•A million pounds later, Bruce's salt-water taffy is mistake-free

By Cat Mauldin - The Cannon Beach Gazette

David Haskell is pretty sure he’s made more than a million pounds of salt-water taffy in the 29 years he’s been stirring, kneading and pulling taffy at Bruce’s Candy Kitchen in Cannon Beach.

In those 29 years — since David was about 11 years old — he figures he’s made every mistake that can be made, but only burned himself a couple of times.
“You only do it once or twice, then you learn,”  said David, chief confectioner and one of three taffy makers at the family owned business. “And you learn in a hurry.”

Salt-water taffy is the store’s biggest seller volume-wise, and few visitors to Cannon Beach leave town without the telltale pink-and-white striped bags. The store sells about 25,000 pounds of the gooey stuff between Memorial Day and Labor Day, and another 25,000 pounds the rest of the year. During the summer months, several batches are made each day. During the quieter winter, taffy is made several times a week.

The process is not complicated, and interested persons are invited to watch the entire operation, which takes about an hour. David and his sister, Susan Truax, aren’t shy about divulging the recipe, which makes 42-52 pounds of taffy.   David does admit, however, that he has modified the recipe over the years and rarely weighs ingredients anymore, having developed a good cook’s eye and feel.

He starts with 22 pounds of corn syrup, then adds 18 pounds of sugar. Toss in 2 pounds of butter or coconut oil.  “This is not health food,” David quipped.

Add some water and salt (not salt water) and a tablespoon of lecithin to keep the fat in suspension. Cook in huge copper kettles to 245-250°.

“It depends on the time of year, the ambient temperature,” said David. “It really makes a difference.”

 Then add the flavor, which may be natural or artificial.

“Some artificial flavors work better because the taffy itself is so sweet,” explained David. “And some have citric acid, which helps overpower the sweetness of the sugar.”

Add about double the recommended dose of flavor, suggested David.

“That’s what we do,” he said. “And we do it after the taffy is cooked, so we don’t cook the flavor out.”

With the help of a chain hoist, David then pours the molten candy concoction on to a “jacketed slab” which has water running through baffles underneath. The table can be heated (hot water) or cooled (cold water), depending on the candy being made.

For taffy, the water is cool, so the table slowly cools the gooey, colored “dough.” David kneads the dough, folding it over and over as it cools.

“It’s hard to explain when to know how much to work it,” said David. “You just know by experience when it’s the right consistency.”

When warm, the mixture is nearly clear and a deep color (in the case of raspberry flavored taffy, it’s a sapphire blue). As it cools,the color lightens and the opacity decreases. When David determines the time is right, he hauls the giant loaf to the taffy puller, which does a “loop-de-loop” kind of thing that mechanically pulls air into the taffy, which softens the candy.

“It increases the volume by about a third,” explained David. “That’s how much air it actually pulls in.” About 3-5 minutes on the puller, then the taffy is ready for the wrapper. David lays the pulled loaf in a giant hopper, then does some more hand pulling to shape the dough into a tube, which he feeds into the 1908-vintage wrapper. Using a system of gears and bushings, the machine slices a piece of taffy, cuts a piece of waxed-paper wrapper, wraps the candy then twists the ends closed.

“It’s amazing to think that 100 years ago they made a machine to wrap candy,” said David, who had the machine rebuilt in the 1980s. “It can wrap 140 pieces — about two-and-a-half pounds — an hour. Pretty amazing.”

Some taffy — like butterscotch and cinnamon — are not pulled, which makes the candy stickier and chewier. And some flavors, like watermelon and banana, require the twisting or addition of separate, different colored and/or flavored, taffy.

The entire process can be viewed from the front windows, although it wasn’t always so. When the family — which purchased the store in 1963 — remodeled the store about 16 years ago, they moved the candy-making operation from the back of the store to the front.

“We have people that will stand there for hours,” said David, and Susan agreed. “We’ve had people tell us we’re better than the Tillamook Cheese Factory,” she added.

Their biggest seller is cinnamon flavor (which is hot), followed by peanut butter. Peppermint comes in third, with chocolate and root beer close behind. They also have sugar-free taffy.

As for the “salt-water,” part, Sue has heard plenty of tales — including the one about the east coast candy store that was hit by a tidal wave that soaked the store’s taffy in sea water — but doesn’t know of any definitive explanation, except that the recipe does contain salt and water.

And while David admits that after 29 years of being on his feet, he sometimes tires of the process, but never of the candy.  “Even after all these years, I eat some just about every day I’m here,” he smiled

 From the Cannon Beach Gazette  (C) 2001  Reprinted by permission