812-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 17,1990
Candy Business Makes Easter A Sweet Occasion
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Farming Staff
EAST PETERSBURG (Un
caster Co.) Those creamy
chocolate-covered peanut butter
and coconut eggs taste so yummy,
but are so messy to make. At least
for most cooks.
But not for Brenda Garber. For
weeks, Brenda has been mixing up
250 to 300 dozen pieces of the can
dy in her East Petersburg home.
Her kitchen is immaculate and
the process well organized.
“Other people might not mind
working in a mess,” she said. “But
I can’t.”
Easy and neat
As she forms the egg-shaped
candy, melts the chocolate and
coats the eggs, the procedure looks
so easy and neat.
“I could do this all day,” Brenda
said as she took a fork, dipped pea
nut butler eggs into the melted cho
colate, and placed the coated eggs
on deli paper to cool.
Weeks before Christmas and
Easter holidays, Brenda makes
candy almost all day long, from
9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
“It’s really an overgrown hob
by,” Brenda said. “About 15 years
ago, I helped the fire company and
the youth group make candy for
fund-raisers.”
Make candy
After many years of fund
raising experience, Brenda offered
to make candy in her own home.
Word-of-mouth advertising told of
the delicious candy and orders
came in.
Most the candy is sold through
S. Clyde Weaver’s Meats at their
nearby retail store and market
stands and at Minnich’s Farm
Market, Lititz.
“At this point, we’re not inter
ested in expanding more until the
children are older,” Brenda said.
The children, Richard, 6 and
Michelle, 9, stay home for school
and are taught by their mother.
Both mother and children believe
working and schooling together
are ideal. During the Easter and
Christmas season, the children
help with the candy making. They
go to school year-around because
studies show that children taught at
home retain more.
Push children
“We don’t push the children to
help with the candy making
Six-year-old Richard samples a chocolate-covered coco
nut egg that he has helped make.
because that would defeat the pur
pose,” Brenda said. “But the child
ren enjoy helping.”
Brenda, who was raised by
parents Stanley and Myrtle White
on a Manheim farm, said that it
was a big adjustment for her to
move off the farm.
“If you live in a development,
there isn’t enough for children to
do. We wanted to give our children
a sense of responsibility.
“We feel like the Lord has led us
into making candy. It allows me to
spend time.with the children. It
teaches them to handle money and
work with customers.”
Children paid
The children get paid for the
amount of candy they complete.
They use the money for education
al tapes and other items agreed
upon by the family.
Dressed in aprons, the children
industriously help their mother roll
the candy eggs.
Richard said, “My eye is itchy,
but I can’t itch when I’m making
candy.”
The candy making starts with
Glenn mixing batches of dough
and using an industrial-size
mechanic cookie cutter that shoots
out dough in cookie-sized shapes.
The shapes are just the right size
for rolling into egg-shaped peanut
butter and coconut eggs. It is this
part that the children help their
mother the most. Later, she dips
the eggs in the melted chocolate
and places them on deli paper
.sheets to dry.
Candy packed
When cool, the candy is packed
into cardboard boxes that have
been folded by the children.
Michelle prefers to roll the
dough into egg shapes, but her
brother prefers to box the candy.
He’s just learning to coat the
candy.
In addition to peanut butter
eggs, the family makes opera
fudge in vanilla, coffee, and peanut
butter flavors. The opera fudge
recipe comes from her aunt,
Naomi Gingrich, Lebanon.
Although Brenda does not want
to give away her secret candy
recipes, she will share one of her
specialties that she makes for fami
lies and friends.
The Garber family has been working hard to make Easter candy for others to enjoy.
From left: Richard, Brenda, and Michelle.
Candy making is a family project enjoyed by (from left) Richard, Brenda, and
Michelle.
BRENDA’S CREME DE
MENTHE PATTIES
A pound butter
6 tablespoons creme de menthe
non-alcoholic syrup
Va cup hot tap water
8 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 to VA pounds coating choco
late, light or dark
Mix ingredients with electric
mixer. Pinch off pieces and shape
into one-inch balls. Place on wax
ed paper-covered cookie sheets
and flatten patties with a fork.
Allow to dry.
Melt coaling chocolate in
microwave oven on low heal. Stir
occasionally until melted.
Dip one patty at a time into the
chocolate and carefully place on
wax paper or cake rack to cool
completely. Store in airtight tins.
Makes about 11 dozen two-bite
patties.
If you’ve got kids at home,
chances are your budget is tight.
Count on eggs to provide your
children with high-quality protein
at low cost. One egg equals one
ounce of lean meat, fish or poul
try. When Large eggs sell for 90
Nine-year-old Michelle practices her typing
cents per dozen, it’s the equivalent
of only 60 cents per pound. That ♦ mmH
makes eggs one of the best buys Of&z? MMHJ
around. Serve two eggs as a main THK K ABI
dish or use them to stretch more sjgF IBE |
expensive protein foods.