Candy and candymaking and "satisfying", ASMR-adjacent videos

June 19, 2019 8:32 AM

In the world of YouTube, satisfying, ASMR-like videos are booming, and some folks like to watch long videos about all kinds of activity and process, especially in skills and domains they don't personally work in, like candy-making. Two major contributors to candy-making videos, and candy business videos, are (and they have visited each other), Lofty Pursuits and Public Displays of Confection, based in Tallahassee, FL, and Hercules Candy, based in East Syracuse, NY.

(Note: I've purchased from Lofty Pursuits and Kickstarted one of their projects. We think about buying from Hercules Candy occasionally, but due to low carb dietary restrictions, we haven't yet. Though I do find some of their brittles QUITE TEMPTING. I also have watched quite a few of both companies' videos. Quite a few.

Also Lofty Pursuits previously on MetaFilter.)

Hercules Candy started out as a small family-run candy shop in a rather janky looking basement artisinal manufactory, and has grown into a much more cleanly, industrial site, and the reason I know and many others know about it and their adventures is because Craig, the son of the couple, Steve and Terry, did not go into the family business of candymaking, but instead into videography and video production, partly about and because of the family business. Their YouTube channel contains about a dozen playlists, and quite a few videos, as old as 2 years, from back in the janky basement days to the selection and move into the new facility, with videos on candy making, chocolate enrobing, ribbon candy, brittle, just so many aspects of their day to day business. They also experiment sometimes with ASMR (silent, working noise only) style videos.

The Hercules folks sometimes comment in their videos about how they have to be careful when they post videos because it can spike orders to an unreasonable degree, so they usually don't post videos on holiday ordering times, but a couple of weeks before or after.

Lofty Pursuits, run by Greg, focuses a bit more on Candy History and Vintage candymaking devices, but they also found success on YouTube. Their YouTube channel also hosts many videos and a little more than a dozen playlists. As far as I know they don't do ASMR style videos, but they do very "satisfying" videos (for me) with lots of closeup shots of things going as expected, but also interestingly.

Unlike Hercules, Lofty Pursuits does some careful vintage equipment recovery and reconditioning, as well as careful research recovering old candymaking knowledge. Greg's notable work includes figuring out formula an technique for making cane candy that has some transparent/translucent elements, and image-bearing, cane candy in general, for recovering many kinds of drop candy molds, and making and knowing the history of key fountain drinks. Greg has also done some travel videos, where he goes to and documents meeting with other candy makers around the country, and some fan videos, where he does fannish candy pursuits.

posted by kalessin (12 comments total)

Whoa. Thanks for this post!

Lofty Pursuits and Public Displays of Confection is a fantastic name.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:44 AM on June 19, 2019

Hercules is a wonderful shop. I’m so glad they’ve been able to expand, although I do miss being herded through the tiny old space for candy cane demonstrations at Christmas time.
posted by stefnet at 9:02 AM on June 19, 2019 [1 favorite]

I’ve bought candy from Lofty Pursuits after watching their videos a lot. I’m addicted to their Ambrosia flavor especially. And the machine that makes it creates these little flowers (among other shapes) that are so cute.
posted by PussKillian at 9:11 AM on June 19, 2019 [1 favorite]

Oh man, I love those Lofty Pursuits videos. I started watching them before the whole ASMR thing really took off, and I still don't really grok a lot of ASMR personally, but they are extremely satisfying to watch. If I remember correctly, the Lofty Pursuits guy is/was on the SomethingAwful forums, which is where I first heard of him.
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:11 AM on June 19, 2019

One interesting fact I learned from the Lofty Pursuits videos: the vintage brass rollers they use to make the candy are hard to find, because that type of candy began declining in popularity before WWI, so lots of the rollers (which have to be solid brass in order to cool the candy rapidly) were sold or donated for scrap. Such a small, specific thing, but it makes you wonder about everything else that's been lost through the ages for similar reasons.
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:15 AM on June 19, 2019 [4 favorites]

Have ordered from Lofty Pursuits in the past as well. I think the last time we did a post it was about the time they were gearing up to do a babelfish drop candy, which was about to come out in time for a DNA/Hitchhiker-loving friend's birthday. This year they re-did the babelfish in a different flavor and I reordered for myself, alongside getting some of the Tardis candy, a citrus collection, some peach drops...
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:34 AM on June 19, 2019

Love it! Episode #102 from Lofty Pursuits is amazing- I love the Douglas Adams story :)
posted by Mouse Army at 9:59 AM on June 19, 2019

Here's one from pappabubble, which is a candy store in Lisbon. And another.
posted by chavenet at 10:34 AM on June 19, 2019

candy maker's knife in my handbag
posted by es_de_bah at 12:34 PM on June 19, 2019

I dunno about the ASMR aspects, but I do find the Lofty Pursuit videos oddly soothing. There's a certain cadence, an expectation of what you'll see that just makes it relaxing.
posted by drewbage1847 at 2:35 PM on June 19, 2019

This reminds me very much of how satisfying I found the Mister Rogers episode at the crayon factory when I was a kid.
posted by erst at 8:09 PM on June 19, 2019

To clarify - the fundraising aspect of it is that you "buy" the candy by making a donation to a Tallahassee-based center for homeless youth, many of which are LGBTQ youth who've been kicked out of their homes.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:57 AM on June 22, 2019