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Thursday, December 13, 2007
Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels
It’s obviously a seasonal item as well, with little string/line drawings of pine trees and the green theme. The package says, “buttery smooth caramels drenched in Belgian chocolate then sprinkled with crunchy rock salt from the Dead Sea.” Wow, Belgium ... the Dead Sea ... and they’re made in Ireland. I feel so worldly.
This is one of those instances where the product looks pretty much like the photo on the package, so no disappointment there. Although out of the box they had a little dusting of microfine salt dust. (A little paintbrush took care of that for the photoshoot.) They smell nice, like chocolate and a little hint of butter. The box has a plastic tray with a dozen little chocolate covered caramels. They fit snugly, so there were no problems with dented or broken pieces, though there were a few salt chunks rattling around. Biting into them they have a light flowing caramel filling. It’s not glossy smooth like advertised though. There’s a very slight grain to it, but it’s completely consistent. (I wonder if this is because the boxes are displayed above the frozen food and the package specifically says “do not refrigerate”.) There’s something a little off about the buttery-ness of them though. It’s too buttery. In fact, it’s butter flavored. Looking at the ingredients I found that way down at the end was something called “natural butter toffee flavoring”. It’s not that there isn’t butter in there. There’s lots of butter fat and milk and sweetened condensed milk. But for some reason they felt the need to give it that extra little push. It’s still all natural, but unnecessary. The crunchy bits of salt were a nice touch, not too much and a good texture complement. Personally, I prefer the thicker, chewier texture of caramel that also has more complex burnt sugar flavors. (Remember the recent poll?) I think I’d like those other Fleur de Sel Caramels covered in chocolate. They were gorgeous. Related Candies
POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:57 am 
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Candy, you know, that stuff made with sugar. These are my candy reviews. Open your mouth, expand your mind.
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VOTE IN OUR POLLDo you stock up on candy?
Total Votes: 158
Yes, when it's on sale. 
18% (29)Yes, it's a regular item on my shopping list, no matter what the price.
15% (23)Kind of, I keep regular items on hand and supplement when I need a different fix.
23% (36)No, just single servings as my cravings dictate.
39% (61)I don't buy candy, I just mooch off of others.
6% (9)voting ends 05/08/2008
 
All content (text and photos unless otherwise credited) is copyright 2005-2008 by Cybele May
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Ah—I have a box of these waiting to be tried. Sorry to hear that they weren’t as good as they could have been. The Vosges Exotic Caramels that I just tried were incredible (and chewy) so I’m afraid that these really won’t live up.
Those sound so good in principle. I may try them in spite of the imperfect review. Maybe I’ll like them better.
I bought these off of Nicole’s very positive review and I enjoyed them quite a bit as long as I paired each bite of the caramel with a bite of the salt rolling around the trays. Anyway, I would buy them again....
Ooh, I LOVE these things! I also love the fleur de sel ones, and was hoping that the insides of these would be chewy like those, but still, I find them terribly good.
I’ve now been to 5 different Trader Joe’s (in two states) and have not yet found the sea salt caramels of yesteryear. Sigh.
Of course, I went to Trader Joe’s last night and there were 80 boxes of the non-chocolate salted caramels. I got one. They are fabulous. In fact, I’m thinking about buying a bunch of them, chopping them in half, then drizzling them with dark chocolate and passing them off as my own homemade candies.
i like them a lot
Sorry, Reviewer person, I adore dark chocolate, and these really good chocolate, buttery caramel and gooey- but not too, and not chewy for caramels, with the perfect sprinkle of sea salt, were out of this world Fantastic!!! In fact we are now looking for more and will buy as many as we can to get through to next holiday season. This was the surprise of the year for me...they are unbelievably yummy!!!
I love these and wonder if anyone knows their origin in Ireland or where we can buy them now.
Ruth - I have a sneaking suspicion that these are made by Lily O’Brien, but I can’t seem to find this exact product on their website. (But Lily O’Brien does make a “truffle cup” that’s a dead ring for some other TJ sweets sold over the holidays.
Cybele,
yes, I saw the truffle cups.
The sea salt caramels are closer to Fran’s (Seattle) and way less expensive....
If I had only known...I would have bought many more packages before Christmas!
I think Fran’s is above and beyond TJ’s. The ingredients in Fran’s are the real deal: you won’t see things such as “natural butter flavoring” in her products. The fact that TJ’s uses milk instead of cream is also going to make the caramels softer and less rich - I guess they use more butter to compensate? In regards to the chewiness, I prefer a compromise of slightly chewy, yet soft enough to melt in your mouth. Mmmmm.
I agree that Fran’s are better.......they are also more than twice as expensive...........$11+ for 7 fairly small pieces.....
I’m the kind of person that when I eat caramel, I want if to be worth it, so why eat anything that I don’t really love? In terms of gifts, there are probably better, local options in the same price range. Have a caramel tasting party in your area, and see what you can find!
I’m trying to make my own.....
Otherwise, I’ll wait until Christmas for TJ’s...and hope someone will gift me with Fran’s.......
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