Caring About Caramels (and a few other goodies)

Another gooey chewy sickly sweet chunk of sugar? You bet! Most of us are used to eating the type of caramels you buy out of the bulk bins at your local grocery store or out of the two bound bags you buy for Halloween. This stuff is not caramel. It may have caramel coloring, but it's not the real deal. 

Think back to when you were a child. Did your mother, grandmother, aunt or even dad ever make caramel squares or toffee at the holidays? Can you remember the caramelized deep burnt flavor of the sticky concoction? Even if you never experienced that, you can understand that the flavor is completely different than that of the store bought corn syrup and fake coloring goo.

So, on to the best caramel you will ever have. I discovered a gem of a caramel by accident, or by gift I guess. I was given a pack of these little flat squares, with a dark chocolate coating with sea salt on the top. Inside was a very deep caramel that brought back all sorts of memories, some real and some probably from movies I saw when I was a kid. Infused with the caramel is an ever- so-faint sweet lavender taste. When all of it combines into one bouquet in your mouth, watch out! Wow! You will reach for another and another. Put them away before it's too late my friend.

So where can  you find these little precious sweets? A little family farm in Oregon makes these by hand with specially sourced chocolate and ingredients they grow on their farm. What more can you ask for! Lillie Bell Farms (www.lilliebellefarms.com) have an online store as well. Look for the Lavender Fleur du Sel Caramels. And yes, I have tried much of their other items as well. 

Do you want to hear more? Their Spicy Pecan Toffee is great as well as the Pistachio Toffee. The Crunchy Fire Bar is amazing and utterly addicting in its heat. The Chipolte Ganache is mind-blowing. I bought an entire box of them as well. The list goes on. Try some of their products for yourself. Go ahead…I dare you.