In 1914, Elmer’s sons signed on to what is now known as Elmer Candy Corporation, which, by then, had moved to the corner of Magazine and Poydras streets.
In this 2001 photo, Elmer Candy Corp. employees create the candy maker’s famous Heavenly Hash Eggs during one of the final Fridays of Easter candy production at the plant in Ponchatoula.
Chicago native Roy Nelson purchased the company from the Elmer family in 1963 and moved its operation to Ponchatoula in 1970. Nelson refocused the company’s offerings on seasonal chocolates rather than everyday candy and snacks.
Elmer’s expanded its 30,000-square-foot facility in 2016 by adding 70,000 square feet. It’s now the second-largest heart box manufacturer in the country.
The Elmer Candy Corp. in the 1960s in its location on the corner of Magazine and Poydras streets in New Orleans. The company moved to Ponchatoula in 1970.
But the spotlight is on the Heavenly Hash Egg, which is now offered in three versions: Original milk chocolate, dark chocolate and the strawberry-filled Heavenly Hash Egg honoring its hometown Ponchatoula’s status as the Strawberry Capitol of the World.
Making the eggs is a two-day process, beginning with its marshmallow center.
Though the Elmer Candy Corp.’s delivery truck touted the company’s Gold Brick Egg, the Heavenly Hash Egg was produced 16 years earlier and celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2023.
“As far as our recipe goes, it really hasn’t changed,” Nelson said. “We make the liquid marshmallow mixture, then we deposit it into powdered cornstarch.”
The cornstarch forms an egg-shaped mold, which draws the moisture out of the marshmallow mixture overnight. What’s left the next day is a marshmallow egg, which is topped by two almonds, then covered in chocolate.
In this undated file photo, a worker stirs the liquid marshmallow mix for the Elmer Candy Corp.’s Heavenly Hash Eggs.
“After that, it gets wrapped,” Nelson said.
But not in just any wrapping — the Heavenly Hash Egg is dressed in a blue foil that announces its name in blue letters trimmed in red.
Elmers begins making not only Heavenly Hash Eggs but its cousins, the Gold Brick and Pecan eggs, in January in preparation for Easter. Still, the wrappers won’t commemorate Heavenly Hash’s 100th.
“You know, we should have done that, but it’s tough in the volume that we’re making,” Nelson said. “Three million pounds sounds like a lot, but had we made commemorative wrappers, we would’ve been using them again next year, and that probably wouldn’t work. So it is not on the package. It’s just something we’ve been talking about and celebrating.”
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