Mounds and Almond Joy | New England Candy

Some New England-born confections are well known to the point of icon status (think Boston Cream Pie or Necco Wafers), but others, for whatever reason, have grown — like kids that went away to college and never came back home — to the point where they’ve lost much of their original New England affiliation. One prime example (two, in fact) is the sweet sibling duo of Mounds and Almond Joy.

Did you know that both bars come from Connecticut? Mounds and Almond Joy have been a part of the Hershey’s family since 1988, but before that, they (along with the York Peppermint Patty) were part of the Peter Paul Candy Manufacturing Company. Founded by a group that included namesake Peter Paul Halajian in New Haven in 1919, the company went on to have decades of sweet success from its plant in Naugatuck (including merging with Cadbury in 1978) before being sold to Hershey’s. Peter Paul debuted Mounds, a dark chocolate-covered coconut candy bar, in 1921 (named “Mounds” for its shape), and Almond Joy in 1946, after WWII had ended and access to rationed sugar and coconut was restored. Almond Joy used the same coconut center as Mounds, but with whole almonds pressed into the top and with a coating of milk chocolate instead of dark. Here, we’re showing the mini “snack size” versions, but both come in a regular size bar, too.

The candies share similar packaging and usually appear together in ads, most notably in the famous 1970s (and 80s, and 90s…) campaign that included the jingle, “Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t / Almond Joy’s got nuts / Mounds don’t.” If it wasn’t in your head already by this point, then we suspect it probably will be now…

Even with the sale to Hershey’s in the late 80s, the Peter Paul plant in Naugatuck remained operational until Hershey’s announced in 2007 that it would be closing, with all Mounds and Almond Joy production moved to Virginia. The plant closed later that year and the factory was torn down in 2011. Both Mounds and Almond Joy may have found nationwide success that has taken them beyond their original New England roots, but that’s no reason not to celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit of the Peter Paul Company and the bars’ status as classic New England-born treats, is it? And what better way to celebrate than with something sweet? Which brings us to our final question…when the craving for coconut hits, do you find yourself feeling more like a nut…or not? We’d love to know.