doing reporting
to us about this research that you've done.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
Yes, oh heck, I'm so sad that no one else
would try it, Like, come on, guys, it's just a
little blood.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
It's just a little blood.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
I mean, if you as long as you were upfront
about it, yeah right right, Like as long as you
eat beef. I don't see why you wouldn't be down
with eating cow blood.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Cake, cowblood cake? Yes, all right? Oh yeah, I like this.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
Especially for the low low price of three dollars.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
For that's a lot. That's a lot of blood.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Uh, that's quite a bit of blood. Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Well, thank you for being with us since the beginning
and writing in about this. Thanks to both of these
listeners for writing in. If you would like to write
to us, you can. Our email is hello at savorpod
dot com.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
We're also on social media. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram sometimes at saverr pod and we do hope
to hear from you. Save is a production of iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts my Heart Radio, you can visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows. Thanks as always to our super producers Dylan
Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and
(37:39):
we hope that lots more good things are coming your way.
Hello, and welcome to save our protection of iHeartRadio. I'm
Annie Reeves.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And I'm mourn bah blah bum And today we have
an episode for you about Mounds and Almond Joy the candies.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Yes, yes, fascinating episode. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Yeah, I was, you know, glancing around looking for a
Halloween candy that we hadn't done, and this story struck me.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
And yeah, yes because as we record this as it's
coming out, it is Halloween. This is one of my candies.
I have candies, Almondjoy specifically now Mounds. Okay, oh, all right,
candies I try to get. I love an Almond Joy.
(00:52):
I find they're very They're like usually people will give
them to me like people have strong opinions about them.
They do, they do, and I love them. I've said
before one of the few topics of like my favorite
foods we have not done is coconut, because that one
(01:14):
is going to be a big one, really big. Yeah,
but I love coconut. And so as long as I
can remember, I have loved.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Have we done all five of your must have Halloween
candies so far?
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Can you remember?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Do you know?
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Yeah? No, because it's Reese's kit Kats, M and M's
butter finger and I'm enjoy.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
How have we talked about butterfingers? Yeah, I think so, Okay,
I'm gonna believe you. I'm gonna believe you.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Well oh no, I think so.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Well, there's no way of finding out now.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
No, but if this is the last one, I feel
like a piece is puzzle was complete. You know what
I mean?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
We have we have not I checked, we have we
have not done an episode on butter fingers.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
So blast, Yeah, I will say almon Joy and better
fingers are the hardest to come by.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah. They were a lot more common when we were
growing up. And certainly almon Joy is considered pretty old fashioned.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
So Noll stinks. No, It's funny because I had a
friend text me the other day out of the blue
and she said her mic and ikes old fashioned, and
I said yes, and she said, how dare you? That's great.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
I love that she asked you specifically and then got
mad at your answer.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
That's true.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
I'm nothing it's bad for that reason. I'm just saying no,
that's how they feel.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yes, yes, So I would love to hear from younger
listeners if you're like all joy, Oh.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
I love them too.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I also am a fan oft I'm a fan of chocolate.
I'm a fan of candy. I yeah, almonds are great.
I feel like I'm eating a health food because it
has an almond in it, you know.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah, And in doing this research, I forgot it's been
a minute, and they do come in different sizes, but
I forgot that for a while they came. We've got
too in the same package, you know, too small.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah, I feel like that's the standard. I feel like
that's still the standard.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Is I think it is? But no, I think it is.
But I in the past few years have gotten the
many ones. It's just totally Yeah. Yes, we have done
not coconut, but we've done coconut adjacent episodes, and we've
done chocolates. We also have not done almond.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Nope, nope, we haven't all coconuts. Two really big ones
that I'm even in this uh, even in this year
in which we are tackling many topics, I had been
avoiding those two. Or I'm just like, you know, maybe
maybe not the week, not gonna do that to myself.
That's a lot. That sounds like a lot.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
It is, indeed, it is, indeed, But we have done
other nut based topics. Huh, and all the other candies
barring Butterfinger. But yeah, plenty of episodes to check out. Sure, yes,
(04:25):
but I guess this brings us to our question. M
Mounds and Almond Joy what are they? Well?
