100 Years of Nut Goodie

Back to the theme of the Midwest, another foodstuff which I often crave but is hyper-expensive in Europe (like liquid gold) is maple syrup. True, the majority of it is produced in Canada, but a good business still goes on in Minnesota/Wisconsin with local maple syrup producers.

Maple flavour goes incredibly well with bacon. This is a common brunch item in London – maple syrup, bacon, and American-style fluffy pancakes. I was recently in San Francisco on the waterfront at Pier 39 and found maple and bacon flavoured saltwater taffy. It was remarkably good.

If you like maple flavour, it’s quite good in baking, similar to substituting honey for sugar in a recipe but stronger flavoured. They make these maple-flavoured sandwich cookies in the Midwest that are shaped like little maple leaves, which are to die for. Maple extract is easier to use (and cheaper) than maple syrup and you can find it on Amazon.

Which brings us to Pearson’s Candy company and the Minnesotan Nut Goodie.  This is a disc of maple nougat, covered in salted peanuts, covered in chocolate.

Not quite as popular as the Pearson’s Nut Roll, which is simply a log of plain nougat entirely covered in salted peanuts — a restorative mix of salty and sweet and nicely portable for a sunny hike (nothing to melt) as long as it doesn’t get squished.

The Nut Goodie has a cousin, the Maple Bun, which you can try at Cybercandy in the UK. They also make vanilla and caramel variants. I recently saw the Maple Bun for the first time at Cybercandy and wondered if the Nut Goodie had been rebranded, as they are the same size and composition, but apparently with a slightly different recipe. It was sufficiently Nut Goodie-like.

Minnesotans are quite proud of the Nut Goodie and it is currently celebrating its centenary. Not only is the St. Paul ice cream shop which has made top ten lists of best ice cream in the US, Izzi, competing with other local ice cream shops this summer to create the best Nut Goodie-inspired ice cream in its honour, Pearson’s have also pioneered a new caramel sea salt flavour Nut Goodie this year. Can’t wait to try it.

Happy birthday, Nut Goodie!

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