Cinnamon Red Hots are Schimpff's signature piece and have been made here since opening day in 1891. Gus Schimpff Sr. included the directions for making his Red Hots in his hand-written recipe book from the 1880s. Traditionally a common hard candy, hand made in households throughout Kentuckiana and further south, red hots have become particularly popular at Schimpff's Confectionery.

Madam Helena Modjeska was a Polish actress who, in the late 1800s, became very famous in the United States. Known especially for her romantic Shakespearean roles, she appeared often with John Barrymore. Unlike other popular foreign actresses, she learned to speak English well enough to perform on stage without translation.

After making a premier performance in Ibsen’s "Dollhouse" at Louisville’s old Macauley Theater in 1883, she was asked by the owner of Busath’s Candies if he could name a special confection after her. She agreed and, for that reason, caramel-covered marshmallows along this section of the Ohio River are called Modjeskas. For years Busath’s was the only candy company that used the term, but, upon their closing, other manufacturers felt free to label their product Modjeskas. Schimpff’s is one of them.

Madam Modjeska’s son became an important civil engineer who built bridges throughout the United States. You will find his name, spelled slightly differently from his mother’s, listed as the chief engineer on the commemorative plaque on the southeast side of Louisville’s Second Street Bridge.

Schimpff's Confectionery has supplied generations of Kentuckiana residents with colorful hard candy fish that represent the area's colorful river heritage. They were first made in Madison, Indiana, an old Ohio River town, toward the end of the 1800s. Often thought of as a Christmas candy, the fish design recognized as an early Christian symbol, fish candy also reminded people of the many fish found in the Ohio River. The candy soon became a holiday mainstay for Indiana communities between Madison and Jeffersonville.

Fish candy was originally manufactured in at least a dozen flavors on turn-of-the-century drop roll machines that used hand-made brass rollers. Schimpff's Confectionery continues to produce hard candy fish in the traditional way offering the craftsmanship and quality of days gone by.