Wherein The Author Considers French Burnt Peanuts – Again

I celebrated a birthday fairly recently. My thoughtful children showered me with extravagant and expensive gifts, including something that never fails to excite – a container of French Burnt Peanuts from a source I had never sampled. Why does this matter? We may not know if a tree falling in an uninhabited forest makes a sound, but we DO know that a new variety of French Burnt Peanuts will cause a big splash in these environs. Please allow me to explain.

It was right about this time eleven years ago that your favorite blog (OK, maybe it’s only my favorite blog) hit the big time with a lament about favorite products that are no longer available. The star of that blog post was Brach’s French Burnt Peanuts. For several years, that post saw the most traffic of anything I wrote. In the good old days of Google (when they turned up actual things people had written instead of Amazon and other big e-tailers trying to sell you stuff) my blog post was on the first page of any Google search for French Burnt Peanuts. Which made me either someone of colossal importance or the master of arcane nothingness. I like to think it was the former.

For the uninitiated, French Burnt Peanuts are those little red, pebbly, candy-coated peanuts that are, not to overstate, the best confection in the entire history of the world. Much time was spent (and many life-giving calories consumed) in the search for a suitable substitute for my old favorite, and the not entirely satisfactory results were reported in this space. It was only the heavens parting over my local big-box hardware emporium in 2020 that led me to a version of this old-fashioned candy that was as sweet as the dearly departed Brach’s version that I had been missing. A fact which I reported here.

So, for those who are catching up, this little dusty corner of the grand World Wide Web is the place to go for everything you want to know about French Burnt Peanuts. OK, almost everything, because it appears that nobody has any idea how they came about or who invented them. But this matters little for the one who simply demands a taste of the stuff. And because 6 years is far, far to long to have let this topic go without an update, it would seem that we are ripe for a FBP throwdown.

The Idaho Candy Company has been sweetening peoples’ lives in Boise, Idaho since 1901. Their big local product is the Idaho Spud bar – something that may get covered here in the future because I was gifted one of those too. In addition to the Spud and three other varieties of candy bars, the company offers numerous types of bulk candy. On its website, it describes the FBPs as being made in small batches and in vintage copper candy pans. At $7.99 for a 17 ounce tub, they are a mite pricey. However, it is widely held that one cannot overpay for quality FBPs.

The Old Mill brand available at Menards stores are priced online at $4.49 for a one pound bag (though thrifty shoppers with more spare time than I have can get a 49 cent rebate). Old Mill is apparently a Menard’s store brand. The candy itself is packaged by LMH Quality Products of Mankato, Minnesota. Their branded candy is under the Q P Candy label, but it is unclear whether LMH/QP makes these or repackages product that comes from elsewhere. If so, elsewhere makes some darned fine FBPs.

There is little difference in ingredients. Sugar, peanuts and corn syrup are the primary ingredients in both, although the first two swap places between the brands. This is probably because the candy coating is thicker on the Old Mill brand and thinner on the Idaho product, making peanuts the primary ingredient. Idaho finishes with vanilla, salt, maltodextrin and FD&C Red No. 40.

Old Mill finishes its list with tapioca dextrin, confectioners glaze, unidentified “flavors” (both natural and artificial) and the same FD&C Red No. 40. Nutritionally, the big difference would seem to be 10 mg of sodium in Old Mill vs. 70 mg in Idaho per serving.

The other big difference is serving size. Idaho lists an astounding 43 pieces in a serving! That is the kind of thing that could make me a customer for life. Old Mill is a less generous 3 tablespoons. Because we take our reporting obligations seriously, 3 tablespoons measured out to 23 pieces in your author’s kitchen. In fairness, the Old Mill pieces are larger. Instead of counting out 43 pieces of the Idaho, I tried to approximate the measure in an identical dish. Which I may or may not have done accurately. Do these numbers add up to 15 servings in a pound of Old Mill vs. 11 servings in Idaho’s 17 ounce tub? I’ll have to think on that one some more.

One serving, more or less, of french burnt peanuts in each dish. Old Mill brand on the left, Idaho Candy Company version on the right. All of these were safely and completely consumed by the author. Purely for journalistic integrity, of course.

OK, so how do they compare in the only things that really matters – taste and crunch? Because the reining champ around here is the Old Mill, let’s try that one first. They taste like – French Burnt Peanuts. There is some peanut flavor, and a sweet crunchy shell with a pleasant flavor that is difficult to place. I opened a fresh bag for this test, and held off on opening it for perhaps a week. Proving that there are few inconveniences I will not suffer for you, the reader. I have noticed that some bags are crunchier than others, and this one is sort of mid-pack. All in all, it is (less than) five bucks well spent.

Let us move on to the Idaho product. These have an ideal crunch. The peanut taste is stronger (again, probably because the coating is thinner). There is also a significant salt flavor, which lingers for a big finish. There are those who would be disappointed in this, but your author is not one of them. I have been fortunate to have been assigned a body that tolerates salt quite well, and I find few things that cannot be improved with (at least) a little bit of the stuff. In sum, the sweet and salty combination works well. Also, the candy has just a touch of a toffee flavor, which is very nice. This package has been open for awhile, and I have been steadily working my way through it.

