The country's oldest nut company, Bazzini Nuts , wasn't born in the Lehigh Valley, but is thriving here.
Rocco Damato is an old school New Yorker and the CEO of Bazzini Nuts.
"We're certainly the oldest in the country. Started in Lower Manhattan in 1886," Damato said.
Damato bought the company in 1983 and moved it to Allentown in 2011, for more space and because of changing food laws.
They make, package and ship nuts.
It's hard to even imagine this, but Bazzini roasts 3 million pounds of peanuts a year, right here in the Lehigh Valley.
"The biggest selling nut, which isn't really a nut, is peanuts," Bazzini said.
That's right, peanuts aren't nuts...they're legumes.
The company also sells almonds, pistachios, cashews, nearly every kind of nut, and they make chocolate.
"It's good to be able to snack on something that's healthy. Of course when you put chocolate around it and stick it in caramel it loses a little bit of that quality," he said.
His nuts are sold at IronPigs games, but his main customer base is still New York.
They're everywhere there, including Yankee Stadium since 1923.
Once, the Yanks changed it up, and fans revolted.
"They threw em back, they threw em back at the vendors, they're throwing them back at the vendors," Damato said.
It's that quality that he prides himself on and that consistency that only time can establish.
