Needham is a signature dish of United States; we have verified places to eat it in Portland. A Maine confection: sweetened mashed potato fondant centre flavoured with vanilla and shredded coconut, hand-dipped in dark chocolate. Start with where to eat Needham in Portland.
Needham · Portland
A Maine confection: sweetened mashed potato fondant centre flavoured with vanilla and shredded coconut, hand-dipped in dark chocolate. Looks like a chocolate truffle, tastes nothing like any.
Needhams are an early 20th-century Maine confection from the Down East coast, named after either George Needham (a 19th-century Maine politician) or Charles Needham (a Maine confectioner; both claims persist). The defining trick is the mashed potato in the fondant centre, a Depression-era substitute for more expensive marshmallow or egg-white centres. Wilbur's of Maine in Freeport makes the canonical commercial version; small Portland confectioners and bakeries replicate the format every Christmas. Outside Maine, the needham is unknown; inside Maine, it's the lunch-box Christmas treat.
Where to eat Needham in Portland: the editor picks