So, how do they stack up? My conclusion is that the Idaho product is probably the objectively superior candy. It is crunchy and flavorful, with a peanuts and salty toffee vibe. I have gone through many handfuls by now and find it a pleasing sweet treat. BUT – if a guy has a taste for traditional Brach’s French Burnt Peanuts, the Old Mill is still the one to beat, if only because its familiar flavor comes so close to the one I grew up with. It is more sweet and less salty, and the larger individual pieces are easier to eat by the 2 or 3 than the multiple smaller morsels that Idaho serves up.

Brach’s ad for bagged candies, 1972

About Brach’s. It sold out to Farley’s & Sathers in 2008, and is now seems to be under the Ferrara umbrella of companies. They still make some of their old favorites – including Candy Corn and Jelly Beans. Should someone from Ferrara stumble across this missive from a one-man FBP appreciation society, you might send someone down to rummage through the basement. That intrepid soul might find a dusty old recipe for a candy that is missed. It could happen, right?

31 thoughts on “Wherein The Author Considers French Burnt Peanuts – Again”

    • Good luck! I have found that the many sources out there (usually niche candy companies) are highly variable in flavor and texture, so one bag may or may not be a good representative of the genre. They seem to be a little bit like chili – most everyone agrees what it is, but no two places offer you quite the same thing.

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    • Haha, you can always count on me to be a, um, good influence. Pro tip – these are near the back of the store near the grocery shelves, not up front with some other candies on racks. At least this is the way it is in my area.

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      • Just got back from my local Menards, they’re $3.99 for a 1 pound bag, and yes, way in back by the water. Lots of other bagged candy back there as well! The reason I know they are there is that I’m always buying the Glacier Mist water: $2.99 for a 24 pack of half liters, about half the price of Ice Mountain!

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  3. If you go to Google and search ‘French Burnt Peanuts blog’, one of your posts shows up first in the results.

    My (now adult) kids have occasionally jokingly referred to me as “the googlemaster” for my ability to work around some of the awful Google paid algorithms to find things.

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  5. French Burnt Peanuts are terrific (as you know), and early on they made me appreciate the fact that the French had a different way of working with food. Who else could turn something burned into such a delightful treat? (Allowing for the fact that they are not from France and not actually burnt…well, after all, here in America it’s really all about whatever ideas you put forward.)

    Not having kept up with the FBP marketplace saga as thoroughly as you, I actually wasn’t aware that they were no longer available from Brach’s. In fact, I wasn’t really aware that Brach’s was mostly gone. It’s just one of those things you get used to seeing in the grocery store a couple of times a week (my frequency) and don’t actually register when it’s gone. I think I did vaguely realize that those big bins of grandma candy (Bit-o-Honey, Butterscotch discs, and Starlight Mints) that you bought by the piece or weight were replaced by pre-packaged bags…but there aren’t bags of French Burnt Peanuts??? This is going to drive me to check (I went yesterday, so it’s going to probably be tomorrow before I get there to see). It’s entirely possible that my grocery store (Market Basket, Moar for Ya Dowllar! [slogan must be said in your best New Hampshire accent]). MB is one of those places that sells an in-house brand of nearly everything, and so it’s possible that there’s some Market Basket-branded French Burnt Peanuts lurking in the candy aisle. I will report back if it’s necessary to add yet another version to your taste test.

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    • I will be surprised if you find them at your nearby grocer. At least around here, my stores have been co-opted by Big Candy, so you can get who knows how many varieties of Reese’s but nothing that is more of a niche. I think that Boston Baked Beans are easier to find, in their little boxes. They will do in a pinch, but just aren’t the same. I can’t wait to hear how your search turns out!

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  8. A seriously well written critique JP! I’ve seen them, (not often), but never tried them. When you retire, you could volunteer to be a taste-tester for a candy company.

    And thanks!

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    • Haha, now there is a dream job, isn’t it! If it’s only a day or two a week, I could also squeeze in gigs for steak tasting and ice cream tasting. I would really be a well-rounded guy, with the thing moving me well above my current weight. 🤣

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      • I myself would like to be paid for being a “book reader” – or editor. I read a lot anyway so publishers could send me their potential new releases and I could critique them for a fee. I don’t think they have editors anymore, from some of the stuff that gets through.

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  9. How nice to find another outlet to satisfy your FBP cravings in the event Menard’s/Old Mill Brand stops making your favorite treat. I smiled about counting out one serving because I like Pepperidge Farm Wholegrain Goldfish Crackers for a treat sometimes and you can have 55 of them for one serving. That’s pretty reasonable too. I have some Dixie-brand cups that are just the right size to pour the crackers right from the industrial-sized box into the cup. The first time I counted them out, so now when I have a craving, I just go for it.

    I didn’t realize Brach’s candy sold out. I still see the Christmas Peppermint Nougats on the displays at Meijer Christmastime, so I assumed they were still around, although those candy carts with the honor system lockbox for one piece have been long gone.

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      • Brach’s ended up being owned by Ferrara Pan (now just Ferrara), after a dizzying list of mergers and buyouts. In the late 80’s, I lived about a mile east of the Ferrara plant in Forest Park (I was in Oak Park, home of all the Frank Lloyd Wright houses). When I left for work in the morning, I could smell Red Hots, Lemon Heads, or Boston Baked Beans, depending on what they were making!

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  13. I thought of your blog when i saw a an array of bags of FBPs (one brand) at the new Wally’s Gas station on I-65 at the whitestown/Brownsburg exit.. Just in case you need to add another brand to experience 🙂

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