Tacoma confectioner Harry Brown creates Almond Roca in the spring of 1923.

by Paula Becker in History Link

Thanks to Bob P. who notes, “Almond Roca and Mountain Bars were two of my favorites when I was growing up in San Francisco.  Now, it’s nice to discover that I’ve ended up in Seattle where those two wonderful candies originated!”

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n the spring of 1923, Tacoma confectioner Harry Brown (ca. 1893-1960) creates a butter-crunch toffee enrobed in milk chocolate and then encrusted with chopped almonds. Pleased that the almond coating makes the candy less messy to consume than ordinary chocolate-coated toffee, Brown hands out samples to many Tacoma residents, including Tacoma Public Library librarian Jacqueline Noel (ca. 1881-1964). Asked what the new confection should be called, Noel dubs the candy Almond Roca.

Brown & Haley

Harry Brown was a partner in the Tacoma candy company Brown & Haley. Company lore holds that Jacqueline Noel chose the components of the candy’s name because its relatively hard crunch was somewhat rock-like. At the time, many almonds were imported from Spain and “roca” is a Spanish word for rock.

Harry L. Brown and Jonathan Clifford Haley (ca. 1885-1954) became acquainted at church in 1908. At the time, Brown owned a candy store and Haley was a sales representative for the Schilling spice company. The pair began working toward creating a business together in 1912, and incorporated the business as Oriole Candy Company, the predecessor to Brown & Haley, in 1914. Brown & Haley observes 1912 as the founding date of the company. By 1916, Brown & Haley was producing a confection called the Mount Tacoma Bar (later renamed the Mountain Bar), a log of vanilla fondant dipped in chocolate. (Fondant is a creamy candy made by cooking sugar, liquid, flavoring, and sometimes corn syrup and an acid such as vinegar or lemon juice, until it reaches 238-240 degrees Fahrenheit.) During World War I, Mount Tacoma bars and other Brown & Haley confections became popular with soldiers stationed at Camp Lewis (now Joint Base Lewis-McChord) not far from the company’s location in Tacoma.

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