Learning How to Making Holiday Candy...

Hercules Candy
East Syracuse, NY
November 29th 2014

This little get together was one of the featured trips noted by the meet up group. Hercules candy factory was having an Open House and I had always wanted to visit and this seemed like a perfect opportunity. The candy factory is totally run out of this house, located on the east side of Syracuse.
I got there to meet with several meet up member and was soon on the tour. First up in this crowed house was FREE samples. I only got one piece of chocolate and I was one of the first for the tours. No food allowed in the candy factory. What I did swallow down was delish!

 This hot blog of brown goo is the beginning of making the candy canes.

 They kept flipping it over and over...

 This is where they added fun flavoring and red coloring. This patch was flavored with orange.

 The current basement looks very much like it did when this guys father owned the company.

The next thing...is the stretch. This blob, still to hot to touch without gloves is placed on a stretching spike and stretched as oxygen enters the color lighten.Thus the white color.(although these never were as white as the ones that come in those boxes sold for dirt cheep at Pharmacy stores.)

It almost looks silk. She uses the hammer to knock the pieces off.
Up next although I had a hard time viewing the pieces are rolled into one big mass with the red color in the center...

 Notice how much more white in color the mass is.

 Here is a better view. ( I got this as I was heading back up stairs)

 Here they lay out the candy canes to cool. Those tips were ours to taste and they were YUMMY!

After the factory we were invited to enter the store and taste some more, but there were so many people trying to get in, I said my goodbyes to Tina and headed home. It was an interesting experience. I sure would have liked to have tried some more chocolate and even buy some. Maybe I will have to come on a NON- Open house day.

Me and Tina from the meet up group.