Shane aims to serve, delight and transport customers in America’s Oldest Continuously Operating Confectionery Shop, by interpreting the historic candy and chocolate-making traditions of Philadelphia.
Shane Confectionery is seated in what was once the confectionery mecca of America. In the 18th and 19th century, Philadelphia hosted the most active port in the country. Cocoa, fruits, and spices were shipped up the Delaware River to sustain a flourishing confectionery scene. Sugarcane would be refined along the river and sold in shops along Market Street. Philadelphia soon became synonymous with this art form, so much so that candy makers in other cities would tote their goods as "Philadelphian" to imply quality. From Goldenberg and Wilbur to Hershey and Whitman, prominent names in American chocolate and candy all trace their first shops to the City of Brotherly Love.
With every action that we take we feel this hum of history and all of our confections start with a spark of inspiration. We strive to keep tradition alive with our buttercreams, made with the Shane family’s 100 year old recipe on the same 100 year old machine that has been used for decades. We delight in flavors like horehound or violet, resurrected from recipes on yellowing brittle pages that dot our shelves. We take pride in using seasonal or local ingredients like honey collected from our very own roof.
Every year our confectioners set upon making a hard candy army of animals, machines, and Old St. Nick - a traditional Pennsylvania Dutch Christmas gift known as Clear Toy Candy. Molten sugar is carefully poured into Victorian moulds. When cooled, they are chiseled out, cleaned with a gentle hand, and packaged up, destined for stockings and banquet tables.
Every week our chocolate maker selects a crop of responsibly sourced cocoa beans shipped from South America to turn into our very own chocolate. The beans are sorted with sharp eyes and quick fingers, crushed, roasted, ground and then tempered for bars, melted for hot chocolate, or churned into ice cream.
Every day our confectioners boil sugar in copper kettles to create a host of candies that will be cooled on marble, cut by hand, dropped individually into warm chocolate, nimbly fished out upon fork tines, cooled, and decorated with piped lace, flowers, or gold.
The vast majority of the candy world has become incredibly specialized. Whole factories make one type of confection alone and are geared up for mass production and distribution. Our model of making a wide variety of goods onsite is quite against the grain. Most artisan food makers formulate based upon cost. Our approach is to formulate based on taste, inspired by period confectionery cookbooks. As “Taste Tellers”, we’re storytelling America's history thru the vehicle of our food.
Local
We source our ingredients from local suppliers whenever possible. Going directly to a source ensures that we understand the ingredients we’re purchasing. We even grow an assortment of herbs and spices on our own rooftop for seasonal use. Although our community of suppliers is largely regional, we also depend on a global supply chain for quality ingredients in order to maintain the integrity and excellence of our products.
Chocolate
Our ever-growing Chocolate Works Department uses ethically and directly sourced cocoa beans from small distributors located in Central & South America. We sort, roast, grind, and mould the cocoa beans into our own brand of bean-to-bar chocolate. When we aren’t using house-made chocolate we use Barry Callebaut Chocolate located in nearby Pennsauken.
Sweeteners
Organic Sugar is used throughout our shop. Itaja Sugar uses Fair Trade, Non-GMO Verified sugar cane grown in Brazil, on organic & balanced plantations, without using pesticides or chemical fertilizers, contributing to the preservation of the environment.
Instead of corn syrup we use tapioca syrup, pure glucose, or honey depending on the application. Our eight rooftop beehives are buzzing with activity most of the year, yielding a delicious honey complex honey that we use seasonally. This urban apiary is managed by Don Shump of Philadelphia Bee Co.
Proteins
Local cream is picked up weekly from Longacres Dairy, in operation since 1920. This dairy is at the heart of the Franklin Fountain ice cream, and along with Stryker Farm butter makes Shane Confectionery’s caramels and buttercreams.
We source whole milk powder, that gives a rich smoothness to our milk chocolate bars and bon bons from a dairy specialist in Detroit.
The eggs we use are organic and cage-free from Alderfer Eggs, while fresh local bacon is delivered by Green Meadow Farm to produce our unique chocolate covered bacon.
Grain & Starch
Our Malted Milk Chocolate Ice Cream, and chocolate Harvest Bar, are made with malt from Deer Creek Malthouse; the first commercial malthouse in Pennsylvania since prohibition.
We source small pretzels from Julius Sturgis Pretzels in Lancaster County, the first commercial pretzel bakery in America, founded in 1861. Our large pretzels are from Shuey’s Pretzel Factory, and our potato chips are from Good’s Potato Chips.
Seasonings
Flake Sea Salt, used in Shane’s Salted Caramels, is gathered out of the Atlantic Ocean in Avalon, NJ and marketed under the Cape May Sea Salt Company; the salt is hand harvested and solar evaporated.
Retail
Alongside our house-made candies we carry a line of traditional and historic candy brands which are normative candy aisle couture; including Gustaf's Licorices, Giambri’s Candy Canes, Plantation Candies. Additionally we acquire penny candies from Casani Candy Co, who in honor of their relationship with the candy store at 110 Market Street that goes back over 150 years, has given Shane Confectionery the title of customer #1 - of the original customer. Casani Candy is a trusted name in the confectionery trade, the first to distribute both Starbursts and the Hershey Bar.