Mint oil is key in Hanover’s Michigan Mints.

Chocolate and mint. It’s a natural combination—especially if you’re candy-makers living in Michigan’s mint capitol, Clinton County.

Karl and Heather Hanover use the two heavenly ingredients every day to cook up batches of the delectable, distinctive candies. Every piece of Hanover’s Michigan Mints is impressed with the outline of the Great Lakes State, making the candies easily recognizable even after they’re wrapped in brightly colored foil papers.

“When we had the idea to produce mint candies back in 1992, our test molds had only the lower peninsula of Michigan,” Karl says, recalling the first samples of the now well-known confection. “People liked the candy, but they wanted to see the U.P. as part of the design—we had new molds made right away.”

Since that rather modest beginning in a shop at the couple’s home in St. Johns, Hanover’s mints have journeyed far and wide. Karl and Heather originally marketed the product themselves at area retail outlets before turning that end of the business over to sales representatives.

“Probably 90 percent of sales are at stores that feature Michigan-made products,” Heather says of the over 1 million Hanover candies that are shipped from the couple’s shop each year. “We have three salespersons who market our products at state and national retail outlets, and we also take orders online at our website.”

The process of making the yummy candies begins in a commercial double boiler that melts 200 pounds of bulk chocolate—milk, dark or white. It takes about six hours to melt each batch, and another two hours to “temper” the melted sweet stuff into the proper consistency for candy making.

Each batch yields approximately 12,000 candies with the distinctive minty taste that comes from pure mint oil, purchased from local growers, such as Stoney Creek Essential Oils. The business that’s owned and operated by the father-son tandem of Tom and Doug Irrer is a leader in Michigan’s mint industry.

“There are only about a dozen commercial mint growers left in the state, and we produce between 60 and 70 percent of all the mint grown here,” Tom says about the specialty crop that is harvested every summer.

“The mint oil that we sell commercially is shipped in barrels that hold 10,000 gallons—it doesn’t take much oil to flavor products like candy, toothpaste or chewing gum,” Tom says.

Hanover’s minty recipe illustrates that potency. About a cup of peppermint oil is used in each batch of candy—enough to flavor all 12,000 pieces.

It takes two hours to pour each batch of chocolate into the Michigan molds that are cooled down in a special compartment in the Hanover shop. Wrapping the candies in foil used to be a real labor of love. Each piece was hand-wrapped when the business first started.

“Later, we were able to purchase a machine that had been used by Russel Stover that can wrap about 100 pieces a minute,” Karl says of the speedier process that still requires a human touch. Karl places the individual candies on the conveyor belt where they’re machine-wrapped before Heather takes the finished pieces off the belt in preparation for packaging.

Watching Karl and Heather do their candy-wrapping thing is like an old “I Love Lucy” episode—except Heather manages to keep up without popping any candies into her mouth.

In addition to the Michigan molds, the Hanovers produce special orders for businesses and individuals who want a specific mold imprint.

“We’ve done a number of molds with logos of corporations, and wedding molds that couples use for table treats and decorations,” Heather says.

Operating a home-based business that’s labor intensive is demanding, but somehow it fits the couple’s busy lifestyle. Heather has served on the St. Johns City Commission for the past eight years, and is an active volunteer in school and athletic activities. Karl coaches soccer and hockey at both the high school level and for youth travel teams.

“Now that the kids are older, they help out during our busy times of the year—it’s a real family business that works for us,” Heather says.

Find detailed information on Hanover’s Michigan Mints at www.michiganmint.com.

Clinton County Sets Pace For Mint Production
Taste-tempting candy, like Hanover’s Michigan Mints, isn’t the only product that owes its existence to aromatic mint plants.

Mint oil is the key ingredient in a wide variety of ‘essential’ daily items, from toothpaste and mouthwash, to chewing gum and medicines.

“All of our spearmint oil goes to the Wrigley company,” Tom Irrer says about the potent flavoring that’s distilled at Stoney Creek Essential Oils, the business he owns and operates with a son, Doug. “The flavoring and a lot of the chewing gum is sold overseas.”

The Irrer’s are among a handful of Clinton County farmers who have been involved in mint production since the 1920s. Mint plants like the rich, “muckland” soil near the county seat of St. Johns, and the Irrer’s have also successfully adapted it on their farmland located in the Stoney Creek watershed.

“We’ve basically been specializing in mint production for a number of years now, trading ground with other crops like corn and beans to alleviate disease pressures,” Tom says about the 1,200 acres of mint that he and Doug harvest each year.

Mint is harvested similar to alfalfa, beginning in mid to late July; up to three cuttings per season ending in late August. The dark-green plants with purple and white blossoms are cut and collected into ‘mint wagons’ that deliver the fragrant commodity to an on-site facility where steam is introduced and mint oil is distilled as an end product.

Oil that’s distilled from the Irrer’s peppermint and spearmint plants accounts for between 60 and 70 percent of Michigan’s annual commercial mint production.

Optimum growing conditions in 2006 resulted in a “record year” for Michigan mint growers, the Clinton County native says, but this past year was not as profitable.

“Harvests were down about 10 percent in 2007,” Tom says, citing dry weather early in the growing season as the main culprit. “The plants didn’t fill in as much as they should have—our first cutting was just so-so.”

The bumper crop of 2006 boosted Michigan to a fourth-place position in the national production of spearmint with a value of $960,000, according to the National Agriculture Statistics Service—certainly helpful in the state’s faltering economy. Peppermint production was valued at $473,000. States in the Pacific Northwest typically lead the nation in all mint production.

Clinton County is continuing to hold its own in Michigan. “We had good, healthy root systems this past fall heading into the winter,” says Irrer who serves on the national Mint Industry Research Council and the Oregon Essential Oil Growers Association. “The outlook is good for 2008 in Clinton County.”– Rhonda Dedyne