June 29 is one of those oddly specific food holidays that left us scratching our heads in confusion at first, wondering what the heck it is exactly. It’s National Almond Buttercrunch Day! But there’s no need for bewilderment; that’s simply the generic name for a well-known brand of candy known as Almond Roca.
Whew. That I know.
Candy company Brown & Haley developed almond buttercrunch just in time for World War II, where it became a popular treat with soldiers thanks to J.C. Haley’s novel idea of storing it in tins to keep it fresh, similar to the method used for storing coffee at the time. This made the candy easy to ship to far-flung locations across Europe and Asia. Brown & Haley named their creation Almond Roca because the almonds they used were exported from Spain, and the candy’s texture reminded them of rocks; “roca” is the Spanish word for rock. Almond Roca is essentially English toffee with just a few ingredients – butter, sugar, salt, and almonds.
I suppose we could have slaved over a hot stove making our own almond buttercrunch, but why bother when every it’s easy enough to find in the grocery store? (Although, it did take us three tries). I’m very familiar with Almond Roca because it was my former father-in-law’s favorite candy. Odd that the candy outlasted the marriage, but hey – it’s good stuff!
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Eat My Words 
Would a Heath Bar be the same?
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I think, in a pinch, you could get away with eating a Heath bar. I looked it up and the ingredients do include almonds, butter, and toffee. Pretty similar to Almond Roca.
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