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Mounds and Almond Joy are two similar candy bar brands,
both produced these days by Hershey's. They each consist mainly
of chunky, shredded coconut in a kind of sweet and
creamy vanilla sugar base, formed in two bars of various
sizes and coated in chocolate. Mounds is that coconut stuff
coated in dark chocolate, and Almond Joy is that coconut
(04:57):
stuff with a toasted whole almond placed on top, one
for every like inch or so of candy, and then
that whole thing is coated in milk chocolate. The chocolate
coatings are fairly soft and thin, like you get more
like of a chew and melt from them than like
a snap and crumble kind of situation, and the coconut
filling is thick and chewy and like very sweet. The
(05:20):
chocolate and coconut are both rich, but you get that
like nice, slightly bittersweet roasty notes from the chocolate, contrasting
with the like nutty, creamy vanilla coconut and in the
case of Almond Joy, an additional crunch and sweet toasty
flavors from the almonds.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
They are.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
They are considered a bit old fashioned, but like they're
soft and comforting, like the densest pillows, like a like
a weighted pillow, and you sort of feel like you
should probably brush your teeth after eating one, even if
you've only had a snack sized one. You're like, well,
this is good for my dentist. I'm I'm gonna fix
this now.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
They are really soft. I hadn't considered that before. But
you're right about the chocolate. It's a very it's just
an easy bite to experience.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yeah, it's not like a crunch until you get to
the almond, right. Yeah, it's just soft, just nice.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
I already got my Almond Joy for this.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Oh you did, Okay, good good.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
I haven't eaten it yet, I got it. Oh I
have not.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
I have not had an Almond Joy yet this season.
But I also don't have anything like I don't have
a superstition about different candy bars.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Yeah, the world ending, the world ending if you don't
five Yeah, Wow, it's a responsibility. I almost there. Yeah, no,
I understand, I understand.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
It's like Cabin in the woods.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
But with candy.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, okay, Almond Joy and mounds. They have come in
various shape for from bite sized two king sized, plus
things like egg shapes for Easter. Though right when you
get a full bar size, it's actually two or more
smaller pieces in a single wrapper. And I'm assuming that
(07:12):
that is to maintain the structural integrity of the candy,
because right, because they are so soft, I guess it
would just kind of go whoomp if it was a
big long bar. There have been a few experiments with
additional flavors being added to the basic product over the years.
I think mostly in the early two thousands. There was
(07:33):
like a Pina Colada flavor with white chocolate and pineapple
in it, a key Lime pie with white chocolate milk
chocolate with passion fruit, things like that. But for the
most part, it's kind of just the standard. There's also
been some co branded products, including an Almond Joy iced
coffee from Dunkin Donuts and an Almond Joy Coffee Creamer
coffee creamer episode from International Delights. Also like Almond Joy
(07:58):
in quotation marks. Is definitely a flavor concept that's out
there in the world now, even when people do not
license the actual name, you know, like coconut almond chocolate
is just a flavor that is in our zeitgeist. You can, yeah,
just eat the candy bars, but people do also chop
them up into other desserts like cookies or ice cream,
or use like little chunks of them as like a
(08:20):
topping for things like frosted cupcakes.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Maybe. Wow, Yeah, we love our treats.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
We do.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
We're speaking of what about the nutritiit Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Yeah, treats are nice, treats are great. Candy is a treat. Yeah,
I'm speaking to myself in this sternly, Lauren, Candy is
a treat. It's not dinner. It's not dinner.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
You can't do that.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Just because you can, just because you're an adult and
no one will stop you, doesn't mean that you should.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
H all right, I guess, so, don't take care of
vice from us.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
No, No, can't tell you what to do.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
No we can't. No, we can't try. No, we would never.
We do have some numbers for you. We do.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
As of twenty eleven, Almond Joy was generating some sixty
point eight million dollars in revenue every year, making them
the tenth most popular candy bar in the United States. Mounds, meanwhile,
this isn't a number. This is like a cultural note.
