Almond Joy

An Almond Joy is a small candy bar manufactured by Hershey's. It consists of a coconut-based center topped with an almond and coated in a layer of milk chocolate. It is very similar to Mars Inc.'s Bounty chocolate bar. The Mounds bar is Almond Joy's "sister" product, essentially the same confection but without the almond and coated with dark chocolate; it also features similar packaging and logo design but in a red color scheme instead of Almond Joy's blue.

History

Peter Paul Halajian was a candy retailer in the New Haven, Connecticut area in the early 20th century. Along with some other Armenian investors, he formed the Peter Paul Candy Manufacturing Company in 1919. The company at first sold various brands of candies, but following sugar and coconut shortages in World War II, they dropped most brands and concentrated their efforts on the Mounds bar. The Almond Joy bar was introduced in 1946 as a replacement for the Dream Bar (created in 1936) that contained diced almonds with the coconut. [ [http://snacks.cyberpunks.org/peterpaul.html Nearly everything you wanted to know about Peter Paul ] ] In 1978, Peter Paul merged with the Cadbury company. Hershey’s then purchased the United States portion of the combined company in 1988.

During the 1970s, the Peter Paul company used the jingle, "Sometimes you feel like a nut / Sometimes you don't / Peter Paul Almond Joy's got nuts / Mounds don't," to advertise Almond Joy and Mounds in tandem. In a play on words, the "feel like a nut" portion of the jingle was typically played over a clip of someone "acting" like a "nut", engaged in some funny-looking activity. ["TeeVee Toons: The Commercials", 1989]

In the 2000s Hershey began producing variations of the product, including a limited edition Piña Colada and Double Chocolate Almond Joy in 2004, a limited edition White Chocolate Key Lime and Milk Chocolate Passion Fruit Almond Joy in 2005 and a limited edition Toasted Coconut Almond Joy in 2006.

Although Peter Paul as a company no longer exists, the name still appears on the wrapper as part of the bars' brand names.

Almond Joy reference in pop culture

*In railroading; train buffs have noticed a resemblance between the M3 (a type of subway car built by the Budd Company for Philadelphia's public transportation system) and this popular candy, due to humps in the roof containing ventilation fans. They refer to the cars as "Almond Joys." A caboose on a train also has a resemblance as well.
*The advertising slogan "sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't" was featured in the funk/dance song "Wide Receiver" by Michael Henderson.
*In Weeds, Almond Joy was the favorite candy of Nancy's late husband, Judah.
*In the song Gett Off, by Prince, "Strip your dress down like I was strippin' a Peter Paul's Almond Joy"

References

External links

* [http://www.hersheys.com/products/details/almondjoy.asp Almond Joy official website]
* [http://snacks.cyberpunks.org/peterpaul.html Information from the great-granddaughter of Peter Paul's first candy maker]
* [http://fan.at0mica.net/almondjoys Almond Joy fanlisting]