Mitchell Sweets: The Man Behind the Iconic Candy

A Friendship That’s Still Sweet – Almost 100 Years Later!

A puffy bite of fresh marshmallow and the streeeetch of handmade caramel. If thinking about our iconic Mitchell Sweet has your mouth watering, you’ve got the right idea! This caramel marshmallow treat has been part of the Hammond brand for almost a century.

The Mitchell Sweet is also a perfect encapsulation of our candy-making philosophy: it requires a surprising amount of care and craft to make, it’s a celebration of our family company roots, AND it’s downright delicious!

The story behind our Mitchell Sweets is almost as sweet as they are. It’s a friendship born from two men’s love of candy that’s continued to this day, more than 90s years later. It’s also a celebration of classic handcrafted candy techniques that have taken on new dimensions in the modern day.

Let’s take a quick stroll down memory lane!

The Man Behind the Marshmallow

When Carl T. Hammond opened his candy store in 1920, it was a family business in the truest sense. As in, Carl Hammond worked the front of the store, the candy kitchen, and the office himself! He often asked his family and friends for advice, who were happy to offer support and even happier to taste his newest creations.

His first candy, Carl’s Piggy Backs, combined all the flavors he loved: rich chocolate and shredded coconut. It was a hit! Carl didn’t stop there, though. He was always looking for inspiration to make someone else’s new favorite candy.

This inspiration came from one of his good friends, a man named Mitchell. He’d workshopped a candy by doing something similar to Carl, taking all his favorite flavors and making them work together. To that end, Mitchell would dip fresh marshmallow fluff into hot caramel and leave them both to cool, creating his famous ‘sweet.’

Carl knew a good idea when he saw one and offered to purchase the recipe from Mitchell. He also named it after him to celebrate his good friend – and his friend’s sweet tooth. From that day in the 1930s all through today, every Mitchell Sweet made is named for that friendship.

Mitchell Sweets Today

The Mitchell Sweet is still one of our best-selling candies almost a century later. Clearly, Mitchell was onto something! While the caramel-coated design and handmade flavors stayed the same at that time, we’ve had to change the way we make them several times to keep up with all the demand.

Today, if you visit the Hammond’s Factory on one of our free tours, you’ll see two tables the size of semi trucks near the back of our factory floor. Together, these two tables hold 250 pounds of marshmallow fluff at a time.

These marshmallows rest for a full day before being cut into 12-inch logs and dipped in fresh caramel. After resting for another day, they’re cut into small, bite-size pieces and hand-wrapped. You read that correctly: every batch takes three days of constant attention. That’s enough time to drive the width of the continental United States! Since these sweets are so popular, new batches start daily to keep up with demand–using more than 1,700 pounds of marshmallows weekly.

Want to see it in action? Check out the video below!

@hammondscandies

Vanilla Mitchell Sweets the perfect mix of gooey and chewy since 1920 😍😍 #sweetsatisfaction #marshmallowcaramel #HammondsCandies #sweetsummer #denver

♬ TOO SWEET X RIVERS BY ALTÉGO - ALTÉGO

The recipe for the Mitchell Sweet will soon turn 100 years old. Since Carl Hammond served the very first batch, its sweetness and quality haven’t changed a bit. This treat was once a neighborhood special in Denver, and now it’s a national favorite! Talk about a sweet ode to a dear friend.

So, the next time you try one of these delicious marshmallow caramel treats, take a second to appreciate the story and technique that make Mitchell Sweets so special.