Food Fair Recipe: Fruitcake

Well, folks, we made it! 60 years ago today (October 21, 1962) was the last day of the Seattle World’s Fair. Today will be the last post in the Food Fair series, but there is no way it can end without acknowledging what was undoubtedly the largest food at the fair:

“A Sight and Taste to Remember:” Check that Triple XXX Root Beer Keg to the right

In the Food Circus, near the Darigold booth, across from Fisher Scones, and kitty-corner from Triple XXX Root Beer, stood a 23-foot-tall fruitcake. According to the postcard above, it was the world’s largest birthday cake, celebrating the 128th birthday of Paul Bunyan.

The cake was covered in icing and decorated with truly American symbols. Tier one featured the Seattle skyline. The seals of all 50 states adorned the second tier (the first time all 50 seals were displayed together, according to an advertising pamphlet). Tier three depicted scenes from Bunyan’s adventures, and tier four displayed symbols representing religion, government, trades, industry, agriculture, and progress. On the very top stood Mount Rainier (done in sugar, of course) and the birthday boy himself. 128 specially-made candles (each three feet high) were strategically placed on tier one.

Although Bunyan had been a folk legend in the US and Canada for decades, the first written stories did not appear until the early 1900s. I’m not sure how his age was determined, but this cake was clearly more of an advertising vehicle than an actual birthday cake.

While the cake was sponsored by Clark’s Restaurants, you can bet there were other companies involved. This postcard mentions Van de Kamp Bakery and C&H Sugar, but at least eight others, including Carnation Milk and Fisher Flour, were implicated in an advertising pamphlet you can view in full here.

Souvenir pieces of the cake could be purchased both at the fair and Clark’s restaurants. They could be mailed anywhere in the world and ranged in price from $0.15 to $2.00. For a while, I doubted that these souvenirs were pieces of the actual cake, but after reading the advertising pamphlet, it seems that they could have been. Supposedly, the wives of 60 Seattle Jaycee Club members packaged around 300,000 portions of the cake.

An amateur slide online showed a staircase leading up to the rear of the cake and what appeared to be a door, so I suppose the core of the cake could have been turned into souvenirs!

While fruitcake does seem to be rather polarizing now (any other Sims players here?), it was much more popular in the past, including during the midcentury decades. I suspect fruitcake was selected for this marvel due to its durability and long shelf life. I have read stories of people who still have their souvenir fruitcake, unopened, today!

While the postcard and the pamphlet both tempt you to scale down the recipe with their massive ingredients lists, it is in no way a comprehensive list. I was able to locate a photo of a souvenir box, and the ingredients were as follows: raisins, glace fruit mix, flour, fresh eggs, cane sugar, pecans, shortening, whole milk powder, salt, lemon flavoring, mace, rum oil. Sodium propionate added to retard spoilage.

So, what did I do for the recipe? Originally, I planned to scale down the listed ingredient quantities and find a recipe that was similar, but that proved to be next to impossible. Since I do not possess the baking prowess of Ann Reardon, I selected a recipe that was similar and made a few tweaks:

Old-Fashioned Light Fruitcake
Adapted from a Food.com recipe submitted by Chef Mariajane

1/2 cup butter
1 1/8 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tablespoon lemon extract
1/2 tablespoon rum extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3 cups chopped pecans
2 cups mixed candied fruit and peel
7.5 ounces raisins

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after additions; stir in brandy flavoring. Combine dry ingredients, pecans, candied fruit, and raisins; mix well. Add fruit to creamed mixture, blending well.
2. Spoon batter into a well-greased loaf pan. Bake at 275F for 2 1/2 – 3 hours. Remove from oven when cake tests done; when completely cool, wrap cake tightly, or store in an airtight container.

I had never had fruitcake before and didn’t know what I’d think of it, so I cut the original recipe in half. I also used both lemon and rum extracts, and regular raisins rather than golden. All of these adjustments are reflected in the recipe above.

In the spirit of souvenir fruitcakes, I made four small loaves rather than one big one. I also covered the tops (or in the case of one, everything but the bottom) in royal icing.

The finished product was delicious! While I’m not sure how much it tasted like the original, I would definitely make it again. The icing is definitely not required, but I think it added a nice touch.

