Boston - February 14, 2007

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

Ye Olde Pepper Companie

Woe to New England’s tourist traps: overloaded with Ye Olde Crappe. Why is it the less genuinely historic something is, the more “e”s get tacked onto to its name?

But what about when the history is real? And, in the case of Ye Olde Pepper Companie, very sweet to boot?

The tiny, family-run business has been quietly handmaking incredible candies since the 1800s, using original recipes for the phenomenal cream-and-butter fudges they cook up in big copper kettles.

Operating since its start in Salem (a tourist magnet to end them all), these guys create crispy buttercrunch nobs hand dipped in ultra-smooth milk chocolate. The lemon and mint gibralters, as well as the caramel turtles, are the stuff of all-out addictions.

Meanwhile, blackjack sticks are made of pure, old-fashioned, blackstrap molasses. The result? A candy full of flavor that’s astoundingly rich and authentic.

Which can also be said for their history.

Available online at yeoldepeppercandy.com.