Sugar Savvy

A couple of weeks ago, I found myself on a fairly last-minute weekend trip to Los Angeles. This was on the heels of my failed attempt to attend the All Candy Expo in Chicago, during which I had been hoping (aside from tasting and amassing an infinite amount of samples) to meet the maven of candy-bloggers , Cybele of CandyBlog. Man, it killed me not to go to Candy Expo, especially after receiving personal phone calls from the folks at Just Born and Werthers, inviting me to their respective cocktail parties and receptions during the week of the event. Granted, they only knew about me because I’d registered for the event as “media”, but come on… that’s pretty hot stuff. Or should I say, Hot Tamale stuff…

So I was very excited and touched that Cybele accepted my invitation to meet up during her lunch break on the Friday afternoon that I was in L.A., which she mentioned on her site, as well (very flattered, thank you!) As she said, we lunched at the Farmers’ Market, strategically locating ourselves in front of Littlejohn’s Candies, “Old World Crafted English Toffee, Fudge and Fine Candies Since 1924”.

You can read the history and background of the company here.

Littlejohn’s has been making candy since the 1920’s, operating at their current Farmers’ Market location since 1946. And they are not messing around – at all! I did not taste the fudge or English Toffee (I don’t know what I was thinking), but the caramel kisses (caramel covered marshmallows) and pralines are absolutely worth going out of your way for. Cybele shared her chocolate-covered honeycomb with me (I’ve always referred to this as “seafoam”), which was also great.

Okay, so what does an Oregon girl know about pralines, right? All I can tell you is that when I was about eight years old, my parents returned from a trip to New Orleans bearing a box of these never-before seen or tasted (by me) confections. I was immediately hooked, and my mom even led my Blue Bird troop in the activity of making them by scratch, the one and only candy-making venture during my entire childhood, I believe. I have since made them several times, and while I have NEVER so much as stepped foot in The Big Easy, these remain on my top 5 list of all-time favorite sugar-based foods. And I do believe, due to the high protein content supplied by the ample addition of pecans, they indeed qualify as food.

In my experience with candy shop pralines, they can sometimes be on the chewy rather than “sandy” side – and from my understanding, the chewier ones are more typical of a “Texas-style” praline rather than New Orleans style. Please correct me if I am wrong, for I am indeed a praline novice.

With that said, these were some of the best pralines I’d ever eaten. Sandy, perfectly toasted pecans nestled in a perfectly brown-sugary brown sugar base. Have I mentioned how much I love brown sugar? I believe I have. I bought this for a friend, and only got one torturous little taste. I’m kicking myself for not buying more. Again, WHAT was I thinking? I guess it’s time to whip out the ol’ praline recipe and cook up a batch. I’m soliciting new recipes, if anyone has a favorite that they’d like to share!

And get a load of those caramel kisses in the picture (above right) that I snapped. These babies were FRESH. Hot off the line.

Cybele wrote that she “probably jabbered on a lot about candy”, to which I respond: “jabber-on, candy friend. You are in your safe place with me!”

Oh yeah, and she generously shared with me several (SEVERAL) samples from her All Candy Expo haul, including some awesome Niederegger marzipan, Junior Mints Deluxe, Italian Torrone, and too much other deliciousness -as well as some head-scratchers (Chocolate Skittles?) to mentions. Thanks again Cybele!