Do you have a favorite Easter candy? Your answer may say a lot about where you live and what kind of candy and chocolate you ate during your childhood.
Of course, Easter is a religious holiday for Christians, and along the Gulf South you could say there’s a religious following for treats like the Gold Brick Egg, Heavenly Hash, and the Pecan Egg. Those are a few of the specialty chocolates made by the Elmer Candy Corporation, but a lot of local folks just call it Elmer’s Chocolate . The company is based in the small city of Ponchatoula, Louisiana, but it got its start in New Orleans back in 1855. During its New Orleans days, Elmer Chocolate created Easter candy that has lasted until today.
“Heavenly Hash has been around with our company since 1923 and the Gold Brick Egg since 1936. People have enjoyed having them in their family celebrations and handing them down from generation to generation,” said Rob Nelson, CEO of the Elmer Candy Corporation.
The Elmer factory in Ponchatoula consists of a cavernous network of machines and robots that can package 400 boxes of chocolate per minute. But, when it comes to producing its line of Easter chocolates such as the Gold Brick Egg, the human touch is needed. There’s a separate area of the factory with old-school machinery where employees will work for a certain amount of time ahead of Easter to make sure their seasonal sweets will be available to find their way into Easter baskets. A little bit before Easter, I visited the Elmer chocolate facility. There was a consistent hum of machines running with robotic arms methodically moving over what seemed like an endless line of chocolate and candy. But in the section of the plant where Elmer’s Easter candy is usually made, it was quiet. The work to make items like Heavenly Hash was completed months ago. Rob Nelson pointed out some of the equipment that was used.
“So, the first line is where we make our Heavenly Hash. The Heavenly Hash marshmallow comes out. There’s another area where the piece of equipment takes the excess cornstarch off the marshmallow because if there’s cornstarch on the marshmallow, chocolate won’t stick to it. It has to go through about 40 feet of belt where we’re actually putting those two almonds per egg all by hand. That’s old-school,” Nelson told me.
Nelson is the third generation of his family to be running the Elmer Candy Corporation. Not surprisingly, Nelson grew up eating Elmer’s Easter chocolates. His personal favorite is the dark chocolate Heavenly Hash.
That may have been different if Nelson grew up somewhere else other than Gulf Coast. He told me from Houston, Texas to Pensacola, Florida, the popularity and demand for Gold Brick Eggs and the like is very strong. But further north and west, that’s not the case. Like food and music, Easter chocolate and candy can be very regional in nature.
“One of the states that has a lot of manufacturers of chocolate and candies is Pennsylvania. So, Pennsylvania is a very strong Eastern market. Pennsylvania and Louisiana are the top two markets in the country for Easter candy,” Nelson said.
So why is there so much love for Elmer’s Easter chocolates down here? And how can automation make for more human jobs? Listen to my conversation with Nelson as he takes me through Elmer’s chocolate factory here.