Candy Girls Key West
Homemade glass candy, once a popular sweet sold in the Bahama Village community after church on Sundays, was a tradition in danger of disappearing. Adriene Leggett Casamayor, youth director of Trinity Wesleyan Methodist Church, decided to bring it back with the help of some of the church youth. Casamayor, whose great-great grandmother came from the Bahamas to settle in the Keys, came up with recipes for glass candy (similar to a Jolly Rancher), pulled peppermint and old-fashioned fudge, with guidance from cousin Pat, 94. “Back in the day it was common for homes in Bahama Village to have a stainless steel hooks on their kitchen walls for candy pulling. I was not putting any hooks in my walls!” she says. Her husband made a device to help the girls pull the hot candy. “We’re extremely proud that we’ve brought back a tradition that was once lost,” she says. Their candy is sold online, and a portion of all sales go toward scholarships. The Candy Girls are Valerie Thene, Rosa Nafrere, Yahaira Williams, Dazmine Jenkins, Madona Pierre, Emily Tran and DeShawn Fisher.