Thank you for venturing along with me through the last six months of World’s Fair food! I hope you enjoyed reading this series as much as I enjoyed putting it together. It will be back to the usual content here, and I fully intend to post again before 2024…

Until then, enjoy this picture of the Paul Bunyan birthday cake in the Food Circus before the rest of the booths were fully installed.

Food Fair Recipe: Guacamole

October already, and only three weeks remaining in the Food Fair series! Once again, it’s time for a food fair recipe, and we’re heading south of the border with some guacamole.

While 1962 was also the year Washington state got its very first Taco Time, Mexican restaurants were far less commonplace then than they are today. While enchiladas, salsa, and tamales may feel familiar to today’s American, the various Mexican food establishments at the fair certainly seemed exotic to many fairgoers in ’62.

La Fiesta, located at the corner of Boulevard West and Freedom Way, was a restaurant and cocktail lounge serving “prime roast beef dishes” and “Mexican specialties.” Also offering Mexican foods were Uso’s Place and Gordo’s.

As has been far too common during this series, I have been unsuccessful in finding which exact “Mexican specialties,” were served to hungry fairgoers. However, with the popularity of finger foods at fairs, and the relative exotic status of the avocado back in the early 60s, I figured guacamole was a good guess for a Mexican food that may have appeared at the Century 21 Expo.

Guacamole dates back to the Aztecs, but it was the 16th century Spanish explorers who spread it to other parts of the world. It’s likely that what the Aztecs ate was simply mashed avocado, while the dish we enjoy today originated in Central America with the aid of European and Middle Eastern influences.

Today’s recipe yet again comes from Pan American’s Complete Round-the-World Cookbook by Myra Waldo (1959 edition):

Avocado Mix (Guacamole)
1 small onion
1 tomato, peeled
2 avocados
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vinegar

Chop the onion and tomato very fine. Mash the avocados with a wooden spoon, and add to the onion-tomato mixture. Add the chili powder, salt, and vinegar. Mix lightly until well-blended. Serve on lettuce leaves as a salad. Guacamole may also be served in a bowl, with crackers, potato chips, or tortillas, as a cocktail dip.

I will say, I was skeptical of a guacamole that didn’t contain lime juice or cilantro, but this recipe was actually really good (albeit a bit salty). It goes together quickly, but be warned that it does taste best fresh: the onion taste becomes a bit overwhelming if refrigerated for later.

Enjoy making this for yourself, and I’ll see you next week for the series’ final product spotlight!

Food Fair Spotlight: Triple XXX Root Beer

Yes, I know that Triple XXX has a not-nice meaning in today’s world, but there was a time when it was a very popular brand of root beer. Think of those “little brown jugs” thoroughly enjoyed by happy-drunk mountain men in the old cartoons: they all have three big XXX’s on them. I believe that was the idea behind the brand’s name.

Reportedly, the X’s were indicative of an old rating system used for a variety of goods, with each X signifying an extra layer of excellence. Think of it as an outdated way to say that the root beer was rated 3/3 stars, and was therefore of the highest quality.

Triple XXX had a presence at the World’s Fair selling “soft drinks.” One can only surmise that they sold root beer, and possibly only root beer.

The origins of Triple XXX date back to Galveston, Texas, circa 1908. Its popularity spread in the following decade, and by the 1920s, Triple XXX root beer stands were popping up nationwide. The first drive-in restaurant in Washington State, offering hamburgers and sodas, was a Triple XXX location that opened in Renton in 1930.  Several more followed suite, including locations in Seattle, Issaquah, and Tacoma. 

Chiang’s Gourmet on Lake City Way in Seattle is a former Triple XXX (Rutherford’s Triple XXX). See the rooftop barrel?

Over time, the drive-ins closed, and so did the Galveston Brewing Company (now called the Triple XXX Corporation).  However, there are two independently owned Triple XXX locations still thriving: a location dating to 1929 in West Lafayette, Indiana, and a 1968 incarnation in Issaquah, Washington.

