Hammond's Candy Factory

Hammonds Candies was started in the 1920's and has been a Denver classic since. I've been meaning to go on a tour of the factory for a while and finally decided this time of year was probably the best time to go. And it helped out a little that our Christmas ring for the day said "go on a tour of a candy factory..."

 My friend Katie and her little girl Etta came with us to join in on the fun. Online it said you could show up at any time during the day for a free tour. Well it just so happened that the time we had gotten there at was going to be featured on the Travel Channel for a Christmas special. We had to sign waivers and everything...we are television stars!

We were all required to wear the Hammonds hats, but guess who didn't want to keep hers on. Luckily no on seemed to mind :)

The tour led you through the candy making process. There were a dozen people working in a large room that was kept between 80-90 degrees. Today they were making candy canes. I was shocked at how quickly they were able to roll, slice and bend the candies into shape. The most fascinated part was watching them kneed the giant ball of candy then place it in the machine that rolled it into the long skinny piece of candy that they cut from.

Candy canes are good and all, but my favorite to watch were the chocolate covered marshmallows...mmmm. All the while we were watching the tour, the travel channel was taping us. It was funny how staged something like a tour ended up being! They said we would go about the tour as usual, but in reality we were asked to walk up and down the hallways numerous times, asked to gawk through the windows repeatedly, and were given lines to say.

Etta was so cute, she kept oooing and awwing saying Wow!! through the glass windows.

 At the end of the tour we were given fresh, warm candy canes. I got a chocolate filled one and an apple pie one. Hammonds candy canes are much thicker and larger than your typical candy cane and very tasty! They also had huge buckets of broken candies that we were able to take samples from, the kids loved it!

After the tour we headed into the candy shop. It was like walking into Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, candies galore! It was hard to chose what to buy but I settled on a giant peanut putter cup, a bag of caramel covered marshmallows, and a tin of chocolate truffle drink mix.

Johanna was in awe!

 She got to pick out a lollipop from the broken candy bin and her own candy cane. As you can see the candies are very fragile, and she managed to bash hers into a million little pieces. But I guess that's half the fun :)

While we were shopping in the candy store the Travel Channel asked to film Katie and I as we were browsing. Afterward they even interviewed us on camera! I wonder if we'll make the final cut... It will be hilarious if they do... I will have to keep an eye out for the show it is called "Fun things to do for Christmas" or something or other. What a great day!