Mounds is a candy that people really enjoy dissing. There
(09:36):
is all kinds of Mounds hate out there. Furthermore, almond
Joy doesn't get it as bad, but when it gets it,
it really gets it. Like for some reason, the TV
show The Boys over the past four seasons, past four
years has like dissed it so hard that it used
it as a plot device.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Oh jeez. I was trying to think of, like, well,
we'll talk about this more in the history section. Actually,
but I prefer dark chocolate to milk chocolate same. I
don't know if that usually. I don't know if that
would have been true as a kid, But now Mounds, Yeah,
I was like, no thanks, But almond Joy absolutely And
(10:23):
I think as I do like that crunch. Maybe because
the chocolate is softer, I don't know, but it does
crack me up that there are this divide between me.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah, very similar, harries, very similar. I people have strong opinions.
We love a strong opinion.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Here we do.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Despite all of this, I will say that as of
twenty sixteen, Almond Joy was the most popular Halloween candy
in Connecticut by online sales on candystore dot com.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
And there might be a historical reason for that.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
There might, indeed, and we are going to get into
that history as soon as we get back from a
quick break for a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
And we're back. Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you. Okay.
So we're going to unpack a lot from this statement.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
But mounds were first invented in Connecticut in nineteen twenty
by candy seller Peter Halligeann. Haligeann was born in Armenia
in eighteen sixty four, and he immigrated to the US
in eighteen ninety with aspirations of starting his own company.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Yeah, and we're pretty sure we're saying that his name correctly.
We couldn't find a direct pronunciation, so that is our
best guess based on our internet resources.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Oh, I've also seen his birthdate listed as eighteen seventy five.
At any rate, this was a time the eighteen nineties
that a lot of Armenians were fleeing the Ottoman Empire
amidst growing civil and political unrest that was turning the
climate significantly against the largely Christian Armenian population, there by
(12:21):
the largely Muslim Ottoman authorities. So Peter and his family
got out before the genocide. Yay, didn't know I was
going to have to deliver that note in the middle
of our mountain. I'm enjoy episode, but here we are.
A lot of Armenian immigrants were settling in New England
at the time, and Peter's family joined the community of Naugatuck, Connecticut,
(12:42):
where a lot of rubber was manufactured. Then Peter got
a job at one of those plants. But yes, he
wanted to start his own business.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Right, So after selling homemade candy and fruit door to
door and to commuters, he opened his own treat shop
along with his daughters on Water Street in Naugatuck in
eighteen ninety five. The stores ran ads with creative slogans.
With the help of his brother in law and a
few other Armenian immigrants, they eventually opened other locations and
(13:14):
a manufacturing plant. Pretty good, but he was worried that
his last name would hinder the success of an American company,
so halla Jian legally changed his name to Peter Paul.
In nineteen nineteen, Paul founded the Peter Paul Candy Manufacturing Company,
where he often employed Armenians. The company produced other candies.
(13:39):
It had a couple of candies like a chocolate candy
bar with coconut, fruit and nuts that was called a
ConA bar. Mounds followed after that, dark chocolate wrapped around
a shredded coconut mix. Customers were big fans of the
candy bar, and it soon became their most popular offering.
(13:59):
It was strat as well, this candy bar, because there
was a lot of candy competition in the United States,
and at the time, Mountains was relatively unique.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Yeah, it was also combining like classic beloved chocolate with
posh coconut. Coconut had been out of reach like aspirational
for most American consumers throughout the eighteen hundreds, but a
few technological and business happenings at the end of the
century made especially dried shredded coconut fairly readily available. But
(14:31):
it still hadn't like lost its sheen. It's it's cool factor.
And it seems that by the way, Peter was sourcing
his from the Philippines, which had just been annexed by
the United States in eighteen ninety eight. By nineteen twenty two,
just three years after they formed, after they opened this
(14:52):
manufacturing plant and formed this candy company, the company was
doing so well that it needed to expand the plant.
There was a little bit of a curve fuffle overfunding.
