Maple Nut Prices

[SeanD]

I'm selling maple coated nuts this holiday season and I'd like to get a sense of what people are charging this year and the sizes they sell. I'm probably going to sell 6 oz. bags individually and 2 oz. bags in varieties for gift baskets. I've found whole almonds and pecan halves for about $4/lb. and peanuts for about $2.40/lb. I'd love to try cashews, but at $7/lb., that could be a very expensive treat.

I've read some older threads and I see that some people get a little hot when seeing other people's prices, so please no judging others. I recognize there are a lot of factors like location and beliefs that go into pricing. I'm just looking for market info for this season to give me an idea of a range I should be in.

Thanks in advance,
Sean

[Dave Y]

Sean,
I price my coated pecans at $4 for 4oz. and peanuts at $3 at 4oz. I have no trouble selling them. I sell three time the pecan as I do the peanuts.

[Randy Brutkoski]

We also sell our maple coated nuts for $4 for 4 oz. We sell peanuts, almonds, walnuts and cashews. cashews are by far our best seller.

[gmcooper]

We sell coated almonds, pecans, walnuts, peanuts, and cashews. We price them about 4.00 per 4 oz. Pecans had been our best seller although last year or two cashews and peanuts have caught up. We have a hard time making enough cashews to sell as I do a lot of quality control sampling on them.

[red maples]

I only sell them mixed. pecans, almonds, cashews

I do $1.50 per oz. but I may be raising it to $2 an oz.

the nut prices are QUITE expensive where are you getting nuts that cheap???

[SeanD]

Thanks for all the input. It's really helpful.

Those prices are from BJ's.

Sean

[Durham Sugarhouse]

Maple coated nuts is a great idea for the holidays. Anyone care to share how you make them?

[whalems]

read about it hear. http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?14952-Maple-nuts-for-beginners

[Rossell's Sugar Camp]

coating nuts is probably the easiest way confection to make. Basically all you do is boil 1 cup of syrup per pound of nuts to 255 degrees. While boiling the syrup put the nuts in the oven at 200 degrees. when syrup reaches tempurature pour nuts into a bowl and stir in syrup until it coats the nuts. should take about a minute and a half and youll know when it is done. spread the nuts out on a cookie sheet to cool. they are really good. Its hard not to eat them all.

[red maples]

I use about 6-8 oz syrup to a pound of nuts and I warm them in the oven helps to get any moisture off as well. but I go only to 242* for the nuts get everything into a big Stainless bowl and pour the syrup over top and stir to coat let sit a a few seconds and stir some more. then it will starte to crystalize over the nuts I spread them over a cookie sheet coated with a layer of baking parchment and let them cool. but beware they are EASY TO SNACK HEAVILY ON. I recommend chewing a piece of gum or something... to much quality control can be a bad thing... ;)

As far as prices if your getting good $$$ for it more power to you. but make sure your getting some money out of the deal. if your paying premium for your nuts then make sure your charging enough to make money and that's the bottom line. if your paying $10/lb for nuts. your already getting close to .66 an oz. syrup, labor, packaging, any other over head you need to charge at least $1.5 + per oz. just saying

[wiam]

I do the same as red maples except I do not heat the nuts. If you do multiple batches, the next ones will crystallize faster in the mixing bowl if you do not wash it out

[Birddog]

Wow - I just made a pound each of Pecans, Almonds and Cashews. I used 6 ounces of Syrup per pound and heated to 244 degrees, preheated the nuts. I did it in 3 batches. I did notice it crystallized faster on the second and third batches as previously mentioned. Thanks for posting the instructions, it worked great and my family loves it. I'm going to run out of syrup fast! What do you all use to package these?

[gmcooper]

What do you all use to package these?

We get our food grade plastic bags from Uline. We heat seal each bag then add the labels.

[SeanD]

I goofed on the pecan prices from BJ's. They are closer to $7/lb. I read the wrong price tag. The rest of the prices are right.

The better deal then for walnuts and pecans is back at Walmart. They are $9.88 for a 24 oz. container or $6.59/lb.

Sorry about that,
Sean

[red maples]

I will check that out.

[SeanD]

We get our food grade plastic bags from Uline. We heat seal each bag then add the labels.

I just got my 1 mil. bags and they feel a bit thinner than I wanted. They seal alright, but I'm worried about them ripping too easily. What thickness bags do you use?

[red maples]

I got 1.6 mil heat sealable gusset bags from clearbags.com F6 holds about 6-8 oz an F3 holds 3-4oz. they work really good. and seal really easy and strong enough I was looking for a nice sexy bag topper type label but couldn't find one that would fit or even a hang tag would be fine but nothing ...yet. So had to settle for a sticker label they are cheaper though.

[SeanD]

I saw those, but honestly didn't understand what a gusset bag was. Is that a pleat on the side?

[Randy Brutkoski]

I get my bags from uline and have never had a problem. Very good company to deal with.

[SeanD]

I got mine at Staples for short money. It's even free shipping if you have it sent to a local store.

I got 1,000 5"x5" 1 mil lay flat bags for under $6. I probably should have gone with a thicker bag, but these will be okay. I can use them for nuts or candy. Is there a noticeable difference between 1 mil. and 1.5 mil.?

Here are the gusseted bags: http://www.staples.com/Clear-Gusseted-Poly-Bags-15-mil-4x2x8/product_939838

Sean