Sea Salt Caramels from Sugar Mamma

There are certain foods that no matter how simple they actually are to make if you actually endeavored to learn how still have a mystique about them. Caramels, for me, fall into this category.

Honestly, we're talking just four basic ingredients--butter, cream, sugar, and corn syrup. But this quartet, once cooked together, is the foundation of sweet magic--that is, if you use really good ingredients and have the finesse and creativity to take it to a sublime level of deliciousness.

Nancy Flint understands this. In fact, five years ago she created a small business--Sugar Mamma--around caramels. She's taken these four basic ingredients and elevated them with various flavorings to create 17 flavors of caramels that you can find all over San Diego County.

Flint, once a lactation consultant, had to give up her calling in 2002 when she was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma right at her 40th birthday. She survived and acceded to her two daughters' request to spend more time together by homeschooling them until high school. During that time she had been making sea salt caramels as Christmas gifts, tweaking various recipes until she came up with her own version. Over the years friends and family were on her to enter the caramels into a food competition. Finally, in 2012, Flint entered them at the San Diego County Fair--and won. From there she was featured on the CW. When asked by the TV hosts where people could buy her caramels, she had no answer. But a lightbulb went off. And that's when she started her home-based business.

Today, her small-batch caramels (and marshmallows) are sold primarily at boutiques and hotels in San Diego County--the Hotel del Coronado, the Manchester Grand Hyatt, Pigment in North Park, Vom Fass in Hillcrest, and the Perfect Pineapple in North County are just some of the venues that carry her sweets.

I found her caramels at the new SoCal Made shop in Mission Valley. The flavors are on rotation by season for the most part, ranging from Sea Salt (recipe below),  Chai, Chili Pepper, and Bourbon to Meyer Lemon, Coconut, and Passion Fruit. In fact, Flint grows the passion fruit and Meyer lemons that go into her caramels. She partners with local vendors when she can. So, she uses Dark Horse Coffee for her Coffee Caramel. And if you're vegan, no worries; she's conquered that, too.

I tasted three flavors. The Chili Pepper is a sweet powerful spice bomb. The heat is there but it's quite enjoyable. The Chai, with its cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg flavors, is Christmas in a sweet bite. And the Beer and Pretzels has that mellow hops flavor with a happy pretzel crunch. Flint, an accomplished home cook, has a flair for flavor and works hard to perfect her vision. Her Coconut Caramel, for instance, is layered with five versions of coconut--coconut cream, flakes, toasted flakes, extract, and coconut sugar.

"Don't be afraid of flavor," she said. "Build them. Test them them. And adjust them until you have them just right."

So, instead of just tossing dried chilies into her basic four ingredients to cook them together, Flint now steeps the seeds and dried chilies in cream for two hours to infuse the cream not just with heat but the essence of chili flavor. "Initially, I did it simply and people kept telling me they didn't get any heat. So I kept playing with technique until I got what I wanted. The steeping really made the difference."

Flint makes everything by hand by herself out of her Talmidge home kitchen, usually working in the neighborhood of 12 hours a day every day to meet her orders. She starts by combining her foundational ingredients--the butter, sugar, cream, and corn syrup, in a large pot, heating the mixture over medium high heat until it reaches 248° F--stirring all the while.

"Once the sugar dissolves, you can step away briefly, but stay close," she advised. "You can stir every minute instead of constantly but you don't want it to stick or burn."

With a jelly roll pan lined with parchment paper next to her, Flint stirs until she reaches the temperature she wants, at which point she removes the pot from the heat. Then she adds kosher salt and vanilla, stirs to incorporate them and pours the mixture into the pan. If it's Sea Salt Caramel, she'll give the mixture a few minutes to set, then sprinkle Maldon sea salt over it. In general, fruity flavors get the fruit addition during the cooking process. Any alcohol flavor gets that at the end of the cooking process, once it's off the heat.

Then it sits for 12 hours/overnight to set. Once fully set Flint cuts the caramel into 1-inch squares, wraps each individually by hand and packages them. Home cooks can use wax paper squares or cellophane candy wrappers (found across the internet, including Amazon) for wrapping individual caramels, which can last several weeks at room temperature.

If you make these at home--Flint has generously given us her Sea Salt Caramel recipe--follow these additional tips of hers:

• Use the best ingredients you can.
• Pour what comes out into the pan. Don't scrape the dregs of the pot into the pan because they won't crystalize. Instead, scrape them into a silicon ice cube mold.
• Got bubbles? Don't worry. Flint said they tend to pop on their own over the 12 hours.
• Got a sticky pot? Soak it in hot water to melt the sugar so the mess will release.

Sea Salt Caramels

from Sugar Mamma

(printable recipe)

Yield: 240 1-inch pieces

Ingredients

3/4 cup of unsalted butter

4 cups heavy cream

4 cups granulated sugar

2 cups corn syrup

2 teaspoons kosher stalt

1 teaspoon vanilla

Maldon sea salt to sprinkle

Directions

1. Line a 10- X 15-inch jelly pan with parchment paper. Set aside.

2. Combine the butter, cream sugar, and corn syrup in a large pot. Bring to the boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly.

