Homemade Since 1924
History
Almeda Chocolates began with Almeda Rupp, a gifted home cook in northwest Ohio who believed a good chocolate recipe was worth perfecting. She tested her creations on family and friends, then began delivering hand-dipped chocolates door to door. By 1924, word was spreading, and what started close to home was becoming a family candy business.
For more than a century, Almeda has been known for handmade chocolates, carefully kept recipes, and the confection that became its signature: Famous Chocolate Stix.
A Sweet Beginning in Ohio
The Rupp family’s early candy business took shape near Archbold, Ohio. Almeda worked on her recipes while her husband, John A. Rupp, and their four sons helped build the enterprise. Before long, her chocolates found customers beyond the family’s doorstep.
Almeda kept experimenting until a recipe was right. At one son’s request, she created a crunchy, toffee-like peanut center covered in chocolate. Within a couple of years of her first door-to-door deliveries, the treat that would become Al-Meda’s Famous Chocolate Stix was born. Its distinctive shape and satisfying crunch made it a favorite that endures today.
Summers in Northern Michigan
Ohio summers were warm, and making chocolate without air conditioning was no small task. In 1931, the Rupps began spending the summer in northern Michigan, where they turned a cottage into a place to make and sell their confections. Their chocolates reached visitors around Petoskey and Harbor Springs, and the family’s seasonal tradition grew.
A Winter Home in Florida
Customers encouraged the Rupps to bring their chocolates south for the winter, too. The family expanded to Boynton Beach, Florida, where an Almeda candy shop opened in 1955. In the years that followed, chocolate making continued across seasons and generations.
Almeda and John’s son John, along with his wife Mabel, carried the business forward. The chocolates were made by hand, with the same attention to the recipes that had built the family’s reputation. Famous Chocolate Stix remained at the heart of the shop.
The Recipes Carry On
After the Rupp family’s years at the helm, the business changed hands in the 1980s. Brent Taylor acquired Almeda in 1988, and he and his wife Diane continued making its chocolates in the Rupp family tradition. Diane and the candy makers kept Almeda’s recipes in use, preserving the flavors customers had returned for over the decades.
What began with one woman’s experiments in an Ohio kitchen grew into a chocolate tradition shared by generations of families. Almeda’s story lives in the recipes, the familiar boxes, and the first bite of a Famous Chocolate Stix.
A New Chapter with Ryba’s Fudge
Long before the Callewaerts had the opportunity to carry on Almeda’s tradition, Famous Chocolate Stix were a favorite in their own family. Rena and Victor Callewaert’s children and grandchildren loved receiving a box and enjoying the chocolates together. Gregg especially remembers how closely his mother, Rena, kept track of hers. Whenever she bought a box, she counted the Stix so she would know if someone had snuck one. She knew she wasn’t the only one who loved them.
Those memories make this new chapter especially meaningful. The family behind Ryba’s Fudge is honored to carry on Almeda’s chocolate tradition and share the treats they have loved for generations. Famous Chocolate Stix and other Almeda signature products will be available online and at Ryba’s Fudge Shops on Mackinac Island. In time, the family hopes to bring them to specialty stores across Michigan, giving more people a chance to make Almeda part of their own traditions.