Apparently the first bank that they went to thought that
there was too much competition in candy making and that
they couldn't possibly do well enough to excuse the loan.
But jokes on them. The company wound up paying it
(15:12):
back in two years. Wow Yeah Wow.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Paul died in nineteen twenty seven, passing ownership to his
brother in law, Cal Kazanjian. Under his leadership, the company
doubled down on their most popular products. By the end
of the twenties, the company no longer produced many of
the other candies that they used to, freeing up more
time and resources for the somewhat tricky to make mounds.
(15:42):
To speed up the process, which until then had been
done by hand, the company automated it. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
There was a machine for scooping the coconut meat out
of the shell. There was one for coating the coconut
bars and chocolate there were refrigerated conveyor belts to preserve freshness,
and a wrapper machine that they convert from wrapping soap
bars to wrapping candy bars. Well, all of these measures
were successful, and by the thirties the company was the
(16:09):
largest coconut consumer in the world. Wow Yeah. They even
soared through the depression by like leaning into quality and quantity.
In order to keep sales up, they started selling twin
bars for the same price, depending on like savings from
making bulk purchases to make up the difference, and it
(16:31):
paid off. In nineteen thirty four, they expanded the plant
again and introduced a new chocolate bar with diced almonds
in with the coconut filling, called the Dreams Bar, and
throughout the decade they raised wages for workers and kept
shareholders happy. They also made really good use of radio advertising.
(16:52):
World War Two put a crimp in the business, though,
when Japan invaded the Philippines in nineteen forty two, they
lost their entire supply of coconuts, so in order to
resume production, they started sourcing coconuts from the Caribbean, although
to do that they had to sneak their supply boats
past the German Navy who were patrolling the Atlantic Ocean.
(17:14):
So they employed several small wooden schooners that they nicknamed
the Flea Fleet to bustle coconuts from the Caribbean to
processing plants in Florida and Puerto Rico. And apparently the
boat well okay, so the boats were too small for
the Germans to warrant paying any attention to and apparently
(17:35):
the crews sometimes passed on information about the Germans whereabouts
to the American military. A little bit of espionage in
there too. With the wartime shortages and things like sugar, though,
they shrank their production lines down to just mounds, caramels,
and chewing gum.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Wow. Another why haven't you done this right? Well? According
to the Hershey website, the US Army was responsible for
eighty percent of mounds purchases during World War Two. These
mounds were sent to soldiers overseas who were very fond
of the candy. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
At their peak they were sending five million bars a month.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Wow, uh okay, So Almondjoy. Almondjoy came out in nineteen
forty six largely because of the success of Mounds without
mounds No Almondjoy yeah or I also sell nineteen forty eight,
somewhere in there after the war. After the war, it
was first developed to replace Dreams Bars and Yeah. Almondjoy
(18:47):
was very similar to Mounds other than the chocolate malek
instead of dark and the addition of a whole chocolate
covered almond. The two layers of chocolate kept the almond attack.
At the time, that was the idea was yeah Yes.
The similarities between Mounds and Almondjoy drew many comparisons, and
(19:08):
the company sometimes leaned into the perceived competition in ads.
So you have the red packaging of Mounds the blue
packaging of Almondjoy, and it really made for some vivid
depictions of this rivalry. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
And Peter Paul was the first candy company to produce
full color television ads at the time.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Right, And according to people who work in advertising, it
was actually pretty clever because essentially they were advertising two
candies at the same time. Yeah Yeah, which brings us
to something I had forgotten was unlocked in my brain.
Probably one of the most well known instances of this
(19:55):
in nineteen seventy Leo Cordet and Leon carp jingle sometimes
you feel like a nut, Sometimes you don't almon Joy's
got nuts Mounds, Don't sometimes you feel like a nut?
Commercial was produced in nineteen seventy six and it first
aired in nineteen seventy seven. These ads often featured someone
(20:17):
displaying some kind of nutty behavior, like riding a horse backward.
So silly, yeah, but it was catchy, like people remember it.
