New Orleans' most popular Easter candy, ranked
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The Easter Bunny brings Heavenly Hash Eggs to New Orleans children. Photo: Carlie Kollath Wells/Axios
Forget Hershey's. Fill my Easter basket with Elmer's Gold Brick Eggs and Heavenly Hash.
Why it matters: Elmer Chocolate started in New Orleans in 1855 and is the country's oldest family-owned chocolate company.
The big picture: Elmer's has been making the Heavenly Hash Egg for 101 years, Gambit says.
- They moved operations to Ponchatoula in the 1960s.
- Their sweets are front and center for Easter and Valentine's Day at stores throughout Louisiana.
What's inside: The Heavenly Hash Egg is filled with marshmallow fluff and roasted almonds and covered in either milk or dark chocolate.
- A Gold Brick Egg is solid chocolate-covered egg filled with pecans and more chocolate.
- A Pecan Egg is a egg-shaped nougat covered in pecans and caramel.
Zoom out: Nationally, Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs were the top-selling Easter candy in 2023, according to Instacart and DoorDash data.
- Starburst jelly beans ranked fifth nationwide and yellow marshmallow Peeps chicks eighth — the only two non-chocolate candies in the top 10 sellers.
Zoom in: These were the top five candies in New Orleans based on the data.
- Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs.
- Hershey's Milk Chocolate.
- Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.
- Cadbury Easter Creme Egg.
- Peanut M&Ms.
State of play: Easter is the second most popular holiday for candy purchasing after Halloween, a Numerator survey of 5,132 consumers found.
- 92% of Americans who celebrate Easter do so with chocolate and candy, according to a report from the National Confectioners Association.
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