I love a good caramel. I always have. When I was much younger, there was an unincorporated area in Wilmette that everyone called No Man’s Land, and a shop there called The Amber Light introduced me to the first really outstanding, handmade caramels I’d ever had (vs. the considerably less exciting commercial caramels I’d previously encountered).
Since then, I’ve had a fair number of truly splendid caramels in a variety of locations, but so far, I don’t think I’ve had any that were better than those produced by a small, artisanal confectioner in New Hampshire named Tahana Caramels. Now, I realize this may seem like a challenge–everyone will want to tell me about a local caramel they like better. That’s not a bad thing. I like to know where to get the good stuff. That said, if you don’t know someone making exquisite, handmade caramels, then Tahana may be your portal into the splendor of these gloriously soft, luxurious, buttery confections.
The website for Tahana Caramels–http://www.tahanaconfections.com/–shows you where the caramels are available, should you find yourself in New England, but also offer you the option of ordering them online. My preferences run to the original vanilla caramels and the seasonal spice caramels. However, these are not the only options.
If the only caramel you’ve ever had came in a plastic bag that was sitting on a shelf in the grocery store, you owe it to yourself to at least once try really good caramel. If you have a local candy maker, buying local is good. But if not, Tahana is a great option for sampling a really fine example of this confection.
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