A 2009 effort to legally designate Aplets & Cotlets as Washington's official candy failed due to provincial competition between legislators from the state's two geo-cultural regions.

[4] In the early 20th century, Armen Tertsagian and Mark Balaban, Armenian immigrants and proprietors of an apple orchard in Cashmere, Washington, began producing Aplets to make use of their surplus crops and earn extra income during the winter.

The candies were originally sold at a roadside fruit stand but gained greater attention in 1962 as a result of the Seattle World's Fair.

[5][6] Manufactured versions of the candy are limited to those produced by Liberty Orchards of Cashmere, Tertsagian and Balaban's original company.

According to the firm, there is "not a huge market" for the product outside Washington, though in the late 1990s, the company began limited retailing at national chain stores such as Target (the bulk of Aplet & Cotlet sales before this had been in local retailers like Frederick & Nelson, Bartell Drugs, and Pay 'n Save, and through its mail-order catalog).