3. Once the mixture comes to the boil continue stirring by just every minute instead of constantly. Add a candy thermometer to the side of the pot reaching into the caramel mixture. Once it reaches 248° F, remove the pan from the heat.

4. Stir in the kosher salt and vanilla. When mixed well, pour into the jelly pan.

5. After 5 minutes sprinkle the Maldon sea salt over the mixture. 

6. Let set for 12 hours or overnight. Cut into 1-inch pieces and wrap them individually in wax paper.

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The Best Sandwich I Ever Made

Here it is the 4th of July and I'm sitting at my desk still salivating over the memory of a sandwich I made around Memorial Day. I had a real crud of a cold and hadn't gone to the market in awhile so I was left to forage around my fridge and freezer for something for lunch one day that seemed appetizing. What I ended up with was--to me--the best sandwich I'd ever made. Perfect bread--just
lightly toasted. Inside, a sublime mix of flavors and textures just from vegetables, herbs, spices, goat cheese, and oil and vinegar. You know how sometimes you pull together all the right ingredients and take a bite that, huh, lets you down because something's missing? Not this one. I got this totally right. I wanted to linger over it to savor what I'd created. And then make it again.

What I had was a Bread & Cie ciabatta roll I found in the freezer, a red onion, a package of goat cheese, and my favorite Italian marinated eggplant I had made a week or so earlier. I've written about this eggplant dish in the past. I've been making the recipe from Gourmet magazine since 2002 and it's never dated. It's sharp and garlicky from white wine vinegar and, well, garlic, all bathed in olive oil with a hint of oregano and a sharp hit of heat from crushed red peppers. I add it to pasta sauce. I slather good sourdough bread with it. And now, apparently, I add it to sandwiches. It's divine.

Then I remembered that among the bag of provisions my sweet mom had dropped off for me (including magnificent chicken soup with matzoh balls) was a package of roasted red peppers. Her reasoning was that the peppers were filled with vitamin C so she roasted several for me. I had plopped them in a container and covered them with olive oil and a wonderfully dark aromatic aged Spanish vinegar, Vinegar Viejo de Montilla, I had bought at Vom Fass Hillcrest. So it had a day or two of marinating already.

I didn't see how I could go wrong with this combination of ingredients, but neither did I realize how sublime it would actually be.

To put it together, slice the ciabatta roll in half horizontally and lightly toast or grill the halves. This will help give it structure once you add the oil-laden red peppers and eggplant.

Place a couple of slices of the red peppers on the bottom slice of the roll so the oil can coat the bread. Then add a couple of tablespoons of the Italian marinated eggplant, then the red onion slice. Drizzle the top slice of the roll with some of the oil from the eggplant and then spread the goat cheese over it. Place that on the onion slice. Now you have your sandwich. Slice in half and eat carefully over a plate, napkin at the ready. It's juicy!

Italian Marinated Eggplant
(printable recipe)
Yield: 2 cups

I've had this same recipe from Gourmet since August 2002. It really should be called Pickled Eggplant since boiling the eggplant in white wine vinegar takes it to a whole other dimension. It came from one of Gourmet's readers on its "Sugar and Spice" page. Gourmet later published another version of this from the staff but honestly it's not nearly as good. The little changes in proportions they made didn't serve the flavor at all. So, I'm sticking with this and I hope you try it. Not only do I drain it and enjoy on a crusty piece of bread or toasted pita, I often add it to tomato sauces for flavoring. Enjoy the oil, too! 

1 1/2 pound eggplant, peeled and cut into 3 X 1/4-inch sticks
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
2 cups white wine vinegar
2 cups water
2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano or 1/4 teaspoon crumbled dried
1/4 teaspoon black pepper (or crushed red pepper flakes)
About 1 1/2 cups olive oil

1. Toss eggplant with salt and drain in a colander set over a bowl, covered, at room temperature 4 hours. (Eggplant will turn brown.) Discard liquid in bowl.

2. Gently squeeze handfuls of eggplant to remove excess liquid.

3. Bring vinegar and water to a boil in a 3- to 4-quart nonreactive saucepan. Add eggplant and boil, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain in colander, then set colander over a bowl and continue to drain eggplant, covered and chilled, 2 hours more. Discard liquid in bowl.

4. Gently squeeze handfuls of eggplant to remove excess liquid, then pat try with paper towels.

5. Stir together eggplant, garlic, oregano, pepper, and 1 cup oil in a bowl. Transfer to a 1-quart jar with a tight-fitting lid and add enough olive oil to just cover eggplant. Marinate eggplant, covered and chilled, at least 4 hours. Bring to room temperature before serving. Scoop eggplant out of jar with a fork to drain excess oil. Marinated eggplant keeps up to 1 month.

