Frequently Asked Questions

Opera fudge is a rich delectable confection made year-round in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. The classic, and most popular version is creamy vanilla, we also make a very good peanut butter variety. We use whole cream from a local dairy, cane sugar, pure vanilla and lots of technique to make the creamy centers. They are then hand dipped in extra dark chocolate liquor, which is pure pressed cacao nibs, on our antique marble table. We never use wax in any of our candies. Opera fudge can be kept at a comfortable room temperature and does not need to be refrigerated.

We have a very small operation in downtown Lebanon where we make our candies. While we manage to turn out a good variety of chocolates, caramels and popcorn, we have very little space leftover to accommodate group tours. There are also issues of sanitation and liability at play in an operation such as ours. Depending on the time of your visit to our shops you may be able to see a batch of fresh caramel corn being made in the store front at Lebanon.

We have been making caramel corn since 1931 using a few simple ingredients. Caramel corn has a crunchy, glossy coating of sweet caramel with a hint of salt. It is handmade by cooking small batches of caramel in a large copper kettle, then adding air-popped popcorn and stirring. Kettle corn has a very thin coating of a much saltier sugar glaze, the popcorn is popped directly in the boiling glaze, making it a messy outdoor process. Our caramel corn is safe to mail no matter the temperature. The shelf life is excellent as long as you keep it sealed from humidity.

We are able to send chocolates any time of year but it becomes very expensive if the daily temperature is over 70 degrees anywhere in the shipping path. In order to have your chocolates arrive in good shape we must package them in a Styrofoam cooler with ice packs and send them to arrive overnight. If your address is within the 1-day UPS ground delivery zone, the cost is reasonable. Addresses outside of this zone require a cooler and UPS overnight service, which can range from $45.00 to $195.00. Coolers are $6.00 or $12.00 depending on the size required for your order.

We make our confections the old-fashioned way in small batches, no giant automated cookers or conveyor belt to be found in our kitchen. Our recipe book has been handed down to the third generation of candy makers, who practice for years to be able to perfectly judge the flavor, texture, temperature and color needed to achieve delicious results. Our caramel products are individually wrapped by hand. Our chocolate pieces are dipped by hand through a puddle of tempered chocolate. We practice through handwashing for processes that require the candymaker to directly touch the candy, and use gloves for all other food handling. We are ServSafe certified with the Pennsylvania Department of agriculture, and regularly inspected by the City of Lebanon.

Due to the handmade nature of our candies and the small size of our facility it is possible that any of our candies have come into contact with peanuts, cashews, almonds, pecans, coconut, soy, wheat gluten, gelatin, milk or other allergens. We can advise you over the phone of what items are virtually free of certain ingredients in order to suit your needs. We have a rotating selection of prepackaged candies that are certified peanut free, gluten free or vegan.

We offer free delivery in the city of Lebanon with a minimum $15.00 purchase. We can deliver to addresses that are a reasonable distance from our shop, for a $5.00 fee. We offer UPS shipping for greater distances. Our van deliveries are priced as follows, a 25-mile round trip is $20.00, a 50-mile round trip is $40.00.

We love to help people make their celebrations sweeter! We offer formal wedding favor boxes in a variety of colors and sizes that can be personalized with your message and choice of chocolates. Bulk candies and chocolates are available for use on candy tables, we offer a 10% discount on full units of novelty candies. Caramel corn and chocolate pretzels make great additions to hotel hospitality bags. In addition to our homemade candies, we have access to a huge variety of retro candies, gummies, mints, lollipops, M&M’s and much more. Contact us for more information.

We make beautiful gift baskets! You choose the amount to spend, starting at $30.00 up to as much as $175.00. Give us an idea of the occasion or season that you are celebrating and if there are any favorite varieties for us to highlight. We will put together an impressive gift basket with a wide selection of our most loved candies.

We have a long history of charitable giving to local organizations and love to hear about the good things being done in our community. We receive more requests than we can fulfill, but we are happy to display a flyer in our window and possibly give a door prize type gift. Donation requests can be sent to our Lebanon store or stop by with your information.

We ship through UPS for almost all of our customers. We selected this service because of UPS’s superior tracking system and reliable delivery dates. Occasionally a shipment will require handling by the U.S. Postal service due to a P.O. box address or international address. It is our mission to ensure that your items are delivered in good shape at a fair price.

If you find that there is anything wrong with your items, please contact us so we can arrange to replace it or refund your money. We strive for perfection but occasionally things happen and we ask that you give us the opportunity to make it right. Our reputation and our loyal customers mean the world to us!