Dates: September 19th  (Tue) / September 21st   (Thu)   

Location: Le Caramel 1181 Pioneer Way, El Cajon CA 92020 

Phone: 619-562-0713 

ADA Accessible: Yes 

Website(s): https://le-caramel.com 

Walking: Our hosts are graciously putting out chairs for us to learn about the caramel making process! Then we will walk around! Recommend close-toed shoes, since it is a factory that makes delicious stuff! 

Sweet, sticky, ooey, gooey caramel! Caramel can actually mean a few different things: it can mean the highest stage of heated sugar, which is caramelized.  It can also refer to the candy itself. Essentially, caramel is sugar that has been cooked until it is brown. Many things can be caramelized, as their sugar cooks, including vegetables and fruits. We can go from caramelized carrots to caramel candies!

Caramel as a candy has a somewhat confusing origin story. Some believe that caramel candies originated in America, while others believe that it is an Arab discovery, dating back to 1000 AD. In what is now known as the middle east, a type of crunchy caramel candy called “kurat al milh” or “sweet ball of salt” was made by crystalizing sugar in boiling water. The first known use of the word caramel was recorded in 1725 and is thought to relate to the Latin word calamellus, a relative of sugar cane. Sometime around 1850, milk and fat were added to make a soft, chewy caramel. From there, most candy companies claim that their take on caramel is unique and new! 

Le Caramel will be showing us how they create their sea salt caramel and telling us about how they have developed their business right here in San Diego. It will be a delicious adventure!

• Milton Hershey got his start with caramel

That’s right, the famed Hershey bar king actually started off his candy empire with caramel! He opened the Lancaster Caramel Company in 1886, which employed over 1,200 people at its height, making it the largest candy producer in the United States. 

Hershey got further into the chocolate world, so he sold the business in 1900 to The American Caramel Company for a sweet $1 million, thinking chocolate would make caramel candy obsolete. 

• Werther’s candy was created in, wait for it, Werther, Germany

German confectioner Gustav Nebel created the now iconic gold wrapped hard candy in 1909 in the little town of Werther. He combined cream, butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and a pinch of salt to create the now famous hard candy.

• The caramel apple was an accident

What a sweet mistake! Kraft foods employee Dan Walker was experimenting with leftover Halloween candy and started adding fruit to the mixture. The caramel apple combination was born and it’s been a hit ever since.

• The world’s biggest cornball (it’s not any of you!)

Cosmos Creation of Junction City, Kansas, made the world’s biggest caramel corn ball in 2015. It weighed a whopping 6,780 pounds (the weight of 2 and a half small vehicles). It took about a month to build. They named this sweet ball of caramel corn, obviously, Carl!

Read on for a fun candy quiz to see if you remember any more fun candy facts!

https://www.thedailymeal.com/travel/country-that-eats-the-most-candy-sweden

https://www.thedailymeal.com/eat/america-s-10-favorite-chocolate-candies-0/slide-11.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/525313/what-makes-pop-rocks-pop

https://www.candystore.com/blog/facts-trivia/candy-facts-infographic/

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/69603/how-runts-were-product-willy-wonkas-corporate-imagination

https://www.werthers-original.us/en/our-story

https://www.oldtimecandy.com/blogs/candy-blog/caramel-candy