We called the number to get the address and arrived a half hour later. However, it was Christmas eve, and there weren’t any tours happening anymore.

But! The owner saw our faces and took us on a behind-the scenes tour where he showed us all kinds of cool equiptment and let us sample secret candy they’ve been working on at the factory.

This object was some kind of vertical mixer. It looks totally futuristic, even though it’s from the 1950′s.

This is what part of the factory looked like. Everyone was off for the holidays, so we got to go behind the glass to check out all of the equipment and processes. The guy was explaining the enormous slab of caramel in front of him. It was almost as big as a door, and about as thick.

I can’t talk about the chocolate things you’re observing here. They’re super-secret and we might not see them on the shelves until next year.

ADULT Supervision REQUIRED!

This is where all of the failed candy went. We got to eat it.

More FAILED candy. Stay away from imperfectly created objects!!!

Chicken Bones, Hammond’s signature invention. My dad says they taste like Butterfingers, but without the chocolate.

And that’s it! There’s a video of the Candy Factory Tour too, if you haven’t already seen it.