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Vom Fass: Oils and Vinegars and Spirits--Oh My

I'd like to proffer a bit of advice during these mad shopping days: if you wander by an unfamiliar shop that looks intriguing--go in! Don't be intimidated because it's new to you. Just step on through the doorway and prepare to be enchanted. I say this because for months I somehow ignored this credo of mine at the HUB (known to longtime residents as the Hillcrest Uptown Center but now called Hillcrest Uptown Block). Yes, I, who has long written about ethnic markets to demystify them so shoppers across the board would feel comfortable out of their comfort zone and excited by the possibilities, kept passing by the new Vom Fass after getting my hair cut, momentarily marvel at the weird name, glance inside, but then continue on to Trader Joe's.

Photo courtesy of Vom Fass Hillcrest

Big mistake, but I finally rectified it last week. Vom Fass (German for "from the cask") is a global franchise some 20 years old of tasting rooms for oils, vinegars, spirits, and liqueurs. They source from small artisanal producers, mostly in Europe, although they also have a manufacturer in Madison, Wisconsin. About six months ago, San Diegans Colleen and Jay Cavalieri opened up a tasting room in the HUB, next to Ralph's. They had discovered Vom Fass earlier when they had taken their son to visit colleges in Claremont, north of San Diego, and at someone's suggestion, stopped into the one there. Clearly, they loved it. Loved it so much, in fact, that they decided to launch a store here, the fourth in California (the other two are in Ventura and San Francisco) and the 25th in the country.

Photo courtesy of Vom Fass Hillcrest

Photo courtesy of Vom Fass Hillcrest

Vom Fass Hillcrest is divided in half. On the right are the spirits, liqueurs, and wines. While pretty much everything else in the shop is sent to them via Vom Fass, the Cavalieris may select the wines, and often their choices are local. The spirits include a variety of Scotch whiskies--from Blair Athol and Cragabus to Irish and American whiskey, along with other spirits like rum, gin, and vodka. There's a broad range of liqueurs. I enjoyed sips of their nut chocolate and lemoncello liqueurs, but you can also find flavors like apricot liqueur with grappa, framboise, sour cherry with vodka, and Irish whiskey liqueur.

To the left is where I spent most of my time. I'm a sucker for great oils and vinegars and the ones Vom Fass has are both lovely and decadent. There are numerous olive oils from different regions in Europe, infused oils, nut and seed oils, and wellness oils. They have wine vinegars, fruit balsamic vinegars, what they call Balsamic Stars (more viscous thanks to the concentrated juices and vinegars), and Aceto Balsamicos.

I sampled any number of them, alone and in combination--in fact, Vom Fass is great about suggesting pairings and recipes. I started with the garlic extra virgin olive oil. It was rich and smooth with a punch of garlic flavor. Paired with the Old Spanish Wine Vinegar, it would be perfect for a salad or on roasted vegetables. The Old Spanish Wine Vinegar, aged about 12 years, may have been my favorite sampling. I love a great aged Sherry vinegar, but this topped it. It's bold and acidic going down; yes, you could just sip it and be happy. Use it for a vinaigrette or marinade--or as a finisher with a dish that would benefit from a strong flavor, like game meat or sautéed greens. Or, hey, vanilla ice cream.

This time of year I love a good pumpkin seed oil. Vom Fass has a marvelous one. I enjoyed its pure nutty flavor. I bought a bottle and drizzled it on a bowl of pumpkin soup. Later I may use it to make croutons. But it would also be wonderful drizzled on a baked potato or grains, or as Vom Fass suggests, mixed with honey and drizzled over pancakes.

I was floored by the pistachio oil. Just the aroma alone made me swoon. This rich oil that is totally pistachio in flavor is perfect over fish or a composed salad. Yes, I bought a small bottle of that, too.

And I bought the Calamansi Balsamic Vinegar. Calamansis, a small Filipino citrus reminiscent of a lime, are a favorite of mine and they're grown locally. So I had to try the vinegar version. It turns out this vinegar is a best seller at the Hillcrest Vom Fass and for good reason. It's got a wonderful bright citrus flavor that beautifully melds sweet and sour. This is your fish vinegar (think ceviche). This is the vinegar that will elevate a fruit salad. Combine it with their sesame oil for an Asian-inspired dish. Or with the Black Cumin Oil for a bit of spicy zing. It's just great.

Those are just several of what I tried. The great thing is you can go in and sample to your  heart's content. And when you're ready to buy from either the right or left side, you purchase the glass bottle in sizes and shapes that range from 100 ml to 500 ml. Use up the oil or vinegar and bring it back for a refill (they can't recycle bottles for the spirits). This to me is a great concept, especially for oils which can deteriorate quickly. Buy what you need and come back for more so it's always fresh. It also means you can experiment with flavors or purchase small amounts for baking or cooking without breaking the bank. The staff will handwrite with a white ink pen on the bottle what you've got and it'll come off when washing.

Vom Fass has business-card size descriptions of every product and recipes on the back. Plus, they also host classes, tastings, and private events.

As I'm looking ahead to Chanukah, which begins on Sunday night, I have someone special in mind who will be getting a collection of oils and vinegars as a gift. Need to send a gift? They have free shipping. And, yes, while it's a wonderful neighborhood shop filled with products that are hard to find elsewhere, if you can't get there, you can shop online. But if you can, go! Taste!

Vom Fass Hillcrest is located in Uptown at 1050 University Ave., Suite # E-103.


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