As you have probably figured out, I love peanut butter. I've already highlighted two candies that utilize it as well as a third candy that contains peanuts. Well for today's Advent, I am going to pay homage to the candy that started me on a lifelong obsession with peanut butter candy. It's the Peanut Butter Kringles made by Palmer.
Kringles are these round chocolate balls filled with an uber-smooth peanut butter. Wrapped in gold, red or most commonly green foil, Kringles are supposed to represent the jingle bells found on Santa's sleigh.
The Palmer Candy Company has been around since 1948. If you must have a chocolate bunny for Easter, chances are you bought one made by Palmer. The company is known more for its style than substance. Palmer makes tons of eye-catching treats like krispie filled eyeballs for Halloween, foil wrapped chocolate hearts with G-rated suggestive sayings along with scores of colorful Christmas treats.
I don't mean to slight Palmer. But I consider Palmer's products to be what families struggling to get by have for the holidays and the company's ingredients prove this. Compare Palmer's chocolate with Hershey's chocolate. For both ingredient #1 is sugar. However with Hershey's ingredient #2 is milk whereas Palmer's loads their chocolate up with palm oil.
Now palm and palm kernel oil is great for getting chocolate to hold it's shape. This is why Reese's trees come out looking like turds and yet a Palmer Easter Rabbit will never melt in the box at room temperature. So if you are looking for candies with great visual appeal, Palmer is who you need to work with.
As for saying that poor people buy Palmers, I take great pride in that statement. Until about age 9, I got Palmer Kringles as well as other amazing treats made by them every Christmas, Easter and Halloween. My dad couldn't hold a steady job. So my mom, who was a nurse, did her best utilizing discount stores like K-Mart and Roses which sold Palmer products.
Once my dad got a regular job, we moved into a house, bought more extravagant things. Over time, Palmer's Kringles were replaced by Reese's. And though I think Reese's peanut butter is one of the most perfect ingredients ever crafted, I still remember Kringles and it's sister products quite fondly. Heck, sometimes I find myself missing that distinctive tang of a Palmer's Kringle. It might not have been the top shelf chocolate but it was the chocolate I cut my teeth on and I thank the workers at Palmer for their products.
Based out of Sioux City, Iowa, Palmer Candy Company will only offer tours under special arrangement. That's okay as they've also got an amazing candy shop that sells an amazing assortment of confections, including some really top shelf stuff that they don't offer to stores. As my Advent present for you today, here's a brief 30 second video highlighting Palmer's Olde Tyme Candy Shoppe. However, it might take you a good half hour to get through the video as I guarantee you will be pausing this mini movie a lot in order to truly capture everything sold at this awesome store!
Enjoy!
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