Place of origin United States | Creator Brown and Haley | |
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Type Chocolate-covered toffee Main ingredients Sugar, almonds, butter, vegetable oil, chocolate | ||
Almond Roca is a brand of chocolate-covered, almond butter crunch, hard toffee with a coating of ground almonds. It is similar to chocolate-covered English toffee. The candy is manufactured by the Brown & Haley Co. of Tacoma, Washington, founded in 1914 by Harry Brown and J.C. Haley.
Contents
Background
Almond Roca was invented in 1923. The candy's name is said to have been inspired by Tacoma's head librarian, who chose the Spanish word "roca", meaning "rock" in English, to describe the hard, log-shaped confection. Brown & Haley first used Almond Roca's trademark pink tin can containers in 1927 to extend the product's shelf life. Individual pieces of Almond Roca candy are wrapped in gold-colored aluminum foil.
In 2009 the Washington state legislature attempted to designate Aplets & Cotlets the "official candy of the state of Washington". The proposal ultimately failed; some legislators from Western Washington thought the designation should go to Almond Roca.
Ingredients
Almond Roca contains sugar, almonds, butter, palm oil, palm kernel oil, cocoa powder, whey, skim milk powder, soya lecithin, chocolate, and vanilla.
By company tradition, a small amount of the original 1923 batch of toffee is carried over into each subsequent batch of candy.
Empirical studies have shown that the chocolate and almond coating of the candy includes the equivalent of two average sized almonds.
Other varieties
Since 2003, Brown & Haley has expanded its line of chocolate-coated toffee, with dark chocolate, cashew, macadamia nut, mocha (coffee-flavored), peppermint and sugar-free varieties.