Sweet! Eat your Chicken Bones

In 1930, Ganong introduced the first heart-shaped chocolate
box in Canada. The first shipment was not for Valentine's Day but
for December of 1930. It did not sell well but quickly picked up
when the chocolate-filled boxes were sold at Valentine's.

The cacao plant

     In 1873 the Ganong Chocolate company was established by brothers James and Gilbert Ganong in St. Stephen's, New Brunswick. This company has since been operated by generations of the Ganong family making it the oldest, independently owned and operated chocolate company.

     We went on a tour of the original factory, now a museum, to learn about how chocolate candy are made. It was very interesting. Throughout the tour, the guide kept on handing out different chocolates for us to taste. Yumm!
The cacao plant is only grown in certain tropical countries and the cacao is transported to various countries where the chocolates are made.

     The Ganong Company accomplished many firsts in the candy and chocolate business.
     1. In 1885, Frank Sparhawk developed the bitter sweet chocolate candy filled flavoured candy called Chicken Bones.
     2. In 1888, they imprinted their hand dipped chocolates on the bottom with "GB Ganong" with the use of an embossed celluloid pad.
     3. In 1889, they were the first in Canada to purchase a lozenge-making machine from Europe.
     4. In 1895, they were the first in Canada to make lollipops and suckers using a butcher's wooden skewer.
     5. In 1900, the figure of Evangeline first appeared on the boxed chocolates.
     6. In 1920, they started to produce the chocolate and nut bar called Pal-o-mine. It is the oldest continuously produced candy bar in North America. The name Pal-o-mine evokes a sense of loyalty, of a man's best friend's faithfulness.
     7. As mentioned earlier, in 1930 they introduced the first heart-shaped boxes to Canada.

     The best seat in the factory was called the "Candy Bench". If you were called to this sweet seat you were given chocolates to eat because you may be there all day and it usually meant that you were getting a promotion.

Ganong's also makes jelly beans and until recently they made mints
in pink and white. I remember these mints as a child. 

Here are the mints. Although they are not manufacturing them any more,
we were still able to purchase two bags of them from the chocolate shop.

     We toured through a section of the museum where two women were hand dipping chocolates. What a messy job! It was there that we got to try out some cacao nibs which is the part of the chocolate that is put into the chocolate recipe. It was also the end of the tour.

And the winner is .... me. They had an old vault that challenged you to open and win a prize.

Here is the vault door and tumbler to unlock.
Who can do it?

"This is the moment. I'm going to try to open it.
Will it open?"

Yay! I got in.

The prize. A bracelet saying. "I visited the Chocolate Factory".

     It was an interesting tour learning all about chocolate, where it grows and how it is manufactured into chocolate candies. It was a sweet treat!