I should admit right off the bat that when it comes to sweets, I’m something of an agnostic. I’d much rather have another appetizer than order dessert, or stop off for a Chicago hot dog on the way to dinner if I’m only in the city for a night.
But there are two ingredients that always get my attention. One of them is caramel.* I like caramel a lot. I’ll eat it in candy, in cake, on top of ice cream—count me as a fan. But I’ve never tasted anything caramel and thought, “well, that’s alright, but what this caramel really needs is salt.”
Have you?
These days you can’t find a specialty ice cream flavor or candy bar with the word “caramel” in its name that doesn’t have added “salt.” Even the Girl Scouts are doing it. They’ve just introduced the “Adventurefuls” cookie, described as an “indulgent brownie-inspired cookie with caramel-flavored crème and a hint of sea salt.”
Instead of Thin Mints—now there’s nothing wrong with mint and chocolate, that makes sense—you can have a cookie that’s “inspired” by brownies (hmmm) with “caramel-flavored” filling, but perhaps not actual brownies, or actual caramel.
What began, I assume, with some hipster bakers in Cambridge, Brooklyn and California experimenting with flavors while the sous vide machine was being repaired has become a salty-sweet monster that’s pushed plain ol’ caramel to the curb.
But maybe it wasn’t an accident, or something that grew out of control on Instagram, like the Kardashians. I think it’s a conspiracy. Or a joke that got out of hand, also like the Kardashians.
A recurring theme in Ted Lasso is Ted’s refusal to believe that the British actually like drinking tea. “Be honest with me, it’s a prank, right?” he says.
The way I see it, some food industry bon vivants thought it might be fun to trick people into embracing a nonsensical trend in food. I wonder where it all started—was it after hours at a James Beard Awards dinner? On an elite food industry chat room? Or maybe it was a bet, like the one that began, “I bet I can hitchhike around Ireland with a fridge.”
Unfortunately, my conspiracy theory may not withstand much scrutiny (but darn it, I’m holding on to it, that’s what conspiracy theories are for). It seems that the origin story of salted caramel begins, as it should, in Brittany, France.
That’s where a chocolatier named Henri Le Roux took over his family’s shop, in a region known for producing some of the world’s finest salted butter. His caramel au beurre salé, made with crushed nuts and Breton demi-sel butter won the “Meiulleur Bonbon de France” award in 1980, and other French chefs soon came up with variations of their own.
The candy industry’s website says that between 2015-2020, there have been 3,118 new salted caramel products put on the market, including WildRoots Salted Caramel Chocolate Banana Trail Mix, My Muscle Chef Salted Caramel & Macadamia Protein Cookie, and Sir Arthur Greeb-Streebling’s Caramel Frog and Peach (I made that last one up, sort of.)
Further research reveals that the salted caramel craze really took off in 2008, when Häagen-Dazs, the company that wears inauthenticity in its name, introduced salted caramel ice cream. Soon after, Starbucks started selling salted caramel hot chocolate, and before long, other brands and restaurant chains copied the trend.
Of course it was Starbucks. It had to be Starbucks. They know all about convincing consumers to eat and drink a flavor that makes little to no sense.
You know what I’m talking about.
Do you really like pumpkin that much? Does it taste that good in your coffee?
Just saying.
Eaters and drinkers of the world unite! Overthrow the overlords!
Reject silly flavors! Think before you say yes to salted caramel!
* Raspberry, since you asked.