82-Lancasttr Farming, Saturday, December 8,1984
Homemade Christmas candy
makes a distinctive gift
BY SALLY BAIR
Staff Correspondent
UTTLESTOWN - There is still
plenty of time to present someone
on your Christmas list with a
homemade, lovingly prepared gift.
This gift will take just a few hours
of your time, and will be welcomed
by young and old alike. The gift is
candy ’ - beautiful, delicious
homemade candy.
Sarah Musselman is convinced
that anyone can make beautiful,
professional-looking candy to
delight the most discriminating
gift receiver.
Sarah, 1825 Whitehall Road,
Littlestown, has been making
professional looking cakes for
nearly 20 years, but it is only
recently that she began to make
candy.
Operator of Musselman’s
Kountry Store and Cake Shoppe,
Inc., Sarah also gives candy
making classes. Sarah recalls that
two years ago her husband became
concerned with being laid off at his
work and suggested that they open
a bulk food store. She agreed that
would be a good idea, but added,
“Let’s try candy too.” She said the
bulk food idea came about because
an Amish neighbor from whom she
had purchased bulk items had gone
out of business.
Sarah’s interest in making her
own candy grew out of wanting to
improve her cake decorating
techniques. “I had taught myself
cake decorating but there were
things I didn’t know how to do,”
she says. She searched until she
found someone who taught a class,
This chocolate sleigh is just one example of the many in
teresting creations Sarah Musselman can make from candy.
Sarah carefully chooses candy to fill a pound box of assorted chocolates, an attractive,
delicious gift for anyone on your gift list.
and while there, she decided to
take candy making. Sarah recalls,
“My mouth was open when we
made chocolate covered cherries
- I’d always wondered how you
made them.”
After that Sarah was hooked. “I
kept getting more and more into it.
There is so much you can do - it is
fascinating.”
Customers are now benefiting
from Sarah’s interest, and her
store is a veritable wonderland for
anyone interested in making
candy. Sarah carries over 250
kinds of candy molds as well as all
the accessories which make the
difference between amateur and
professional looking candy. She
has lovely gift boxes, papers,
sticks for lollipops, and every kind
of ingredient.
The molds cover every
imaginable holiday including
Christmas, Easter and Valentine’s
Day and less celebrated holidays
like Mother’s Day and St. Patrick’s
Day.
But it’s the candy making
classes which Sarah really enjoys.
“Offering classes gives me an
exposure, and it’s fun. I enjoy
teaching people to do something I
do so they can have fun like I do. It
really makes people feel good to
say, T made it.’”
She charges a “refundable
dollar” for the classes, and seems
apologetic when she explains that
she charges $3 for hard candy
classes. She gives $2 back and lets
them keep the candy they make.
Sarah rarely advertises, saying,
“Word of mouth is the best ad-
lients wl
mgn
vertisement.” When someone
expresses an interest in one of her
classes, she simply takes that
person’s number and when she has
enough to make up a class she
arranges a time convenient to
everyone interested. The classes
themselves are conducted in the
kitchen of her spacious home. They
gather around the kitchen table
specially built with a Corning top
to allow hot peanut brittle to be
poured directly on it for working.
She said she enjoys getting her
customers involved in something
which doesn’t take a lot of money.
She said she also tries to teach
them all of the old tricks she knows
along with some new things to keep
getting the former customers
back.
While it’s time consuming to go
to candy classes herself, Sarah still
feels it is beneficial because she
always learns something she can
pass on to her customers. “It helps
me teach. Everytime I go to a class
taught by a different person, I
learn something new." All of this is
very helpful because customers
will often call her for advice,
frequently when they are in the
middle of making candy and
something isn’t going right.
Sarah draws customers from all
over Adams County, and many
from nearby Carroll County, Md.
Making candy is the fun part of
the business, and Sarah takes
orders for her now-famous molded
candy. She occasionally sells the
finished product from the store,
but much prefers selling it by
order.
Candy making has become a
family affair, with Sarah’s mother,
Helen Sweitzer of Silver Run,
helping nearly every day m the
busy season. Helen confides,
though, that while she enjoys
(Turn to Page B 4)
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Helen Sweitzer, Silver Run, works on the candy sealing
machine, preparing chocolate lollipops which will make in
teresting Christmas treats.
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elcome than a chocolate Santa on a
stick? There are also molds for stockings, reindeer, bells and
many other holiday treats.
iday ca
making.