Stock Up: Three caramel treats to try

Does caramel beat out vanilla and chocolate as your family favorite?

Sheep’s milk vanilla bean caramel

This caramel from Ana and Greg Kelly of Dayspring Dairy in Gallant, Alabama, is made by simmering fresh milk from a herd of 100 sheep with turbinado sugar and vanilla beans. Ana, who is part Colombian, said she based the recipe on the dulce de leche produced in South America, and the thick creamy sauce does have a rich, milky flavor that will please fans of that treat. We enjoyed it as a dip for crisp apple wedges, as well as the dairy’s shortbread cookies. The Kellys also make the caramel in bourbon and coffee flavors. One taste, and we could understand why Southern Living and Garden & Gun magazines both included it among their favorite Southern foods.

$10 per 5-ounce jar. Available at dayspringdairy.com.

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Credit: Handout

Credit: Handout

Salted caramel sauce

Bridget Meagher has a farm near Charlottesville, Virginia, and a restaurant in Roanoke. She created a line of sauces so her customers could enjoy some of their favorites at home. Her dessert sauces are made in small batches with organic cane sugar, cream, butter and a pinch of sea salt. We loved the salted caramel sauce, thick enough to stand up a spoon. She also has a delicious chocolate caramel sauce.

$12.95 per 9-ounce jar. Available at catbirdco.com.

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Caramel creams and cow tales

Third-generation Baltimore candymaker Melvin Goetze developed his recipe for caramel candies in 1917, and caramels with a cream center the following year. In addition to 1½-inch round individually wrapped caramels, Goetze’s Candy Co. offers cream-filled caramels as mini and 9-inch sticks — called “cow tales” — in strawberry smoothie, apple caramel and brownie caramel flavors. The caramel isn’t overly sweet, so it makes a nice contrast with the cream filling.

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$7.50 per 1-pound tub of caramel creams, $10 per box of 36 9-inch cow tales. Available at Amazon and goetzecandy.com.

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