Issaquah Triple XXX Restaurant, and only other Triple XXX building left in Washington. Big Daddy’s Drive-in (Auburn) was demolished c. 2016

The Indiana location bought the Triple XXX name, rights, and recipe when the Triple XXX Corporation went under in 1985, and continues to produce the soda in Chicago. Although not the original recipe, it is the Triple XXX Corporation’s last incarnation of the recipe, reformulated in the 80s to remove the sassafras.

A former Triple XXX in Auburn, as seen in 2012 (RIP). A statue called “Crow with Fries” sits here now.

About 10 years ago, Triple XXX could be found in many grocery stores in the “nostalgic sodas” section. It’s not nearly as easy to find now, but can still be purchased from the West Lafayette location or online (I bought mine here). Be prepared to empty your wallet for shipping costs, though…

Catch you next week!

Food Fair Spotlight: Aplets & Cotlets

Welcome back for another food fair spotlight! Today, we’re going to look at a Washington invention that recently celebrated it’s 100th birthday.

In the early 1900s, two Armenians met in Seattle. Armen Tertsagian had immigrated through Ellis Island, and Mark Balaban was visiting from England. The two became fast friends and decided to go into business together, opening an Armenian Restaurant and a yogurt factory. Both enterprises were a bit ahead of their time and were not very successful. To add to these failed businesses, the young Armenians found Seattle’s weather much too gloomy for their taste. They soon set off across the mountains to Cashmere, purchasing an orchard they named Liberty Orchards.

During World War I, times were tough for everybody, especially orchardists. Looking for a unique way to use up surplus fruit, Tertsagian and Balaban began producing dried fruit and Applum, a apple-plum jelly. They soon added a cannery, Wenatchee Valley Foods, to their portfolio.

While the cannery was hugely successful, the friends brainstormed other ways to use excess fruit and thought of Rahat Locoum, a candy they had loved as children. After much experimentation at the stove, an apple and walnut variety was developed, and Aplets were born! The candy was an instant success, and Tertsagian traveled around the Pacific Northwest, selling this new product. A few years later, Cotlets were added to their product line.

Before long, a popular Aplets & Cotlets mail-order program was established, allowing residents of the Pacific Northwest to send the candies to friends from far and wide.

During the sugar rationing of World War II, Liberty Orchards focused on its canned food business. Aplets and Cotlets were only produced on occasion. After the war ended, the cannery was sold and production efforts focused on the popular candy.

Tertsagian passed away in 1952, and Balaban passed in 1956. Balaban’s nephew, John, and Tertsagian’s son-in-law, Dick (both longtime Liberty Orchard employees), assumed leadership of the company. Liberty Orchards continued to grow under their lead.

Their booth at the 1962 World’s Fair introduced Aplets and Cotlets to a global audience, causing sales to soar. Washington’s next World’s Fair, Expo ’74 featured a new product, the Grapelet, which was named “the official candy of Expo ’74.”

Liberty Orchards continued to promote its products at fairs and with parade floats. When John and Dick were reaching retirement age, they brought one of Tertsagian’s grandsons, Greg, on board to take over the company.

After serving as Liberty Orchard’s president for over 30 years, Greg announced his plans to retire. Younger generations of the family were not interested in taking over the company, and a buyer was sought. With no deal in place, Liberty Orchards announced that it would close in June 2021.

In the nick of time, a deal was reached with KDV USA, which kept production, and over 100 local jobs, in Cashmere. It also saved the “Confection of the Fairies,” which has been enjoyed for 101 years.

Catch you next week for another recipe!

Food Fair Recipe: Spaghetti

It’s officially September, and the State Fair (or the Puyallup Fair as I still call it) is in full swing. That means that now through the 25th, you have the opportunity to enjoy a slice of 1962 World’s Fair history firsthand:

The 76 Skyride from the World’s Fair has been at the Puyallup Fair since 1980, and it offers a great view of the grounds. Since the skyride turned 60 this year, I had to ride it for myself. A round-trip ride will set you back $9.60 and is slightly scary at first, but it really is a fun and retro experience. Just be warned that the 60-year-old windows don’t make for clear aerial photographs, especially at night.

