(playful music) (typewriter keys clicking) - I am here in the Mossback's den with my colleague, Stephen Hegg, for an episode we're calling, "Upon Further Review."

(gentle music) We get to replay all or part of a previous episode, talk about feedback, new information, even corrections on the video.

Here's part of an early episode on Seattle foods that was apparently cut too short.

Roll the tape.

And that is reputedly the birth of the Seattle dog.

A hot dog with cream cheese smothered with caramelized onions.

That's really good.

I didn't even put mustard or ketchup on this thing.

Well, we've had a lot to eat.

We need to top it off with a treat, a locally made treat.

The Frango.

Frango is delicious chocolate candy, was invented in Seattle in 1918.

This is chocolate before chocolate was, like, cool.

(playful music) - I remember you got a lot of response about this little candy.

- I hardly mentioned it, but (chuckles) we got a lot of emails.

And first they pointed out a mistake.

So the Frango was not invented in 1918, which is what I said.

It was trademarked in 1918, but the candy wasn't invented until the late 1920s at Frederick & Nelson's department store.

- So Frango didn't start out as a candy, a small candy.

- That's right.

It started out as a frozen dessert.

Apparently, a very rich frozen dessert that they served in the Frederick & Nelson Tea Room.

And you could get it in maple flavor or orange flavor.

It was 32% fat content.

People loved it.

- Mm.

- So Frederick & Nelson started making candy early on in the 1920s.

They had their own candy kitchen, right in the store.

They made all kinds of candies.

And in the 1920s, they hired a guy named Ray Alden who invented different, he was an experienced candy guy, and invented this chocolate truffle, a mint chocolate truffle.

And they named it the Frango.

- And they made it in the bowels of the Frederick & Nelson.

It sounds like, it brings to mind to me as sort of kitchen run by elves, you know, pumping out millions and millions.

- Well, and it did have a lot to do with Christmas, how people celebrated Christmas.

But it was an all year round thing, and they developed different flavors.

They tried hazelnut, rum, mocha.

- But that chocolate mint was the first flavor.

That was the signature flavor, right?

- Yes, it was.

- That's the one I remember.

- And it continued, you know, continued from there.

And they had different variations.

(gentle music) Frederick & Nelson's was kind of a nostalgia factory.

All of us have so many memories of buying things there, shopping there, fashion shows.

The Tea Room, the Paul Bunyan dining area.

- [Stephen] Oh, the whole department store experience was quasi Disneyland.

When I was a kid, it was the Crescent in Spokane.

And when I walked through the Crescent, particularly at holiday time, it was a wonderland.

Everything was happening on every floor.

And those are the little memories, the touchstones.

And whether a Frango was attached to it or not, you really remember that.

- It calls to mind Marcel Proust, "Remembrance of Things Past," this epic memoir that was triggered by a petite madeleine little mini cake.

And I think Frangos are like that for people.

They bring so much back.

There's even a book about Frangos by Robert Spector.

So if you want to learn a lot about Frangos, there's a book on Frangos.

- Musical coming soon?

- (chuckles) Yeah.

And you know, you can't necessarily get 'em downtown anymore but you can get them online.

I found some Frangos online.

You know, there's just something about sweet confections, Frangos, Almond Roca, Nanaimo bars, - Aplets & Cotlets.

- Aplets & Cotlets.

(gentle music) We think of these things as relatively trivial, but the memories evoked can be powerful, positively Proustian.

Now, in the previous episode I made the mistake of not eating a Frango.

But this time we're not gonna make that same mistake.

So Stephen, unlock memory banks.

(gentle music continues) - [Announcer] Hear more about this episode on the Mossback Podcast.

Just search Mossback wherever you listen.