Goo Goo Cluster

In 1912, in a copper kettle at the Standard Candy Company at Clark & First Avenue in Nashville, TN, America's first combination candy bar was invented. A roundish mound of caramel, marshmallow nougat, fresh roasted peanuts and real milk chocolate; its renegade shape was more difficult to wrap than the conventional rectangular or square shapes of the day.

More importantly, this was the first time multiple elements were being mass-produced in a retail confection. Previous to the advent of the Goo Goo Cluster, candy bar manufacturing consisted of bars solely using chocolate, caramel or taffy. The Goo Goo Cluster represented the first time a bar consisted of more than just one principal ingredient.

The recipe was a joint undertaking by Mr. Howell Campbell, Sr. and Mr. Porter Moore, the original plant supervisor back in 1912. Mr. Campbell is said to have blended chocolate the same way fine whiskey is blended. He acted as official taster and was very particular about the quality of all the ingredients.

All of the ingredients that go into a Goo Goo Cluster are foods your taste buds remember: luscious caramel, smooth creamy marshmallow nougat, and fresh roasted peanuts all covered with a thick coating of real milk chocolate.

The Goo Goo Cluster recipe hasn’t changed over the years, although the production method has undergone a few tweaks. Goo Goos used to be hand dipped and sold without wrappers under glass at drug store candy counters. With the dawn of hand wrapping, ladies would swaddle the Goo Goo Clusters in tinfoil.

Eventually, machinery was put in place to automate wrapping the Goo Goo Cluster, which is how they’re sold in stores today.