Kendal Mint Cake

 

If you've been with us for a while then you'll know we've wanted to dabble in regional or particularly historic foods for a while now, so when we saw Kendal Mint Cake at Knightshayes Court during our visit a few weeks ago we couldn't resist the opportunity presented to us.

It isn't often seen down our way to be honest, and while acutely aware of it through various references like Robin in Young Dracula, we had no idea what it actually was other than it was something minty.

Through research we've found that there are actually only three manufacturers of the sweet treat, but we also know the story behind how it came to be. Apparently it was an accident, that part is consistent, but there are two versions on what led to the accident which later became the treat.

Version one goes that in 1869 Joseph Wiper, a confectioner from Kendal, was making a batch of glacier mints which were a popular sweet for his company. However, for some reason or another he let the sugar solution boil for too long which resulted in it spoiling. Undeterred, Joseph added the peppermint oil to it anyway and poured it out to set, the result wasn't a hard boiled sweet like it should have been, but a crumbly, minty tablet which tasted pretty good and thus the famous Kendal Mint Cake was born.

The other version of the story pretty much runs the same other than for whatever reason Joseph left the mix overnight and when he returned the next day the batch had solidified like a tablet/paste texture which tasted alright and gave him a pretty good idea.

Regardless of what version of the tale you believe, the fact of the matter is that Joseph Wiper had brought Kendal Mint Cake to Kendal and went on to produce and market it thereafter.

There have been some dispute about the invention however, as some have noted having tasted the confectionary years prior, right up to 1810, but it's Wiper we have to thank for making it widespread. Further credit goes to the Wiper family for elevating the mint cake as Joseph's great nephew Robert was the one who supplied Sir Ernest Shackleton with the stuff for the Transantarctic expedition of 1914-1917 which helped it maintain its newfound reputation for being a foodstuff capable of sustaining you  on a hard or long trip. What helped was that this mixture was able to sustain extreme conditions, including freezing temperatures, so could be taken on voyages such as this to give the men the sugar hit they would have sorely needed. People soon followed the example and thus the link for Kendal Mint Cake and treks was forged.

By the time 1920 rolled around there was mint cake fever, not only had the expedition sky-rocketed it to fame, but others had cracked how to make the confection and so Wiper's had to put out an ad warning his customers. Taken from the Cumbria County History website's article of the historic food, 'There are several local confections known as "Kendal Mint Cake" and visitors are often misled, and buy any kind of mint cake under the assumption that it is the Original Confection which was supplied to The Imperial Trans Antartic Expedition 1914-1917. If you wanted to eat the mint cake of the brave and bold, then Wiper's and only Wiper's would do.'

We think this was a pretty bold statement, but after all they needed to protect their legacy. They realised competition was now rife and so to stay on top, steps needed to be taken. However, Romney's, also local to Kendal, presented the most threat to Wiper's. Despite the latter's confection being taken on Everest expeditions in 1922 and 1924, Romney's provided mint cake to Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay who carried it to the summit in 1953 ensuring that Kendal Mint Cake would be forever on a mountaineering checklist.

The confection has been made the same way for the last 150 or so years and the three historic companies keeping the treat alive are Romney's, Quiggin's, and Wilson's.

Wiper's no longer survives alone as Romney's bought it from Harry Wiper when his father, Robert died in 1960 and so their Kendal Mint Cake legacy was absorbed into their playful rivals. But Quiggin's version of the minty sweet, and the company behind it, are actually the oldest surviving mint cake company. When Daniel Quiggin moved to Kendal from the Isle of Man in 1880 he formed the mint cake company and it has been in steady production ever since. Their claim to fame came when Chris Bonington used their mint cake on his 1975 Everest expedition. As Wiper's were absorbed by Romney's, their title as oldest mint cake makers was taken. Wilson's came about in 1913 when he switched from toffee to mint cake, but it wasn't Kendal Mint Cake truly until he moved to Kendal in 1966, but as of 2007 the confection fell out of favour for chocolate and we believe they sell a chocolate version of it as well.

Even Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman have sworn by Kendal Mint Cake, having brought it along for their motorcycle trip across the world which Ren has watched with her dad as its an area of interest for them. We have to admit it is pretty tasty and we can see how it has sustained many a man (and woman) on their tough journeys, and despite the fact we bought ours while on an adventure, we forgot about it...

Because of this, when it resurfaced while we unpacked we decided to do something a little different and included it in a homemade chocolate ice cream sundae which elevated it to an 'After Eight' type status of dessert. We recommend this if you cant find a use for leftover Kendal Mint Cake!

We really enjoyed our first look into historic food and we hope to be able to do it again some time!