Now on to this week’s recipe! Located in the Food Circus was a place called Luigi’s, which served up ravioli, meatballs, and spaghetti. The fair’s official press book called the restaurant Little Luigi’s and stated that it specialized in $1.50 spaghetti dinners (nearly $15 in today’s dollars). Whatever the name of the restaurant, there was indeed spaghetti at the fair, which is what we will look at today.

While it has long been associated with Italy, the origins of spaghetti, especially pasta, are unclear. Pasta was likely invented in the Middle East thousands of years ago. The first version of spaghetti likely emerged in the 1150s, the same century in which pasta production is believed to have begun in Sicily. A recipe for pasta with tomato juice first appeared in the 1870s.

Today’s recipe comes from Pan American’s Complete Round-the-World Cookbook from 1959.

Tomato Sauce for Spaghetti (Salsa di Pomodoro)
1/4 c olive oil
3 onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 No. 2 1/2 cans Italian-style tomatoes
3 tablespoons white wine
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
1/4 cup chopped spinach (optional)
1/4 cup chopped mushrooms (optional)

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan. Add the onions and garlic and sauté for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the parsley, tomatoes, wine, salt, pepper, and oregano. Stir well. Cover and cook over low heat for 2 hours. Add the spinach and mushrooms. Cover and cook over low heat for 2 hours. Force the mixture through a sieve. Correct seasoning. Serve over spaghetti or other Italian macaroni. A glass of Chianti, Barbera, or Bardolino wine is excellent with this sauce.

Note: The sauce improves with flavor as it cooks. If possible, make the sauce the day before it is used, and reheat before serving.

This sauce was pretty easy to make (once the onions were chopped!) A no. 2 1/2 can translates to approximately a 27-29 oz can today. I used Private Selection canned tomatoes that included basil. While I agree that the sauce tastes better the next day, it was too acidic for my taste. I’m not sure that I’d make it again. Perhaps my biggest tip is to skip the sieve: use a food processor or blender instead.

I should hate to end this post without acknowledging today’s sad news: the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. She was truly one of a kind, and will be remembered for her grace, dignity, service, and strong faith. The Queen actually visited Seattle with Prince Philip in 1983 (and even rode the Monorail!). King 5 News released an article about her visit that you can read here.

See you next week!

Food Fair Recipe: Blackberry Pie

Tucked away in the Food Circus was a vendor relatively unknown outside of northern Snohomish County. Thanks to the World’s Fair, popularity for the Village Café, which served pie and beverages, would grow.

Marysville’s Village Café opened on Highway 99 in 1937 as a simple pie café. Eventually, an array of popular American foods were added to the menu, including breakfast and steaks. For decades, the Village Café was a hit with locals and visitors alike until June 2017 when it burned down in an early morning two-alarm fire. Fortunately, nobody was hurt in the blaze, and the local landmark reopened as the Village Taphouse & Grill later that year.

Despite changing to a full-service restaurant, Village Café has long been famous for its pies. Since pie was also the food Village Café featured at the fair, it is the one I made. Glancing through reviews, the blackberry pie seemed to be a Village Café favorite. Even with blackberry season a bit late this year, there were plenty of berries around the neighborhood, waiting to be picked…

While today’s recipe is not an official Village Café one, it’s both vintage and tasty.

Blackberry Pie
from Betty Crocker’s Picture Cookbook (1957 edition)

Crust (for 9″ pie):
2 cups sifted Gold Medal flour
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup lard (or 2/3 cup plus 2 tbsp. hydrogenated shortening)
1/4 cup water

1. Measure flour into mixing bowl and mix salt through it. With pastry blender, cut in shortening until shortening particles are the size of giant peas
2. Sprinkle with water, a tbsp. at a time… mixing lightly with a fork until all the flour is moistened
3. Gather dough together with fingers so it cleans the bowl
4. Press firmly into a ball. Then roll out, or keep in waxed paper in refrigerator

Filling:
1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup Gold Medal flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 cups fresh berries
1 1/2 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix together dry ingredients. Add berries and mix lightly. Pour into a pastry-lined pie pan and dot with butter. Cover with top crust which has slits cut in it. Bake until crust is lightly browned and juice begins to bubble through slits, about 35-45 minutes. Serve slightly warm, not hot.

