Kendal Mint Cake: The happy accident that fuelled the first ascent of Everest

One morning, two men sat, tired yet satisfied, at the top of a steep climb. They surveyed the countryside and nibbled on Kendal Mint Cake. It is a scene that has been played out on hilltops across the world over the past 150 years — albeit here, the pair eating the confectionery was Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, perched on the summit of Mount Everest. That Kendal Mint Cake — in this case, the brown variety made by Romney’s — should have become the first sweet to reach the top of the world’s highest peak was not so surprising. After all, the Lakeland treat had been carried on the first European expedition to attempt the climb in 1922, on that occasion produced by Wiper’s.

The confectionery’s ascent to becoming the world’s first energy bar began with an accident. In 1869, Joseph Wiper, a sweet-maker in Kendal, Cumbria, under-cooked and over-stirred a pan of sugar, peppermint and water. He had hoped to produce a clear glacier mint. Instead, he ended up with something resembling white fudge. It tasted good, however, and Wiper was soon selling it to the Lake District’s many tourists. As the mint cake became popular, other Kendal confectioners — such as Romney’s (with its factory, by pleasing coincidence, located in close proximity to the River Mint), Quiggin’s and Wilson’s — began making it, too.

Kendal Mint Cake — either white or brown, depending on the sugar used — proved particularly popular with fell walkers and climbers, which may have inspired one of Wiper’s descendants, Robert, to donate several cases to Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–17. Association with the brave and arduous adventure gained the product invaluable global publicity and soon Kendal Mint Cake was being exported around the world, although its name sometimes caused confusion. In the 1950s, New York customs officials refused the Lakeland speciality admission to the US on the grounds that it didn’t contain eggs and flour, so couldn’t be labelled ‘cake’.

Further help in making it the confectionery of choice for the courageous came from alpinist Dr Howard Somervell. Somervell had strong connections with Kendal — his family owned a shoe manufacturer there — which may explain the presence of cases of Kendal Mint Cake among the baggage of the 1922 Everest expedition. Each weighing 40lb, the maximum a Sherpa could carry in his pack. The sweetmeat proved a big hit and not only with the mountaineers (it was said that George Mallory was so addicted that ‘given half a chance he’d have eaten the lot’). At an official reception, Somervell presented the 13th Dalai Lama, who had given his permission for the climb, with a bar of mint cake and recorded that he was ‘delighted’ with the gift. Henceforward, Kendal Mint Cake was an ever present on British Himalayan expeditions. Wiper’s was taken on the ill-fated 1924 ascent of Everest, on which Mallory and Andrew Irvine both perished, and on the 1933 and 1936 expeditions led by Hugh Ruttledge.

The Second World War curtailed further attempts to reach the summit. However, when peace returned, it was no surprise that members of Sir John Hunt’s party should regard Kendal Mint Cake as vital to success. There was only one problem: in 1953, sugar and sweets were still rationed. Thanks to the donation of ration coupons by Romney’s staff and well-wishers, 38lb (more than 17kg) of Kendal Mint Cake was assembled. It was, as one member of the party recalled: ‘Easily the most popular item in our high-altitude ration packs — our only criticism is that we did not have enough of it.’

This popularity is explained by multiple factors. Food lacks flavour at high altitudes because our taste buds become some 20% less sensitive. At sea level, Kendal Mint Cake may be too sweet for some, but above 25,000ft, it’s about perfect. Nor is it affected by freezing conditions. Sir Chris Bonington (who took Quiggin’s to Everest’s south-west face in 1975) confirmed that it tasted as good at –30˚C as it did at room temperature.

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Although more modern and expensively marketed energy bars may have come along, Kendal Mint Cake remains a favourite with adventurers and sportspeople across the globe. It’s been up the Congo, to the North Pole and down the world’s deepest cave in Papua New Guinea. It’s given an instant boost to marathon runners, triathletes, around-the-world sailors, Olympic boxers and Ryder Cup golfers. Even the gods may have gained a taste for it: before Norgay began his descent from Everest, he buried some Kendal Mint Cake in the snow to appease those supernatural spirits the Sherpa people believe live in the Himalayas.