On the counters of most Texas convenience stores, tucked between the smoked beef sticks and Twang beer salt, you’ll likely find a box of crimson pucks studded with peanuts. A convenience store staple in the state, the peanut patty is a Lone Star culinary icon that’s been an essential part of Texas’ snack landscape for nearly a century.
For the uninitiated, these chewy, praline-like discs are made by mixing together just a few simple ingredients—namely hot sugar, vanilla, and peanuts. Tinted red by the skins of Spanish peanuts, beet juice, or food coloring, they have a distinctive salty-sweet flavor profile that was an immediate hit upon its debut sometime in the late 1930s. That timeline coincides with the rise of Texas peanut farming, which grew into a lucrative industry after the legume was first cultivated commercially starting in 1906. Even today, the Lone Star State is responsible for nearly 20% of the country’s peanut output.
Yet considering the peanut patty’s prevalence throughout the decades, it’s surprising how much mystery surrounds its origins. In fact, no one exactly knows who invented the treat. The only thing that’s certain is they’ve been around since candy purveyor Raymond Goodart started making and selling them to locals out of his Anton garage almost a century ago. As the confection’s popularity grew, Goodart moved to a larger facility in Lubbock, where he began producing peanut patties for a much bigger audience in 1939.
The budding confectionery tycoon wasn’t the only one, either, as Anthony George opened the Tyler Candy Company in Tyler in 1941. His version headlined an assortment of sweets that included peppermint sticks, divinity, and peanut brittle. Purchased by Weston and Linda Pierce in 2018, Goodart’s Candy Company still produces 20,000 peanut patties every day. “My husband was in the food industry most of his adult life, and when this opportunity came up, he was excited to own his own business,” Linda says. “I didn’t know a thing about running a food business—I’m a retired schoolteacher—but of course I said yes.”
The Pierces jumped head-first into the world of candy-making, and they’ve stayed true to the company’s roots. Goodart’s produces only two products—peanut patties and peanut brittle—which they ship to retailers across the southwest. Forged in a variety of shapes and sizes, like its
bestselling Texas-shaped offering, the patties are especially popular in the scorching summer days of its home state.
“They’re fabulous in the Texas heat because they do not melt,” Linda says. “They’re very popular in the oilfield, for example, because the workers can take them in their lunch and they don’t have to worry about them melting. The sun actually makes them soften up a bit and it’s absolutely yummy.”
Though Goodart’s predominantly ships its sweet treats to wholesalers in the South, the company continues to operate a small storefront at its factory in Lubbock. Even today, it’s not uncommon for dedicated fans to stop by and stock up around the holidays. The Pierces say it’s a favorite souvenir for exchange students, people headed overseas on mission trips, and anyone else looking to showcase a genuine taste of Texas.
But Goodart’s and Tyler Candy Company aren’t the only ones tempting tourists and Texas expats with rosy rounds. A relative newcomer named Leon Anderson joined the fray in the early 1980s. Anderson was originally the employee of a man named Dan Herne, who had a small business selling peanut patties in the Paris area. Sensing an opportunity to bring Herne’s recipe to a broader audience, Anderson purchased the rights and launched his own garage operation, rechristening them Anderson’s Peanut Rounders. In the ensuing decades, Anderson slowly grew the company outside of Texas, expanding distribution to Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana before he retired in 2000.
Now based out of a production space in the tiny northeast Texas town of Blossom, it remains a family-run outfit, helmed by Anderson’s daughter LeAnne Gentry and her husband, Donny. With just five employees, the Anderson Candy Company cranks out 8,000 peanut patties per day using only sugar, peanuts, and a few secret ingredients. “It’s retro. It’s not the newest or the latest, but it’s something you feel sentimental about,” Donny says. “It’s a sentimental candy.”
Enjoying this article?Anderson has helped the peanut patty expand its reach across the country, thanks to the company’s relationships with retailers like Bass Pro Shops and Hobby Lobby. The Gentrys also regularly ship peanut rounders to homesick Texans outside of the U.S., many of whom are military personnel stationed in far-flung locales like Germany and Saudi Arabia.
That there are multiple companies in Texas dedicated almost entirely to the production of peanut patties is a testament to the snack’s enduring appeal. And for everyone who loves them, nostalgia remains a driving factor. “For the older generation, they love peanut patties because it reminds them of their childhood, and they’re passing them on to the younger generations,” Donny says. “We’ve been able to hold true to its original roots, and we haven’t changed anything in 60 years.”