I did make a few adjustments to the recipe, in hopes of making it seem a bit more like a restaurant pie. In the crust, I used half butter and half shortening (about 6 tbsp butter and a little over 1/3 cup shortening). I used close to 6 cups of berries, only 1 cup of sugar, and a bit of extra flour. I also brushed the top of the pie with egg white and sprinkled it with sugar.

The result was delicious! The crust was a bit hard to handle, however. If you use shortening, I recommend chilling it first.

Now get out and pick some berries (if there are any left!) and I’ll catch you next Thursday for another product spotlight.

Food Fair Spotlight: Hickory Farms

Welcome back, and happy summer!

What comes to mind when you think of Hickory Farms? I think most people would associate this brand with Christmastime and shopping malls, but the brand actually started as a vendor at fairs.

The year was 1951 when Ohioan cousins Richard and Earl Ransom began selling handmade cheeses at local fairs. The Ransoms had started a produce market in the previous decade, but the work was very seasonal and they wanted something to do in the off season. Five years later, the beef stick (now beef summer sausage) was introduced. By 1959 the company was selling 1.5 million pounds of beef stick via fair booths and mail order annually. That same year, the company was dubbed Hickory Farms, and its first storefront opened in Toledo, Ohio.

The store featured a strong farm theme, free coffee, and lots of free samples, all of which aimed to encourage shoppers to linger and buy. It must have worked, because the first Hickory Farms franchise store opened in 1960. The company officially incorporated that same year.

By 1965, there were 57 Hickory Farms stores in operation. By 1968, that number had risen to 100. Despite the success of its stores, Hickory Farms continued to rent booths at fairs. By 1964, the company claimed to have more spaces at fairs and expos than any other company.

Around this time, the company’s products became exceptionally popular around Christmastime, with 40% of annual sales occurring during the holiday season.

Hickory Farms went public in 1970, at the start of a decade that would spell explosive growth for the company. By 1975, Hickory Farms boasted over 300 stores across 43 US states and Canada. Ransom rekindled the original booth strategy in 1977, this time targeting mall kiosks rather than fair booths. Hickory Farms finished off the 70s strong, with a total revenue of more than $164 million.

In 1980, Ransom sold to General Host (GH) Corporation (remember them from the Bar S history?) for $40 million. GH also purchased the company’s largest franchisee, Hickory Farms Sales, for $11 million. Despite their hopes that Hickory Farms wild success would continue under their management, that was not the case. While multiple things were blamed for this downturn (including poor management, declining mall traffic, and even HoneyBaked Ham), GH decided to turn its primary focus to its chain of gardening stores and divest several of its other interests, including Hickory Farms.

In 1987, in a turn of events strangely similar to the story of Bar S Meats, Hickory Farms was sold to a group of investors headed by Robert DiRomualdo, who had succeeded Richard Ransom as CEO of Hickory Farms several years prior. DiRomualdo is credited with helping the company get back on its feet and return to profitability. Despite his successes, he abruptly resigned in the early 90s.

Under new leadership, Hickory Farms sought to increase its number of company-owned stores by buying up franchised locations from aging franchisees. One of the largest acquisitions was Hickory Farms Northwest, which operated 14 locations in Washington and Oregon.

Throughout the 90s, Hickory Farms acquired several other food companies, expanding their product offerings to include nuts, fruits, steaks, seafoods, and other giftable delicacies. The mail-order option, which had been discontinued in the 70s, was brought back, along with the focus on locations in shopping malls.

Today, Hickory Farms remains popular as a holiday gift. Its giftsets can be purchased directly from the company, at one of its pop-up stores, or even on Amazon. I purchased the above summer sausage at the deli department of my local Fred Meyer.

Now get out and enjoy that sun! I’ll see you next week for another recipe.

Food Fair Recipe: Sukiyaki

Welcome back! For those of you who read last week’s short Bargreen Coffee post last week, I added a brief update yesterday. Take a look if you’re interested!

For this week, it’s recipe time again.

Nestled in among the spaghetti, burritos, candied apples, and other Food Circus specialties was Tenaka, a booth serving “imported Japanese foods.” Located near the Gayway, the Japanese Village exhibit also provided fairgoers a taste of “exotic” Japanese cuisine. Some of the featured foods included shrimp tempura and sukiyaki.

