return to the press main page   "Sexy A to Z" date: September, 2006 by: Tim Allis; Johanna Schneller; Additional Reporting By Polly Blitzer; Rebecca Grice; Meg Hemphill; Susan Kirschbaum; Francine Maroukian; Alysia Poe; Terry Trucco; Gisela Williams (article excerpt) Forget about death by chocolate. For those who desire sweets, sensuous, full-bodied caramel is the way to go. How to tell when you're in its sticky, smoky embrace ... DENIAL. You will never admit to having stolen all of the caramel squares out of your children's Halloween stash while they were sleeping. ANGER. You're stunned to realize that the darkest, most cacao-infused chocolate your big love leaves you feeling a little, well, empty. "How could chocolate abandon me?" you cry. You are assuaged by several high-end sea-salt caramels, preferably Fleur de Sel sweets by Recchiuti (recchiuti.com), popped in quick succession. BARGAINING. You make a deal with yourself: If you skip dessert you can have more of the freebie caramels the waiter brings. At restaurants such as Bouley in New York and the Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, caramels have replaced truffles as the sweet end note. Caramel has also begun insinuating itself into the meal it-self. "It's a culinary au courant," says Katrina Markoff, owner of the chic chocolatier Vosges. "Varying the sweetness of the caramel accentuates its versa-tility; it can be paired with cheese or foie gras." DEPRESSION. You can't believe you've succumbed to a trend; looking around, you see caramel everywhere and not just as coulis flavoring inside fancy chocolates. This holi-day season, look for a preponderance of old-fashioned taffy-style caramel, such as those made by Little Flower Candy (littleflowercandyco.com). ACCEPTANCE. "Caramel is sexy because opposites attract," says Markoff. "The contrasting forces of salt and sugar in caramel complement each other in such a way that you just can't help but crave another bite." Go ahead, surrender. Resistance, as they say, is futile.