Sugar Savvy

Apparently, caramel is the new chocolate. This is, of course tantamount to declaring that peanut butter is the new jelly. Both caramel and chocolate are chock-full of merit in their own right; the combination of the two falling nothing short of a timeless classic. And for good reason. Caramel is beautiful, simple and delicious. And so is chocolate. One will never replace the other; this goes without saying.

However, in the world of fashion, there seems to be room for only one darling du jour. According to the September issue of In Style Magazine (yes, the oracle of all things haute):

Forget about death by chocolate. For those who desire sweets, sensuous, full-bodied caramel is the way to go.

The one-page article cites menus of well-regarded restaurants in New York (Bouley) and Dallas (Mansion on Turtle Creek as proof of this trend:

Caramels have replaced truffles as the sweet end note. Caramel has also begun insinuating itself into the meal itself. It’s a culinary au courant. Varying the sweetness of the caramel accentuates its versatility; it can be paired with cheese of foie gras.

Phew. Finally we have a rich and buttery treat to balance the weak and pallid flavor of that bland diet plate staple, foie gras.

It only makes sense, really, that the elevated treatment and status of chocolate that we’ve been seeing over the past decade seems to have followed suit with caramel, as well. And, like chocolate, the range of style, complexity and quality varies dramatically.

I was recently moved to tears, for example, when reading a recent post on David Lebovitz’ blog about a particular French salted caramel, and have already enlisted my friend Lizzy to procure some of this crack for me on her imminent trip to Paris. I have no fear that she, a fellow tearful caramel lover, will deliver on this promise.

I do plan to highlight some of these and other deluxe and high-end caramels in the near future. In the meantime, however, I happened to have these three classics sitting in my stash box, which were leftover from a visit earlier this summer to an old-timey candy store in my hometown.

Even though these have all been in production for 75 years or longer, they seem to be somewhat regional and hence were new to my Pacific Northwest candy exposure: my mainstream/drugstore caramel repertoire consisting of not much more than Kraft, Brach’s and Sugar Daddies.

LONG BOYS

Produced since 1932 by the Atkinson Company in Lufkin, Texas, this is my favorite of the three. It has nice chew without being too sticky and is studded with bits of actual coconut. It is reminiscent of a Brach’s Neapolitan in both taste and consistency and is rolled in a super-cute wrapper featuring a drawing of a long skinny boy. Cute wrappers, although often bearing no direct correlation to taste, count for a lot in my book, by the way.

DULCE DE LECHE

Made by The Classic Caramel Company in York, Pennsylvania, which has been in existence since 1914! The caramel is very soft and pliable and is dominated by a milky taste (hence the “leche”.) This leche-ness bears a strong powdered milk taste, thereby distracting from the main event: caramel. Oh yeah, the wrapper on this one is pretty cute, too.

SLO-POKE

I sampled the Tootsie Roll-size version of the Slo-Poke, but I believe the sucker/Sugar Daddy variety may be more common. Having been produced by several different companies since its introduction in 1926 by The Holloway Company, it is currently made by The Sophie Mae/Georgia Nut Company.

This one is the softest and least sticky of the group (not always a positive attribute for me, depending on my mood or state of dental affairs. It is relatively bland and not at all buttery or salty (ALWAYS a positive attribute for me when speaking of caramel, or even part of my meal, for that matter. Butter and salt = GOOD!)

These are all nice, soft, sweet caramels that aren’t too cloyingly sweet, but I have to say that the Walnettos that I purchased from the same shop that day (and subsequently reviewed) remain a forerunner in my book as far as nostalgic, quaintly-packaged, old school candy-makers’ caramels are concerned. There’s a depth, saltiness and overall homemade taste in the Walnetto that is not quite achieved by any of the above.

As the In Style piece declares:

Caramel is sexy because opposites attract. The contrasting forces of salt and sugar in caramel complement each other in such a way that you just can’t help but crave another bite.

I myself would replace the word “sexy” with “f-ing awesome and addictive”, but generally speaking, I couldn’t agree more - which is why this is not the last you’ll be hearing on the subject. Stay tuned…

Photo at top of page courtesy of fotosearch.com