Sukiyaki is a Japanese dish consisting of slowly-cooked meat (usually beef), vegetables, and a soy sauce-mirin based sauce. While I’m sure today’s recipe isn’t completely authentic, it is time-period appropriate. Calling for ingredients like tofu and hakusai, this recipe would have been considered very exotic at the time. A Japanese pop song called Sukiyaki would rise to the top of the Billboard Top 100 the following year, but this dish was likely unfamiliar to the average fairgoer in 1962.

This recipe comes from a recipe booklet put out by Revere Ware that possibly was handed out at the Fair as a souvenir. It’s called “Favorite Recipes from Faraway Places,” and can be viewed in full here.

Beef Sukiyaki
From Revere Ware

Cut crossgrain into thin slices:
2 1/2 lbs fillet of beef
2 medium onions
6 scallions or green onions
4 stalks celery
2 whole canned bamboo shoots
6 fresh mushrooms

Shred:
4 leaves hakusai (Japanese cabbage) or 1/2 lb fresh spinach
1 lb tofu (fresh bean curd), optional

Arrange cut ingredients in rows on large platter.

Heat in a 12″ Revere skillet:
3 Tbsp beef suet or salad oil

Add meat and sauté until brown.

Wari-Shita (Cooking Sauce)
Combine:
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 c soy sauce
1/2 c dashi (soup stock) or beef consommé
1 Tbsp sake or sherry
1/2 tsp monosodium glutamate

Add half the mixture to the browned beef.
Add chopped onions, celery, and scallions. Cover and cook over low heat for five minutes.
Add remaining sauce, bean curd, bamboo shoots, spinach, and mushrooms. Cook, uncovered, 3 minutes or until tender. Do not overcook.
Yield: 6 servings

Sukiyaki sounds incredibly tasty, but I consider this particular recipe to be okay, but not great. It was rather salty, and the bamboo scent was a bit overwhelming. For the record, I used green onions, spinach, vegetable oil, cooking sherry, and canned beef consommé, and I omitted the tofu and msg (which can sometimes tricky to find if you store doesn’t carry Accent). Would this recipe be delicious with more authentic ingredients? It’s possible, but it may be best to just go to a Japanese restaurant in this case.

There are a few things I’d recommend keeping in mind if you do decide to make this recipe. For starters, canned bamboo shoots smell and taste a bit unusual, and they can easily become overpowering in the dish. I have read that soaking them before use can ease some of this.

Secondly, you will need a very large pan. An electric skillet may be best suited for this recipe, but I used a very large sauté pan, and still had trouble keeping everything contained at times. I got far beyond six servings from it.

And finally, cut your beef very thin! This speeds up the cooking, and ensures that it is tender. I used a tip online that recommended freezing your beef for about an hour before cutting, and highly recommend it.

If you do decide to try this out, leave a comment to let me know how it turned out. Otherwise, I will catch you next week for another product spotlight!

Food Fair Recipes: Hazel’s Candy Fudge

While I cannot prove that this exact fudge, nor fudge in general, was served at the World’s Fair, I do know that Hazel’s Candies sold confections at the Food Circus during the fair, and well beyond it!

The name Hazel’s Candies may not sound familiar today, but just 50 years ago, it was a fixture in many northwest malls. However, the origins of the company date back much further than that, to the turn of the 20th century, and a confectionery at the Grand Central Market in Yakima, Washington.

This shop was opened by the Kappelmans, twin brothers who had recently immigrated to the US from Switzerland, but was sold in the 1920s to their dedicated employee, Hazel. For the next several decades, Hazel made a delicious array of candies by hand. She even added a coffee shop to her sweets factory and moved from the Grand Central to downtown Yakima. In 1948, she wished to retire, and extended a sales offer to local candymakers Merv and Virginia Holen, who had found great success with their Sweet Center. Virginia had fond childhood memories of watching Hazel work in her shop, and the Holens eagerly accepted her offer.

In addition to equipment and recipes, the sale included three dedicated and experienced employees who taught the Holens a great deal about the art of candymaking, especially where chocolate was involved.

