We first heard about this candy and its history from a newspaper story in 2004.  Then this year (2006) my daughter saw them featured on an episode of the Food Network's show, "Unwrapped" and decided that we needed to be supporting this small confectioner by offering their product.  Because they are fragile and melt at about 85ºF, we can only offer these treats in the cool weather months.

If you have never had the opportunity of eating a VALOMILK, you are not alone.  These treats have been made by hand in the Kansas City area since the 1930s but are not common place in the far reaches of the country.

VALOMILKS are delicious, milk chocolate cups filled with a flowing marshmallow cream center.  They are made using only the finest, all natural ingredients.  Sifers make their own, fine European-style milk chocolate.

The creamy centers are made from fresh corn syrup, pure cane sugar, distilled water, pan dried (hand made) egg whites, pure Bourbon vanilla from Madagascar and a touch of salt. Nothing artificial - no additives or preservatives. The ingredients are carefully cooked, cooled and whipped one batch at a time, just the way they did it in 1931.

Since these are all natural, as well as chocolate, they are only available to our customers on a limited basis during the cool weather season.  We typically are able to get our supply on hand and begin shipping to you in mid-October.  We will begin taking orders on September 1 and will start shipping them out on a first come, first served basis.

Order early to insure that you get some this season!

Please note:  If you place an order for Valomilks along with other items, to save on shipping costs, we will hold your order until it can be filled and ship when the Valomilks are in stock.

If you need to receive the rest of your order sooner, place two separate orders - one for the Valomilks and another for our in stock items.  If you do this, it will incur two separate shipping costs.

We typically can start shipping about Oct.15 (weather permitting) and continue until about April1.  Please do not order if you know the route to your location exceeds 80 degrees F along the way.

A History of VALOMILK Candy Cups

The Sifers family began making candy in their Iola, Kansas factory in 1903.  Under the leadership of Samuel Mitchell Sifers (the current owner's Great-grandfather), the company produced bulk penny hard candies and later, hand-rolled boxed chocolates.

They also were one of the first "nickel candy bar" manufacturers in the Midwest.  Their brands included, "Old King Tut", "Subway Sadie", "Ozark Ridge", "Rough Neck", "Jersey Cow", "Fumbles", "Snow Cup", and the "KC Bar".  About 1916 they moved to new facility in Kansas City.

In the 1920s and 1930s, they were making penny marshmallows.  One of the main ingredients is vanilla extract which happens to be primarily comprised of alcohol and candy makers were know to imbibe on occasion.

Legend has it that one of the candy makers, Tommy, got a little carried away with the vanilla one day and ruined a whole batch of marshmallow.  Instead of setting up after cooling, the marshmallow remained runny.

Samuel's son Harry was always looking for new ideas for candy so they dipped scoops of the runny marshmallow into chocolate cups.  It was messy but so delicious – a simple taste of heaven! 

In 1931, for a selling price of five cents per cup, a new confectionary treat was born - VALOMILK DIPS.  The name is an abbreviation of:  V for real vanilla, ALO from marshmallow, MILK to describe it as creamy and DIP because it was hand dipped (hand made).

During World War II, ingredients were rationed and scarce.  The company hired a pilot to fly around the country in an open cockpit plane searching out ingredients.  Because of the scarcity of chocolate (a lot went over seas to soldiers) what ingredients they could located went into making VALOMILKS.

By the end of the fifties, the company stopped making other candies and concentrated exclusively on producing VALOMILKS.

Like many small companies of the time, bigger was perceived as better in the business community.  So in 1970, the Sifers sold the VALOMILK Candy Company in a merger deal with a company in Los Angeles. The goal was to build a national company out of three regional ones.  In 1971, the Russ Sifers (the current owner) joined this merged company thus becoming the fourth generation Sifers to make VALOMILKS.

Although the motive was to expand their market so that more people could enjoy VALOMILKS, "things did not work out well with the new owner".  In 1981, the Kansas City factory was shut down and Russ left the business.  After half a century, the VALOMILKS legacy ended!

However, marshmallow creme must course through Sifers family veins.  In 1985, he acquired his Great-grandfather’s original copper kettles, as well as other equipment, and they proceeded to put the factory back together in Merriam, Kansas.  With a lot of hard work, VALOMILKS returned to the stores in Kansas City in 1987.

Today, Russ' son Dave is the fifth generation to make VALOMILKS.  Using the original family recipe along with much of the original equipment, they still make VALOMILKS the way candy used to be made – by hand, one batch at a time.  Although the process is slow and difficult, the extra work results in quality you can taste.