The jingle entered the Advertising Slogan Hall of Fame in
two thousand and two, and more recent marketing has involved
(20:38):
a like tropical beach vibe with the jingle and sort
of an instrumental callipso thing. Okay, But in twenty twenty one,
the company ran an ad that featured the words, and
it was very popular. I don't know how much of
it was nostalgic, but definitely a lot of it was nostalgic.
People like I remember this.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
I have to tell y'all that, like I get this
jingle stuck in my head about once a month. Really,
it just pops in there. It just it just haunts me.
It's just it's just there. It's just one of those
things that that and the pizza bagels, Oh, just just
(21:25):
jingles that live in my head.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Yeah, sometimes you feel like a nut.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
And sometimes you don't you know, you get it, My
cats don't get it as much.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Yeah, that's fair, that's fair. But I do think it's
very clever because it's it's quick, it's to the point,
it's advertising two candies at the same time from the
Yeah there you go. Yes, all right, So it did work.
It did work. The companies access caught the attention of others,
(22:02):
and in nineteen seventy eight, Peter Paul was purchased by
Cadbury Schwepps. Yes, that one. Though the manufacturing remained in Connecticut,
instances of the location were removed from packaging. So previously
it had said like it's made here in New England,
but they were sort of slowly removing that from the packaging.
(22:22):
And then in nineteen eighty eight Hershey purchased Cadbury Schweps
and got Mounds in Almondjoy as part of the deal. Yeah. Yeah,
so this is something that really interested me. If you
have been to the UK, there is a very similar
candy that we can't get here in the US. And
(22:43):
I thought it was just sort of a europe has
their own candy things that we were not allowed to access.
But yes, the success of Mounds and Almonjoy also kept
the British chocolate coconut candy bar Bounty off us shelves.
And I have to tell you, every time I've been
to Europe, I love this candy bar. I seek it out.
(23:05):
It is similar to Almond Joy minus the almond, so
it's milk chocolate. It's like a milk chocolate Mounds. It
doesn't have the almond. But there is a dark chocolate
version available. Okay, all right, yes, Mars attempted. Mars the
company attempted to break into the American market a few
(23:25):
times of Bounty, but eventually gave up in the face
of the dominance of Mounds and Almond Joys.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
We're like, well, never mind, so we can't have Bounty.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Manufacturing of these candies moved from the original Connecticut location
to Virginia in two thousand and seven. This year, manufacturing
is moving to Illinois, if it hasn't already. But yeah,
these candy episodes are always interesting, That's true. They are.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
I and I love how, I love how A lot
of these candies that are I mean considered a little
bit old fashioned but still feel like, I mean like
I would still gladly buy and eat one, right now
we're created like over one hundred years ago. That's that's wacky, right.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
It is really wacky. It's because when you think about
not to be that person at a party that you're like,
please stop talking to me. But when you think about
like the history of coconut being posh in the United
States and the people who like why this candy bar
was popular when it was, it is interesting. It does
(24:48):
kind of feel like you're biting into history. I'm sorry, no,
it does. It does.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Oh heck, so okay. So I was tabling last weekend
at the Little Five Points Halloween Festival, and we had
a bowl of candy on the table and by the
end of the weekend, the chocolate was gone. We were
down to dumb dumb pups and Smarties, and some people,
(25:19):
like people's reaction to that was terrific because some people
would like look at the bowl and be like, I'm good, thanks.
Some of them would like painstakingly find the flavor of
lollipop that they wanted, and some people were like, oh
my heck, they're Smarties, yes, yes, Smarties. Yeah, and that's terrific,
Like yeah, and that's another candy that is so old
(25:43):
and like so based in this very specific type of
manufacturing process that was new and shiny ones and has
just stuck with us chocolate ever since.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
I don't know. I loved it, Like what a nice moment.
I really do enjoy. We love strong opinions in general,
but I love like candy opinions. And a very good
friend of mine he's throwing a Halleen party this weekend
and she made everybody She found out everybody's favorite candies
and made them these like little cauldrons of their favorite
(26:17):
candy goodness, and she sent me a picture of it.
