Additional photos below

By Paula Scott

The bags of peanut brittle displayed next to the cash register at the Bluffton Senior Center, 132 N. Main St., is a deceptively modest representation of the fundraising operation, which takes place in the weeks before Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Here’s another way of looking at it:

32 volunteers x 5 Monday mornings, 8:00-11:00 a.m.
= 600 lbs. of peanut brittle made and sold to benefit the center

On the morning we visited the operation, only two of the volunteers were first-timers. Former peanut brittle making foreman Roger Edwards gave us an overview while new operations manager Tim Stockman was busy at the stove with several others who were carefully monitoring the first step of the process: mixing and melting the base, adding the peanuts and then returning the molten mixture to just the right temperature. A new batch came off the stove every 5 minutes.

The next station includes eight volunteers armed with oiled trays, spatulas and heavy rubber gloves, where they transform the hot sugar-nut mix into slabs of brittle.

The slabs are transferred to a two-team cooling station where fans quickly make the brittle literally brittle. Edwards noted that if the candy doesn’t snap, it hasn’t reached the correct temperature. Here, seated volunteers break up the candy into bite-sized pieces.

The candy leaves the kitchen and is bagged by another group of volunteers-greeters in the main room. If you don’t see many photos of this stage, it’s because some folks don’t like to be photographed in hair nets–and we can’t blame them.

The peanut brittle–a traditional Bluffton holiday treat–will be for sale at $8/bag at the Bluffton Senior Center until it runs out. This is a major fundraiser for the center.

The Bluffton Senior Citizens Center is open 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. on Saturdays. Saturday hours will continue up to but not including Christmas Eve.

The Icon’s taste test finds that the recipe, the method and the makers are up to the Senior Center’s usual high standards.