The Write Ingredients

The Taste # 43


St. Paul’s Pearson’s Candy Co. goes through about 200 tons of peanuts a month, the lion’s share presumably forming the basis of its Salted Nut Roll. This company stalwart — a toothsome peanut-caramel-nougat calibration of soft and crunchy, sweet and salty — has been a candy-counter staple since 1933. Today it’s the region’s most popular non-chocolate candy bar.



Today, hunger got the best of me. Since the new deli in our building is still not open, and the Italian market down the street was closed for the short week, I was limited to the vending machine for something to stop my rumbling stomach. I perused my options, checking out the candy bars and cookies and no-trans fat animal crackers when my eyes landed on the classic #43. I threw 7 dimes into the machine, punched number 144 and out popped a childhood favorite, the Pearsons Salted Nut Roll.

I remembering pulling these out of vending machines as a kid, and people always told me, "that's not a candy bar." But it is, really it is. I've always loved the unique combination of sweet and salty. The peanuts crunch, while the nougat wraps around my teeth like liquid sugar. The hardest part is pulling the carmelly (is that a word) bottom from the waxed cardboard. But then suddenly it's gone.

I noticed there's a burst on the wrapper that reads, "Good source of protein." That's great, for all those atkins-ihatecarbs-afraid of eating bread people, but for me, its all about the memories, that tasty nougat and the fact that they're made less than 3.5 miles from my home.

Now that's eating local!