And I just feel like I'm looking at the story
of someone's life almost like wow, you like it's like
so different and so specific, and some of them I'm like,
I would never but it like brings me joy because
I know it brings them joy and there's some reason.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
That they like it. Yeah, huh, so I do. I
really enjoy.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
I love hearing people's candies candy opinions. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
It was great because I mean the booth that I
was at was also giving out like like harm prevention
supplies and like pregnancy tests and so so I was like, listen,
do you need some FETANL test strips or smarties.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
I woe. You see, when you're a kid, you go
you go to the doctor, they give you candy, and
you're like, yes, this is the best. We need to
continue that for adults. Oh absolutely, yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
I did by the end of the first day move
the bowl of condoms away from the bowl of candy
because kids would go for both and their parents were like, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope,
those are those Those are for grown ups.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Friends. Yeah, but you know, the idea is.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
It's not their fault they have like cartoons on them
and stuff like that. Anyway, Yes, yes, indeed, Well, listeners,
if you have candy opinions, oh please let us know,
please do, please do.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
Yes, I think I think this might be our last
full episode of Allween. Maybe if it's not, well, then
I'm wrong. But if it is happy Halloween.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Maybe Halloween, yes, and anything else that you're celebrating, anything
else you're celebrating.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
But yeah, we would love to hear your candy opinions.
But I think that's what we have to say about
Almond Joy and Mountains for now. It is it is.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
We do already have some listener mail for you, though,
and we are going to get into that as soon
as we get back from one more quick break for
a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Now we're back, Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you, and
we're back with very very spooky, oh terrifying, terrifying. Auric wrote, So,
(29:02):
Buffalo mozzarella is a wonderful cheese, especially when you can
get the real dop one. Mixed ones are okay, but
the real thing is just so wonderful. Try putting some
on top of a burger, just off the grill and
drizzle a balsamic reduction on it to really take a
burger to an unexpected place. As mentioned, it can really
add some different depth and flavors to any number of things.
(29:25):
Loved the revisit of Thirteen Days of Halloween. That was
a great episode and shows the writing talent. That was
a great series and I was hoping it would happen
again this year, but it'll last. Everyone did great jobs
on that, and Lauren, I absolutely loved your phone operator.
You completely and fully nailed the character. I think it
(29:46):
was the perfect vibe between evil and helpful to keep
you on the edge as to what it would be.
Since you both enjoy horror, you might enjoy this podcast.
House of ghouls, talk about all different kinds of horror movies,
especially the indies, and do a lot of fun interviews
with people. I also love that they do everything possible
(30:08):
to avoid spoilers and really appreciate they won't crap on
a movie. They may not like it, and they will
say they don't like something not for them, but they
won't tear apart someone's work is trash. They understand that
everyone likes different things. Oh yeah, see I appreciate that. Yeah,
that's why.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Again, like we appreciate strong opinions. But you know, like
we're never gonna say that food is that a food
is trash?
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Yeah, you know, it's it's done good fun because I
have strong opinions. You have strong opinions, Yeah, we all do.
So it's nice that it's coming from a place of like,
you know what, that's not for me, here's why maybe yeah,
but but hey, I get maybe it's for you. That's
all right.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Yes, thank you for all the kind words about Thirteen
Days of Halloween.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Yes, Lauren did do an excellent job, and I was
reminded of the fact that we did an episode of
stuff they don't want you to know forever ago where
you were also playing creepy voice Demon lady.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Yeah, yeah, that was that was a drive through demon.
Totally separate thing, totally superent thing, character wise, very different,
very different, but yeah, very fun. They're fun for us
to do, as we said. And oh yeah, we like horror,
so my categories. If you just heard him out, he's
(31:39):
asking to be let out. I'm going to let him out. Okay,
and we're back. What were we talking about? Scary things?
