Home Today Is The First ‘Combination’ Candy Bar Was Invented In 1912. What Was It...

The First ‘Combination’ Candy Bar Was Invented In 1912. What Was It Called?

National Peanut Cluster Day on March 8 is the perfect day to indulge in this delicious, decadent treat. Peanut clusters combine the sweetness of chocolate and the crunchiness of peanuts to bring you the best of both worlds.

With a flavor profile that lends a jolt to your taste buds, this century-old invention continues to be one of the best-selling confectioneries in the U.S. So pull out your apron and gather all your ingredients, because we are making our own peanut clusters as we mark this delicious holiday.

  • 1600s – Peanuts, which originated in South America, were brought to West Africa by Portuguese and Spanish traders. Peanuts became a staple crop for West Africans, and came to the Southern U.S. with the slave trade around the late 1600s.
  • 1847 – In 1847 Joesph Fry found a way to convert cocoa into moldable solid chocolate.
  • 1900 – Several labor-saving machines are brought in to plant, cultivate, harvest, pick, clean and deshell the peanuts — which ultimately skyrockets the peanut production in America.
  • 1912 – in a copper kettle at the Standard Candy Company at Clark & First Avenue in Nashville, TN, America’s first combination candy bar was invented.  The first retail peanut clusters were introduced in 1912 and were called the Goo Goo Cluster.
  • 1930 – American inventor Elmo Lanzi patented a Chocolate Peanut Cluster Dipping Machine, automating the slow process of hand-enrobing. “Think of turning out 450 pounds of luscious, attractive Chocolate Peanut Clusters,” the advertisement trumpets.
  • 1939 – During World War II the Emporia Wholesale Coffee Company “shipped approximately 50,000 pounds of chocolate peanut clusters weekly for consumption by those on the fighting front.”
  • 1960s – Astronaut Allen B. Shepard brought peanuts with him to the moon.
  • Confectioneries didn’t take long to add the now readily available peanuts to melted chocolate.
  • ‘Peanut Cluster’ refers to a type of candy that mixes melted chocolate and peanuts.
  • These crunchy treats are a perfect combination of a sweet and salty deliciousness.
  • There are several versions of peanut clusters including caramel clusters, butterscotch clusters and chocolate peanut clusters.
  • Peanuts have a higher antioxidant capacity over grapes, green tea, tomatoes, spinach, carrots and many more.
  • One confectioner substituted pecans for peanuts in a caramel-nut confection, and added four pecan halves as “feet” to the bottom of the oval-shaped candy. These became known as “turtles.”
  • Peanuts are the seventh most valuable crop in the U.S., with a farm value of over one billion U.S. dollars.
  • A roundish mound of caramel, marshmallow nougat, fresh roasted peanuts and real milk chocolate; its renegade shape was more difficult to wrap than the conventional rectangular or square shapes of the day.
  • More importantly, this was the first time multiple elements were being mass-produced in a retail confection.
  • Peanuts are the seventh most valuable crop in the U.S. and have a farm value of over one billion U.S. dollars.
  • Peanut-based candies are extremely popular in the U.S and out of the surveyed top 10 most loved candies, five were found to be peanut-based.

Sources:

National Day Calendar

Faith Based Events

Foodimentary

The Nibble

National Today


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