Throwback Tip #166: Never Make Caramel Corn Again…without this ingredient!

Photo: Land O'Lakes

There's something warm and comforting about caramel corn in the fall--but sticky, clumpy caramel corn is no fun at all! After reading this week's quick tip, you will never want to make caramel corn without this ingredient!

If your caramel corn sticks together and becomes difficult to separate, adding lecithin will help. Randy Hofberger of R&D Consultants advises mixing lecithin with a little oil and adding this mixture at the end of your caramel corn recipe. This will help the caramel spread apart easier and save you the hassle of manually pulling it apart. 

Allergy Alert! It is advised that individuals with soy allergies do not consume products that contain lecithin. Although lecithin is a byproduct of soy, there is always a chance soy protein will find its way into lecithin. Lecithin derived from sunflower or canola are more allergy-friendly alternatives to soy. 

Don’t cry over spilled lecithin.

Resist the urge to clean spilled lecithin with a damp cloth or spray cleaner, which will cause it to gum-up and make it worse. Instead, cover the spill with sugar and it will clean right up.

Make It Festive

With the quick addition of ingredients like pretzels, roasted nuts, candy corn and colorful candy-coated chocolates this sweet and salty treat is easily be transformed into a festive trail mix for fall parties, trips to the pumpkin patch and tail gate parties.

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Tip #318: Enhance Your Confections with Gourmet Sea Salt

In recent years, the application of sea salt in confections has evolved from strictly artisanal to mainstream in the candy industry. According to Synergy Consultants, sea salt was introduced to nearly 1,350 food products in 2010 alone. If you have not yet jumped on this bandwagon, you may be missing an opportunity to engage consumers and increase sales.

RCI member, Boehm’s Candies of Issaquah, Washington first introduced gourmet sea salt to their confections in 1999. At the time they wondered if it would be a quickly passing fad. Today, the candy maker carries a variety of confections featuring distinctively different gourmet sea salts, contributing to at least 100 pounds of finished product every week to satisfy customer demand.

Pulled from an article in RCI’s Kettle Talk magazine, Bernard Garbusjuk attributes the trendiness of sea salt to our love of the sweet and salty combination. “In our production, we have tested different salt profiles for various confections, but we believe that the most complementing marriage is between caramel and salt. If you are very careful balancing a recipe, then it can also work well for solid chocolate pieces.”

With the growing popularity of sea salt in a variety of applications, featuring a gourmet sea salt with a unique color, flavor, coarseness and even origin will help you create a more signature product. Keep reading for three of Boehm’s favorite gourmet sea salt varieties, as well as recommended applications for each.

Hawaiian Sea Salt Blend

Natural sea salt blended with the rare alaea sea salt from Hawaii. The alaea salt can be identified by its distinct red color achieved by mixing with volcanic clay.

Boehm’s standard sea salt caramels are topped with a blend of two different salts from the Hawaiian Islands. The alaea salt is from the island of Kauai and has a distinct red color from the volcanic clay, and the white salt is from the island of Oahu. The finer grain of the salt from Oahu will disperse in your mouth somewhat faster than the coarser alaea salt and the blend of size and color give the caramel an elegant, upscale finish.

Ilocano Asin

A mild, mineral rich sea salt from the pure seawaters of Pangasinan, Phillippines. Bright, crisp flavors powered by underlying minerals combine in this complex and well-balanced salt.

At Boehm’s they created a thin wand of twisted caramel (about the length of a licorice stick), covered it in chocolate and finished it with the Ilocano Asin salt. This caramel and sea salt “stick” satisfies customers who want a more robust salt profile. Simply because of how you eat it, it can taste remarkably different than the square sea salt caramel.

Smoked Alder Wood Sea Salt

A Pacific sea salt is slightly smoked over red alderwood.

As part of their boxed chocolates, Boehm’s adds a caramel with smoked alderwood sea salt to represent the Pacific Northwest. Consider sourcing a sea salt that reflects the flavors and ingredients representative of your area.

If you can brand a unique sea salt product with a distinctive flavor or coarseness, or from a special region (Himalayan, Mediterranean, etc.), you may be surprised how it effects your sales compared to if you use a non-descript sea salt.

If you’re wondering where to get your hands on gourmet sea salt, Boehm’s Candies recommends SaltWorks® and xroads Phillippe Sea Salts®. SaltWorks offers a variety of salts in fine to coarse grain and in many flavor profiles. Xroads Phillippine Sea Salts® delivers unique culinary sea salts that enhance a broad range of flavors while empowering small communities.

Crave more? If you like what you read here, look for the "Subscribe now" box on the right to enter your email address and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's Tip of the Week blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices.

