Signature Confections: Romolo Caramel
| January/February 2002
“I remember being 17 or 18 years old and my grandfather telling me the basis for his caramel came from what he had learned in Chicago at Tootsie Roll,” says Tony, Romolo Chocolates owner and master chocolatier. “In fact, I’ve thought we should call this signature confection series ‘Suitcase Romolo’ because Romolo picked up recipes from everywhere as he worked and traveled.” Today, at Romolo Chocolates in Erie, Tony and his sons Anthony and Roman cook caramel by “feel.” The texture of the base mixture of caramelized sugar and cream varies from batch to batch. They add whole, condensed milk and cook the mixture slowly over a low flame for up to two hours until it reaches a soft ball stage and “feels” ready to the cook. The large kettle of hot caramel is then poured onto a special stainless steel table where it cools. Roman cuts the golden brown caramel into slabs that are run through a cutting machine. The small square caramels are then ready for enrobing in chocolate to ultimately appear in Romolo Chocolates Ultimate Assortment and Decadent Caramel Nougat and Nuts assortment. “I think our caramels are rich tasting with a soft and chewy texture,” Tony says. “We make an ungrained caramel as compared to Kraft’s, which is cake-like.” If you haven’t tried Romolo Chocolates artisan caramels, you are missing a rich caramel taste and creamy mouth sensation. Promise yourself to try one next time you are at Romolos—you may just add another favorite to your list. And then there were frogs… The caramel Romolo chocolatiers cook for use in frogs—a nut, caramel and chocolate patty confection—is different from their traditional caramel. Corn syrup is added to the caramel mixture and it is cooked quickly (only half an hour) to keep it viscous. This special caramel is not designed to stand by itself like the traditional caramel, but to be poured onto pecans or cashews as the middle layer of the frog confections. As frog lovers know, the caramel is one third of a great tasting trio! |
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