Salted Butter Caramels

Caramels au beurre salé, the soft classic from Brittany

La Maison d'Armorine's Caramels au beurre salé are soft caramel candies from Quiberon in Brittany, stirred from salted butter, sugar, and Fleur de Sel de Guérande. Soft and melting rather than hard and sticky – the Breton original that the confectionery calls Salidou.

Caramels au beurre salé by La Maison d'Armorine are soft, sweet-and-salty caramel candies from Brittany, loosely packed in a 150-gram bag. Since 1946, they have been made by hand in copper kettles in Quiberon, where salted butter meets slowly cooked sugar to create a candy that melts on the tongue instead of sticking to your teeth. The Bretons call it Salidou, the salty-sweet butter caramel.

Soft, buttery, with a salty edge

A Caramel au beurre salé melts slowly and creamily, while the Fleur de Sel de Guérande provides a delicate salty counterpoint to the sweetness, keeping the flavor vibrant.

First you taste the milk and the browned butter, then the deep, almost malty caramel, and finally the salt that ties it all together. This kind of candy takes its time: it doesn't stick, it doesn't pull, it dissolves at its own pace. A little detour to the rugged Atlantic coast, right in the middle of the afternoon, without needing any luggage. No artificial flavors stand in the way; butter, milk, and salt set the tone.

For coffee, for baking, for gifting

Eaten plain with an espresso, Caramels au beurre salé show their full power as the roasted notes and the salt shake hands. But they are good for much more than just snacking.

Chopped up, they melt over vanilla ice cream, in porridge, or in a caramel sauce; one or two candies in hot milk make a quick salted caramel drink for cold evenings. If you prefer your caramel as a spread, you can find it as Crème de Salidou to spoon out, and if you are looking for a small gift, opt for the lovely caramel wooden box.

One of the last gourmet paradises of Brittany

La Maison d'Armorine in Quiberon is one of the last family-run confectioneries on the Breton coast. In 1946, Raymond and Yvonne Audebert began cooking caramel with salted butter here, alongside their Niniche lollipops. When the cream was put into jars in 1980, it was given the name Salidou, which remains the brand's name today. The base for all the house's treats is still made in copper kettles today, exactly as the two founders did.

In 1969, their son Jacques took over the business, and today it is run by his grandson, Alain Audebert – three generations, one recipe. It is cooked in 120-kilo batches, in copper kettles, stirred by hand. That is how it has been done here since the grandmothers' time, says Alain Audebert, and both Niniche and Caramels au beurre salé have long been part of Brittany's culinary heritage.

The entire range is created in small batches, from Salidou to Niniche lollipops, which now come in around 50 varieties. You can find more of them among the specialties from La Maison d'Armorine.

They become more outgoing in the warmth

With coffee, tea, or just in between – a Caramel au beurre salé needs no special occasion. Stored in a cool, dry place, the candies remain soft for a long time; in a warm place, they quickly become "outgoing" and stick to each other. And for those who want to give them as a gift, wrap a handful in parchment paper; a Breton original like this needs no more packaging than that. It is best to keep opened bags well sealed, so that each candy stays separate.