Valomilk

Valomilk is a candy made with marshmallow cream inside of a chocolate cup exterior. This candy has been around for a very long time and are one of the most popular older candies to still be cold. The recipe for this product was actually an accident, but a happy one that led to a very popular treat.

If you love marshmallows and you like chocolate, there is nothing quite like a little candy treat that includes the best of both items. Add to the mix that there is a hint of vanilla inside the filling of each candy, and you have the right ingredients for the perfect candy snack.

History

Valomilk candies were created quite by accident in 1931 when a candymaker at Sifers accidentally put too much vanilla extract into a batch of marshmallow. The extra vanilla extract made the marshmallow retain its liquid texture, which made it an ideal consistency to be used to fill a candy shell. Since milk-chocolate cups were becoming really popular at this time, it made sense to use the marshmallow to fill this kind of exterior shell.

The Sifers family claims that the reason that this original candy batch was made incorrectly was because vanilla extract used to include a lot of alcohol. Apparently, it was really common for the candy makers to tipple all day long from the vanilla extract. According to the Valomilk site, this habit of imbibing from the supplies was why the marshmallow was made in the wrong way, leading to the accident, which created a very popular candy treat.

The original product was called Valomilk Dips because they were hand-dipped. Many candies were hand-dipped at this time, but later on, this was not the case for most companies. Valomilks are still handmade, which makes the process of creating them more complex, but it also makes them more delicious than other candy cup-type candies. The first Valomilk candies were two ounces of filling in a large cup. Today the candy still has two ounces of filling but is spread out over two cups to make the package shareable or slightly less overwhelming in volume.

The Midwest was the proving ground for the Valomilk product, and it was a huge success in this region of the US. When World War II made rationing of sugar and other food stocks essential, the Sifers family funneled all of their chocolate rations into making Valomilks. It was not until the end of the war that the Sifers went back to making boxed chocolates.

The Valomilk name was created to represent the ingredients which are vanilla, marshmallow, and milk chocolate for the shell. The Sifers company quickly became associated with the creative little chocolate cup treats that had been made by accident, cementing the place of this snack in history and at the heart of the marketing plans for the company.

In 1981, the Sifers candy-making plant was shut down, and the Valomilk candies also went out of production. Thankfully, the great-grandson of the original Sifers family members, who had owned and operated the candy business, stepped up to the plate, saving the Valomilk product and getting it back on the shelves of stores again. It might have seemed impossible to larger companies or conglomerates to make candies by hand in today’s market, but to the Sifer family, sticking to the way that their candy has always been made was essential. Not only would Valomilk candies taste different and have a different flavor if they weren’t hand-dipped, but the company would also have lost its identity as well.

The current Sifers company is a fifth-generation, family-owned company which only makes this one product. They used to sell a wide array of other products, but by the 1950s, the Valomilk candy had overshadowed the other candies enough to make it worth focusing on this one candy type. While the company did not actually discontinue the other products until the company actually went out of business briefly in the early 80s, Valomilk has always been the most popular of the Sifers products.

Today’s Valomilk products are still made by hand, and the company still uses the original machinery to create each Valomilk treat. The company states that the process is slow and difficult but worth it. You will not find many candy products that are handmade these days, and the taste of this kind of candy is somehow much more enjoyable than machine-made or mass-produced candies.

While you might not be able to get Valomilk candies for 5 cents each these days, you will still find that these are not expensive classic candies. You can order them online from various sellers if there isn’t a local candy store near you that offers them on the shelves. This is a candy that can melt when it’s warm out, so you might want to wait to order your Valomilk products until the summer months have ended, and you can be sure that you will get a candy order that is ready to eat.

Packaging

The original product was sold in a boxed-candy-style container. Penny candies were still being sold in boxes at the time to help preserve their texture and to keep them from melting. It’s hard for modern candy lovers to understand, but before refrigeration was common and before air conditioning was affordable, chocolate candies of all kinds were not easy to sell to consumers. The summer months were the worst times for candy makers, as anything that was purchased in the store would have to be consumed right away. In some instances, stores could not keep chocolate candies from melting on the shelves while they were waiting to be purchased.

When the candy was called Valomilk Dips, this title was emblazoned down the sides of the box. Since Sifers mostly made boxed candies of various kinds, the Valomilk product was also placed in a box that had lots of small slots for the candies to be placed in. The livery was almost always white, brown, and orange, but there were some phases of production during which the background color of the box was orange and not white.

The slogan for the product was, “When it runs down your chin, you know it’s a Valomilk”. As with many slogans that have run their course and were targeted at an audience from a much different time period, this slogan doesn’t have much resonance today. However, this product was so unique when it was first being sold that this was probably a big recommendation for the candies for adults and kids alike.

Also, in keeping with the marketing standards for the day, the original Valomilk packaging offered up small cardboard circles attached to each of the candy cups. Kids could collect these little cardboard discs and send them away for a prize. The prize was usually ten free Valomilks, which was pretty exciting and generous compared to some of the cereal box giveaways that were also being done for one small toy or something like a little comic book. 

Today the Valomilk candies that you can buy to enjoy come two to a package. The wrappers are white and brown and use the original logo for the brand as well as the original art style. The major difference in the packaging is that you don’t get a whole box of Valomilks when you buy a package. You will now get two candy cups, rather like the other candy cup makers, which usually also package two cups in each wrapper. This is a good sharing size, as well as making it much easier to eat the little cups in one bite to maximize their flavor.

The wrappers of Valomilks that you can get today show the candy itself split in half with the filling spilling out, and the old-fashioned writing on the wrapper is delightfully retro. Candy stores can still get a box of individual two-Valomilk packages that is made to be displayed on the shelves. There is something delightful about this kind of candy display that is so rarely seen today, and smaller or independent candy stores love to be able to get company packaging that is so classic in nature.

Logo

Ingredients

From the Allcitycandy site:

• Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, dry whole milk, chocolate liquor, soy lecithin, vanilla and salt)
• marshmallow (corn syrup, distilled water, pure vanilla, egg whites and salt)
• Contains soy, milk, and eggs

This is a really simple candy recipe and one that should be the envy of brands that use many ingredients that are not natural. Because the recipe is so simple and doesn’t have preservatives, the company states that you should think about the weather when you order Valomilk candies to be sent to you in the mail. Preservatives in other candies are responsible for keeping candies from melting in most cases, and this might be the one downside to ordering candy that is free of preservatives of this kind.

Nutrition

Serving Size:	1.00 Package	% Daily Value*
Amount Per Serving
Calories	280
Total Fat	13g	20%
Saturated Fat	9g	45%
Cholesterol	10mg	3%
Sodium	55mg	2%
Total Carbohydrate	40g	13%
Dietary Fiber	<1g	4%
Sugars	26g
Protein	2g
Calcium	0g	4%
Iron	0g	10%

• The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

Pictures

Videos

An interview with Russ Sifers:

A video showing the process of making Valomilk candies: