Money was tight. Sweet tooths were still alive and well. Potatoes were plentiful. The answer was potato candy.
Depression Era Potato Candy
- 1 large russet potato
- A small pot-o-water
- 2 pound bag of powdered sugar
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- Yellow food coloring (optional)
Peel and cut potato. Boil until soft enough to poke a fork through very easily. Strain water and mush potato well. Add enough powdered sugar to make a clay-like candy you can form into, well, potatoes. Coat each one with a light dusting of cocoa powder or cinnamon. Cut a few almost all the way in half. Color a small amount of dough with yellow food coloring and make it into tiny butter cubes. Place inside cut “potatoes”. Super-fun for kids.
If you like coconut, you can also add coconut to this dough and then dip formed balls into melted chocolate for a homemade Mound’s candy bar treat.
Hi, I am the Educational Coordinator for a historic museum in Ga. In June we will be having Kid’s Kitchen which will be focusing on Depression Era foods. This recipe will be PERFECT. I know the kids will love it! Thank you so much 🙂
How fun! Thank you for sharing. This made my day! 🙂
This recipe is passed down by generations. Thank you for opening up people’s eyes to the wonderous treat that is potato candy.
I made this when I was in school to bring in for snacks on movie days. We put a spin on it and add food flavoring to spice it up a bit and a drop or two of food coloring to make it distinguishable between batches once they were coated in chocolate.