With inadequate air conditioning at the shop, chocolate production, and sales, slumped during the summer. Looking for ways to bolster revenue, Virginia struck a deal with a Richland businessman to sell Hazel’s Candies in his mini-mall. Personal calls led to an influx in boxed candy sales around the Christmas season. Hazel’s even provided holiday candy canes for a Yakima Newberry’s store and Seattle First National Bank.

In the early 1950s, Hazel’s won a bid to produce walnut divinity for the Campfire Girls (10,000 pounds of divinity, to be exact), and while things were going well for the company, the World’s Fair would provide a big boost.

Virginia Holen describes the fair as Hazel’s “springboard” into the Seattle, greater Washington, and Oregon markets. While the chocolates sold at the fair were brought in weekly from their Yakima factory, all of the other candy was hand made, the old-fashioned way (copper kettle over gas flame), in front of visitors to their booth in the Food Circus. People from all over the world purchased and enjoyed these delicacies and the taffy-pulling entertainment put on by Hazel’s staff.

Hazel’s maintained their Food Circus location after the fair ended, and later became quite popular with the basketball fans converging in the area to catch a SuperSonics game.

In 1963, Hazel’s moved into a larger building in Yakima, which provided double the space, a temperature-controlled room for chocolate dipping, and large windows through which guests could watch the candy be made. In 1965, Hazel’s entered a 10-year lease for a location at the Northgate Mall, and two years later, production moved to yet another, bigger facility in Yakima.

When Southcenter Mall opened in 1968, Hazel’s was there, too! In 1969, the Holens rented a space near the Seattle Center to serve as corporate offices. Yakima Mall and Columbia Center both got Hazel’s locations in 1970. 1974 saw expansion into Oregon with a location at Washington Square in Tigard. Tacoma Mall got its Hazel’s location the following year.

Clearly, business was booming!

In 1976, Merv and Virginia sold Hazel’s, but maintained a financial interest in the business. The buyer also purchased Roger’s Candy, but fell ill and sold the company without first consulting the Holens. In 1990, two years after this sale, a creditor foreclosed on Hazel’s and Roger’s, closing both businesses. After a messy and 2-year-long legal battle, intangible assets (including recipes and product names) were returned to the Holens.

This is the short version of Hazel’s history. The complete version (along with Virginia’s sweet recollections), can be read in her book, “Hazel’s Candies: Copper Kettle Trade Secrets,” published in 2000 by Elton-Wolf Publishing. While this book can be hard to find for a reasonable price, it is a gem, including countless old-fashioned candy recipes and detailed instructions and tips. It was also the origin of this week’s recipe:

Hippity-Hop Fudge

3/4 c condensed milk
2 c granulated sugar
2 Tbsp butter
12 oz semi-sweet chocolate or chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 c marshmallow creme
3/4 c chopped (wal)nuts

1. Grease kettle sides with butter
2. On medium heat, bring condensed milk to a boil, stirring gently
3. Set off heat. Add sugar and stir to melt. Return to medium heat
4. Stirring constantly, bring to a full boil. Wash down and around cook line with pastry brush dipped in a generous amount of cold water
5. Cook to 220 degrees. Place butter on tip of stir-stick, melting it all along the boil line to eliminate any of the sugar granules
6. Continue stirring and cook to 234 degrees
7. Remove from heat and add chocolate. When melted, stir in vanilla, salt, marshmallow creme, and nuts
8. When well mixed, pour into the foil-lined pan and cool at room temperature on wire cooking rack. Allow to stand at least 4 hours before cutting into squares

One thing for sure is that I am not a candy maker at all! Despite my best attempt, the finished product was a bit grainy, albeit delicious. If you have more skill and better equipment than me (like maybe a copper kettle), I’d imagine this recipe would be a grand success!

While the recipe suggested walnuts (strangely in the instructions rather than in the ingredients list), I used pecans. Any nut of your choosing would surely be a winner.

And while I don’t know if this exact fudge was featured at the fair, I figured that fairs and fudge just go together (and I did not want to pull taffy by hand!)

I’ll see you next week for another product spotlight.