On Thursday, December 13, 2007, most of our family went to Hammond’s Candies for a field trip with our homeschool group.
When we arrived we went into the café-style waiting room. We visited with many of our friends who had gotten there already. We waited for approximately 30 minutes before our tour. At 10:30 we heard our tour guide’s voice over the loud speaker, requesting that we line up to start the tour. We stepped into the first room on the tour and sat on the long two-leveled wooded benches. We watched a video introducing the factory processes, and informing us briefly of Hammond’s Candies’ history. We took pictures of the 32 homeschool tourists.
The reason I'm not in the picture is I was taking it. We had to take three pictures, and Dad had to "patch" them together!
Then we walked into the production room. There was thick glass separating our assemblage from the workers as they fashioned the candy. The smell of peppermint was enjoyably potent. The tour guide spoke through a PA system explaining the process throughout the tour. On the right side of the large room there were a few huge copper kettles heating the candy mixture (sugar, corn syrup, and water) to 220 ºF. On a table near to that, were two men pulling and stretching candy. After they had done this, they created a 50-lb. wad of candy wrapped in a 20lb. red and white candy blanket that they would warm, work, and shape into candy canes. Three women on the left side of the room were forming the candy into ribbon candy using an antique mechanism that squeezed the candy into the desired shape. Two men in the middle of the room were taking the boiling candy mixture and pouring it onto the cooling table. One man added coloring, while the other added crushed broken candy that is reused by putting it back into new candy. Next we walked down a hall to see the next big room where numerous people were packaging the candy by hand. We had the pleasure of sampling the Mitchell Sweets they had been making. They were comprised of marshmallows coated with thick caramel. We were also given a sample of candy cane to eat.
Then we walked into the production room. There was thick glass separating our assemblage from the workers as they fashioned the candy. The smell of peppermint was enjoyably potent. The tour guide spoke through a PA system explaining the process throughout the tour. On the right side of the large room there were a few huge copper kettles heating the candy mixture (sugar, corn syrup, and water) to 220 ºF. On a table near to that, were two men pulling and stretching candy. After they had done this, they created a 50-lb. wad of candy wrapped in a 20lb. red and white candy blanket that they would warm, work, and shape into candy canes. Three women on the left side of the room were forming the candy into ribbon candy using an antique mechanism that squeezed the candy into the desired shape. Two men in the middle of the room were taking the boiling candy mixture and pouring it onto the cooling table. One man added coloring, while the other added crushed broken candy that is reused by putting it back into new candy. Next we walked down a hall to see the next big room where numerous people were packaging the candy by hand. We had the pleasure of sampling the Mitchell Sweets they had been making. They were comprised of marshmallows coated with thick caramel. We were also given a sample of candy cane to eat.
After questions and answers, we exited through the door to the gift shop where we perused the many items for sale. We had an uneventfully safe trip home. ~ Jeffrey
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