Candymakers keep community and tradition alive
It’s a sweet life for Michiana confectioners, who through hard work—and yummy treats—preserve the traditions and history that bring communities together.
The way it was
In 1922, horse-drawn buggies still made their way down Front Street in Dowagiac, Michigan, when Italian immigrants Antonio & Emelia Caruso opened Caruso’s Candy & Soda Shop. Antonio had learned to make candy in Holland, Michigan, and when his wife’s sister, who owned a diner in Dowagiac, called to say the Chicago Candy Kitchen was for sale, they decided to make the move.
Like at least three other businesses in town, Caruso’s had a soda fountain. They served nut olive sandwiches and the ice cream they made in the basement. That was then. Cars quickly replaced horses, and the consolidation of dairies ended their ice cream business. Even the meaning of some menu items has a different connotation now.
“When people come in and order a raspberry soda, just to be sure they understand, we explain that it’s not a soft drink but instead is made with raspberry syrup, ice cream and our house-made phosphates,” says owner Julie Johnson, granddaughter of Antonio and Emelia. “And we’re the only one left with a soda fountain.”
Glancing at photos of Antonio and Emelia in the candy shop, it seems time has stood still. The heavy glass parfait and sundae dishes lining the wood shelves are original, as are the stained glass insets, the wood-planked floors and the mint green Hamilton Beech malt and milkshake makers.
“It’s not a lot different from what it was like when my grandparents opened the place,” says Johnson, who started working at the store at age 13, took a 27-year break and then returned. Now she spends busy days making their famous toffees and doing just about everything else needed to run a thriving business that is popular with locals and the summer people who come to enjoy the nearby lakes.
“We use many of the original recipes for our candies, syrups and even our nut olive sandwiches,” says Johnson.
Returning home
History, family and community were also the driving forces behind Kare Andersen’s decision to return to the Olympia Candy Kitchen, the business his great-grandparents founded in downtown Goshen, Indiana, 120 years ago.
Like at Caruso’s, the seats at the soda fountain, original to the store, are often all taken, with diners enjoying signature nut olive sandwiches and glasses of Green River, a once-popular bright green soda pop that now is hard to find outside of the Chicagoland area. “We roast the nuts for our nut olive sandwiches and make our own syrups and candies,” says Andersen. Open for breakfast and lunch, the Olympia is also the place to go for ice cream treats.
Andersen says he started working at Olympia in high school, not intending to make candymaking his life’s work. He left for a while, but the lure of being an integral part of a community and returning to his family’s roots led him back to his hometown. “People know each other,” says Andersen, “There’s a real sense of community. And we’re part of that community.”
It’s not unusual to walk into the Olympia and see people in small groups chatting at the luncheon counter or in front of the wood-framed glass cases filled sweets, including their bestselling turtles and chocolate-covered toffees.
Andersen likes the continuity of a century-plus business in a bustling downtown. Some of his customers are third generation—grandparents bringing in their grandchildren, continuing a sweet family tradition. “It feels like home,” he says.
Taking over a cherished tradition
Established in 1910 as a fruit and nut company, Veni’s in downtown Niles, Michigan, transitioned into a candy store in the 1930s, says Linda Skwarcan, who, with her husband, Larry, purchased the business in 2008. Skwarcan had never made candy before, but when the couple learned the venerable store was to be sold, she was determined to learn. She took lessons, attended classes and seminars, and before long was turning out 17 flavors of handmade candy canes 100 at a time, for a total of 4,000 each holiday season.
Most candy canes are now made by machine, and it’s easy to see why when listening to Skwarcan describe the laborious process, involving hot molten candy poured onto a 2,000-pound slab of marble and then tediously shaped. But the couple believes it’s important to hold to the traditions of Veni’s, the Italian word for welcome.
“Some of the recipes are handwritten and very old,” says Skwarcan, who also enlisted help from a woman who had worked at The Philadelphia in South Bend, Indiana, a swank confectionary that closed in 1972, after 71 years in business. The Philadelphia’s mint meltaway is one of Veni’s signature candies.
“We didn’t make many changes when we bought Veni’s,” says Skwarcan. “We thought it was important to keep as much as possible the same, to preserve that old-time atmosphere.” One thing she regrets is that the soda fountain original to the business was torn out in the 1970s. “Why would anyone do that?” she wonders.
There’s also a Veni’s in Nappanee, Indiana, though it’s less than a decade—rather than a century—old. “They sell our products, and they also make some of their own,” says Skwarcan.
Producing sweets is a job that never ends. “We finish up with Christmas and then have to get ready for Valentine’s Day,” she says. “After that, there’s not much of a break and we’re on to making Easter bunnies, and then it’s Mother’s Day.” But Skwarcan has embraced her role as a confectioner with enthusiasm. “I didn’t expect to love candymaking so much,” she says. “But I do.”
Caruso’s Candy Kitchen
130 S. Front St.
Dowagiac, MI
269.782.6001
carusoscandykitchen.com
Olympia Candy Kitchen
136 N. Main St.
Goshen, IN
574.533.5040
olympiacandykitchen.com
Veni’s Sweet Shop
228 E. Main St.
Niles, MI
269.684.1323
venissweetshop.com
Travel/food writer Jane Simon Ammeson lives on the lakeshore in Stevensville, Michigan, and is a James Beard Foundation judge and a Taste Awards judge. She is the author of 17 books, including Classic Restaurants of Michiana and America’s Femme Fatale: The Story of Serial Killer Belle Gunness. Her book Lincoln Road Trip: The Back-Roads Guide to America’s Favorite President won the Bronze Award in the Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition for Best Travel Book. Follow Jane at janeammeson.com and instagram.com/janeammeson
