Lemon Buds dissolve slowly and never over sweeten, they are a little tart but not sharp, pale yellow, with a brightness that lingers without demanding attention.
This flavor is the reason Butterfields Candy exists today. My mother and I discovered it years ago at Simple Pleasures, a beloved little gourmet shop in Raleigh known for carrying the best of everything. One visit, we spotted a line of candy in beautiful packaging stretched across the shelf, and we both knew right away we'd found something delightful. A bag of Lemon Buds came home with us that day, and it became one of our simple pleasures during a difficult season, a little bit of brightness to hold onto.
Simple Pleasures closed years later, a casualty of the recession, but it never really left the memory of the people who loved it. So when I learned that the hundred-year-old candy company behind those Lemon Buds had quietly closed its doors too, I couldn't let it disappear. I bought Butterfields to keep something precious alive, the same recipe, unchanged since 1924, still hand-crafted in small-town Nashville, North Carolina, by master confectioners who treat every batch with the same care it's always deserved.
For retail buyers, Lemon Buds are one of the strongest everyday reorder SKUs in the line. They cross gifting seasons without effort, in spring, teacher appreciation, get-well, Mother's Day. And they consistently attract the customer who says they're buying for someone who "doesn't really like candy."
Best for: Gift shops, hospital gift shops, coffee shops, bookstores, tea rooms, apothecary-style boutiques.
Gifting occasions: Get-well, caregiver gifting, teacher appreciation, spring, year-round.