So Minnesota: Pearson’s Candy Company

Pearson’s Candy Company has a long, sweet history.

In 1909, Edward Pearson and four brothers started a small candy shop in Minneapolis. With the Nut Goodie and the Salted Nut Roll, Pearson grew to be one of the nation’s top candy manufacturers.

In the 1950s, the company started making Mint Patties and the now long-gone Seven Up Bar. They moved into their St. Paul plant, where 150 workers continue to make every sweet tooth’s dream come true.

"We still have the scratch-made recipes, so our candy may look a little bit out of shape or things like that, but that’s because of that handmade nature," vice president of operations Alex Allen said. "So sugar likes to be sort of hard like a rock. We’re trying to take that and make it creamy and delicious."

The company uses about six million pounds of sweetener a year. They use 2.5 million pounds of peanuts a year and go through 600,000 pounds of chocolate a year.