About Sponge Candy in general

Every once in a while a customer in our store will ask, "What is Sponge Candy?" Our immediate response is always the question, "Where are you from?" We know without doubt that this person isn't a Buffalonian.

Sponge Candy is one of those things that's really hard to describe without actually experiencing it. The Sponge Candy center is a simply flavored piece, caramelized sugar, almost molasses-like with a very unusual, crisp at first, then melt-away texture. We then load this center with as much milk chocolate as it will carry. When you bite into a piece of our Sponge Candy, you experience not only the chocolate's opposing properties of solid firmness giving away to melty smoothness, but you get the center's crispness immediately dissolving with a very complimentary mixing of chocolate and caramelized flavors. We've never read a description of Sponge Candy that's come close to the experience of actually eating it and we're sure this description is no better.

There are links just below that will pretty much fill you in on Sponge Candy, short of actually taking a bite. Doesn't matter if you're from Buffalo, or maybe an expatriate or just curious about regional foods, there's no excuse now not to know what Sponge Candy is.

Brief notes of a Sponge Head

Buy Sponge Candy

Judging by all the varied and different names, Sponge Candy has an identity crisis. Not so here in Buffalo where Sponge Candy is the common name in use. But you may know it by another name depending on where you’re from. Other names for Sponge Candy are:

Sponge Toffee (Canada)

Cinder Toffee (Great Brittan)

Sea Foam (Oregon, California, Michigan)

Honeycomb (Australia)

Puff Candy (Scotland)

Hokey Pokey (New Zealand)

Fairy Food (Wisconsin, Chicago)

Angel Food (Wisconsin)

Cinder Block (???)

Molasses Puffs (St. Louis)

Gingerbread (New Hampshire)

There’s also the mass produced Violet Crumble Bar manufactured by Nestle and the Crunchie manufactured by Cadbury.

Keep in mind that styles and quality of Sponge Candy do differ greatly by geography so it is indeed right and proper that many of these candies should be named something other than Sponge Candy.

Want to share your region's name for Sponge Candy? Contact Us.

Sponge Candy is another one of those “Buffalo-centric” foods like chicken wings but without the international notoriety. We think of Sponge Candy much like inside information that comes from knowing Buffalo by actually living here as opposed to knowing Buffalo from a chicken wing, snow, or pro-sports stereotype.

p>It’s true that Sponge Candy is found in places other than Buffalo. Locally, you’ll routinely find it everywhere (even in the supermarket bulk bins) out as far as Rochester or Erie, but it pretty much disappears beyond there. For example, Syracuse or Albany, not a clue. Pittsburgh or Cleveland also have no idea what Sponge Candy is. There are a few isolated places around the country that make it and you might see names like Sponge Taffy, Cinderblock, Sea Foam, Molasses Puffs, Honeycomb or Fairy Food. Descriptive names, to be sure, but often not quite the same style as Buffalo’s Sponge Candy.

In the end, there is no doubt. Sponge Candy has to be considered a Buffalo food. First off, Buffalo is nearly centered in the country's only Sponge Candy Zone of Erie-Buffalo-Rochester. If that were an accident of geography then a search on Google for sponge candy will give quantitative proof (see footnote). If someone really enjoys research, a visit to the three cities would be in order. I'm confident sponge candy would be found in several times more retail locations in the Buffalo area than the other two cities.

(foot note) On August 25, 2006, a Google search on the terms sponge and candy listed the following retailers selling Sponge Candy in the first 100 hits: 2 Erie locations, 3 Rochester locations (including Batavia), 3 in the hinterlands (CA, IL, WI) and 11 in the Buffalo metro area.