Meet Jerrod Smith, Founder of Shotwell Candy Co.

Shotwell Candy Co. (named after my great-grandfather) was started out of my home’s kitchen in December 2012. I had spent the earlier part of that year researching and developing (what I considered to be) the perfect caramel as a gift for my closest friends and family. After enough people told me they “would buy all I had”, I formed the company (I also had a day-job at the time), created the logo and packaging, launched the website, took my own product photos, and started production. For the next 18 months, I spent every night working in the kitchen after my children went to bed from 8:00 pm to 1:00 or 1:30 am either cooking, cutting, wrapping or packaging caramels. Every day, 7-days per week. It has been amazingly hard work but it has also been some of the most enjoyable of my life. I've recently built-out a larger production facility (since my home was no longer big enough) and our products are now sold in 40+ retail locations across the country (mostly in the South and East) as well as a number of e-commerce websites. While the term “hand-made” may be a bit cliché these days, our caramels (available in six flavors) truly are a hand-made product. From the hand-cut wrappers, to the hand-stamped boxes, to the hand-wrapped pieces, to the hand-tied ribbons; every step in the process is completed by hands that truly care for the end-product.

Ingredients:

pure cane sugar, cream (milk), light corn syrup, butter, dark chocolate (chocolate, sugar, cocoa butter, milk fat, soy lecithin, vanilla), vanilla extract, five-spice powder (cinnamon, star anise, anise seed, ginger, clove) almond extract, salt.