We had a tour of their candy-making facility and candy museum. The owner gave the tour.
Jill Schimpff (owner) took us outside the building to show us flood lines from 1813 (about 4' deep) and 1814 (about 6' deep), and the granddaddy flood (don't remember year) when the floodwaters went halfway up the second floor. Her grandmother had to be rescued by a boat from her second floor window. In the big flood, Jill said the floodwaters extended 27 miles in each direction from the river.
When we returned to the candy kitchen, we watched her husband make cinnamon red hots. He heated the candy to 320 degrees in an antique copper pot. When it reached that temperature, he poured the mixture onto an antique steel table with a frame to contain the liquid candy solution until it cooled. Once the candy cooled enough for him to handle it, he removed the frame, then kneaded the candy mixture.
Once the candy was malleable, he poured on cinnamon oil and kneaded it into the mixture. (FYI, cinnamon oil is expensive, about $50.00 for approximately a quart-sized bottle.) We watched him take the candy mixture to a warming table which keeps the candy flexible until it is put through the press. But it can't be too warm or the candy won't take the shape of the mold.
He cut the large blob of candy into pieces to feed it through the mold machine by hand. The red hots come out in sheets of about 100 pieces of candy. Once the candy is cool, to separate the candies into individual pieces, they take a sheet of molded candy and drop it on the table. All the individual pieces separate out. We got to sample warm cinnamon red hots--so yummy. [Note from 2012: I bought a couple of bags of cinnamon red hots while we were at Schimpff's in 2011. Normally, I do not care for red hots so they were supposed to be for Bob. They were the best red hots I've ever tasted and I ended up eating a whole bunch of them. I would happily buy them again!]
The tour also included watching chocolates and caramels being hand-dipped in liquid chocolate, then twirled and put on the candy sheets with a swirl signature for each type of candy.
The end of our tour was of the small candy museum. We ate lunch at their deli/soda fountain. They serve real, flavored cokes: vanilla, cherry, chocolate, and today's flavor: cinnamon coke.
The candy museum:
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| Antique candy dispenser. |
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| Amazed Amanda. |
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| Antique candy mold hanging on the wall. |
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| The candy store--one of each, please. |
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| Front view of confections. |
When we came back to the hotel, Amanda and I went swimming. We played Marco Polo, Dunkin Donuts (we got sprinkled and dunked), motorboats (I pulled her through the water), saw how long we could hold our breath, she rode on my back around the pool. We did somersaults and handstands, swam, made whirlpools, got dizzy and did it all again. I think we were in the pool for about two hours.
After the pool, Bob and I drove up to Jeffersonville, Indiana so I could show him the scenic drive, Falls of the Ohio State Park, the statue of Lewis & Clark (because this is the location they started and finished the Lewis & Clark Expedition).
For dinner, I took Bob to the the King Fish restaurant overlooking the Ohio River. We rated it about a B-.
One more day of convention (trade show only). Bob is going to take me to see the trade show tomorrow.
Time to say goodnight.
We'll be going through Louisville on our way back to VT, think we'll have to add the candy store to our itinerary.
ReplyDeleteThe candy store and museum is very small, about four rooms total, but it shows the way candy was made by hand in the days before all the machine-made candies. (Did I mention the cinnamon red hots were the best ever?? LOL. I got hooked.)
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