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Throwback Tip #165: Celebrate Sweetest Day

Do you celebrate Sweetest Day? A favorite candy holiday in the Great Lakes region (more specifically Buffalo, Cleveland and Detroit), it originated in 1922 when Herbert Birch Kingston, a Cleveland candy maker, decided to give candy and small gifts to the city’s orphans and shut-ins, all who are often forgotten and neglected. With the help of friends and neighbors, he distributed these small remembrances on a Saturday in October. For years to follow, other Clevelanders began to participate in the tradition, which came to be known as "Sweetest Day.”

Al Herz, RCI Board President, treats local orphans with
chocolates and entertainment from
the Little Rascals on Sweetest Day in 1928.

In time, the idea of spreading cheer to the underprivileged broadened to include everyone from family and significant others to coworkers and acquaintances with a kind act or a small remembrance. With a little help from movie stars in the 1930s, the idea quickly spread to other cities all over the country.

For many people, remembering takes the form of gift giving. For this reason, Sweetest Day offers a unique opportunity to offer all kinds of gift items. Falling midway between Father's Day in June and Christmas in December, Sweetest Day provides an occasion for the opening of fall merchandising programs and the promotion of various products, not the least of which is candy and boxed chocolate.

Although Sweetest Day does present commercial opportunity, it is also a great opportunity to set aside time to show members of your community that you care. Consider organizing a group volunteer opportunity for your team, such as serving meals at a local shelter or visiting with the elderly at a senior living facility. Not only are these great opportunities to serve your community, they can help to foster a positive company culture.

Other Ideas to Promote Sweetest Day

• Remind your customers of Sweetest Day through social media, email and in-store signage. Click here to download our free graphic.
• Send press releases about Sweetest Day to your local media and let them know of ways your business can help customers celebrate. Click here for more information about the holiday on RCI’s website.
• Be prepared to explain Sweetest Day and to make suggestions regarding appropriate gifts, keeping in mind that the possibilities are limitless. 
• Create a prominent display of merchandise for Sweetest Day.

Gaining in popularity throughout the country every year, some RCI members have reported sales from Sweetest Day exceeding Mother’s Day. This year, Sweetest Day will take place October 19, the third Saturday in October.

Crave more? If you like what you read here, look for the "Subscribe now" box on the right to enter your email address and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's Tip of the Week blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices.

Not a member? Click here to learn how RCI can help you build your sweet business.

Save Brittle Blunders with Troubleshooting Guide

Brittles are a popular confection, with formulations that can be adjust to feature any variety of nuts, seeds and even dried fruit. In an excerpt from RCI’s Kettle Talk magazine, Randy Hofberger of R&D Candy Consultants shares how to achieve great tasting product with consistency.

This hard, glassy candy is not typically coated with chocolate, which makes it great for consumers to enjoy year around! There is no standard of identity for brittles (also known as butter crunch, nut crisps, etc.), but they generally contain sugar, corn syrup, butter, nuts, salt, flavorings and often bicarbonate of soda (baking soda).

While there are many formulas to make brittles, some typical values are:

• Sugar/corn syrup ratio of 2:1
• Milk fat: 1-15%
• Nuts: 20-30%
• Salt: 0.2-1.0%
• Emulsifiers: lecithin 0.25%, mono and diglycerides 0.5-1.5%
• Bicarbonate of soda: 0.5-1.0% (if used)
• Sufficient water to dissolve the sugars

The basic procedure to make brittles is to combine the sugar, corn syrup, emulsifier and water and bring to a boil, washing down the sides of the kettle to prevent premature graining. If your formula has a high percentage of fat/butter (such as with a butter crunch), you will want to add this at the beginning of the cook to ensure it is well incorporated. At approximately 240ºF, raw nuts are added to be roasted in the boiling syrup. Adding the nuts at this time will provide the necessary amino acids to start the Maillard reaction, which will contribute to the color and flavor of the brittle.

As the temperature approaches 280ºF, the flame is lowered if there is evidence of scorching. When the final cook temperature (usually 295–310ºF) is reached, flavoring, low levels of butter, salt and baking soda may be added. The cooked candy is taken to a warm cooling table to be stretched and cooled. Thin pieces of brittle will give a bite that is more tender. When cooled, the product must be properly packaged to maintain the crunchy texture, since brittles will absorb moisture.

Brittles can be a popular and profitable part of your candy portfolio due to their flavor, texture and resistance to heat. Like all confections, consistency is key. Consistent product requires consistent ingredients added in a consistent manner, cooked to the same temperature and for the same amount of time. Processes for cooling, transferring, packaging and storage should also be consistent.

Crave more? If you like what you read here, look for the "Subscribe now" box on the right to enter your email address and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's Tip of the Week blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices.

Not a member? Click here to learn how RCI can help you build your sweet business.