Speaker 1 (31:47):
We like? Horror cat could be very scary for sure.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Oh they can be. They can be. They're certainly demanding
and make loud noises sometimes from other rooms that you
absolutely have to go check out.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
It does sound like a horror movie, Lauren. Yeah, yep.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Usually they've just destroyed something in my experience.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
That can have big horror attached to it. But oh yeah,
that's all right, okay, yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Oh but yeah, I don't think I've ever had especially
like real buffalo mozzarella on a burger And now I
really need to do that.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Oh yes, I haven't been able to find any I know,
I've found places I can get it, but I'm going
to have to put in some effort that I haven't
had time for yet. But I did find some Barrada.
Oh heck, I love Barda. I do love Barada as well,
so I I'm looking for different ways to use it.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Yeah, yes, this is good. Now I'm just thinking about cheese. Okay,
all right, Bo wrote, I've been a fan since the
first episode of food Stuff. I've always wanted to email
the show, but have never had anything to contribute or
a fun story that fit any of the themes of
the episodes until now. I've just finished listening to the
savor Ween Red Velvet episode. Fun fact, eggs and blood
(33:21):
show similar protein compositions, especially with the albumin that gives
them their coagulation properties. Due to this, you can use
sixty five grams of blood to substitute one egg, or
forty three grams of blood to substitute an egg. White
fun right, I thought so. Sometime last year, I decided
(33:42):
to try and bake a cake and test that theory.
I went to the local butcher shop to inquire about
some blood. Without question, he slammed a two liter bottle
of frozen cow blood on the counter and said that'll
be three bucks. Since I don't bake often and didn't
want to make anything inedible, I wanted to ease myself
in it. I didn't substitute all the eggs and the
recipe but most and went with a chocolate and beetroot cake.
(34:06):
I thought the earthy beetroot flavor and color would enhance
the blood properties and the chocolate would mask it a little.
If it didn't work out success, maybe it kind of
just looked like a dense chocolate cake, but maybe a
little darker. The taste was fine. I guess I'm not
a big cake guy, so I needed a second opinion. Unfortunately,
I couldn't get anyone else to try a piece.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
Oh my, this is a fun fact. Yeah, fun fact
and this weird show. Wow, that is amazing. Thank you,
it really is, it really is. I thank you for
doing this research. I love this interaction with your butcher. Yes,
(34:58):
but also we have an episode it's on. If we
haven't done straight episodes on them, we've done related episodes
on like blood putting our blood, sausage.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Yeah, yeah, stuff like that. But I think I'm still
saying wrong. I'm sorry, but yeah, yeah, you know, I hadn't.
I hadn't thought of it as like a one to
one substitute for egg but right, Yeah, sure.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
Because it would be a good binder. Sure right now, absolutely, which, yeah,
that makes sense. Maybe maybe we did a hagus episode.
Maybe I talked about it a little in there. I
don't know.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Anyway, I feel like I've talked about that.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
I feel like we have talked about it, and I
know I mentioned it in some episode. I did not
mention it in this rerun rerun, savorween red velvet. That
idea of like the blood, sweat and tears in a cake.
I loved the movie Matilda. Oh yeah, and it has
(35:59):
that scene yeah, cheers, and it just looks like a
regular cake. So I think there's a lot. There's a
lot going on here. But I appreciate you doing reporting
to us about this research that you've done.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
Yes, oh heck, I'm so sad that no one else
would try it, Like, come on, guys, it's just a
little blood.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
It's just a little blood.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
I mean, if you as long as you were upfront
about it, yeah right right, Like as long as you
eat beef. I don't see why you wouldn't be down
with eating cow blood.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Cake, cowblood cake? Yes, all right? Oh yeah, I like this.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
Especially for the low low price of three dollars.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
For that's a lot. That's a lot of blood.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Uh, that's quite a bit of blood. Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Well, thank you for being with us since the beginning
and writing in about this. Thanks to both of these
listeners for writing in. If you would like to write
to us, you can. Our email is hello at savorpod
dot com.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
We're also on social media. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram sometimes at saverr pod and we do hope
to hear from you. Save is a production of iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts my Heart Radio, you can visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows. Thanks as always to our super producers Dylan
Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and
(37:39):
we hope that lots more good things are coming your way.
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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