Confectionery shops and ice cream parlors of the Midwest are no longer the only places where the turtle is king. Originally created by See’s Candy of San Francisco and for a long time a passion mostly in the heartland, the turtle now is everywhere people have a sweet tooth. Its defining elements of chocolate, caramel, and toasted pecans are combined not only as a candy, but as cheese-cake, layer cake, ice cream, and pie. The name Turtles is a trademark, owned by DeMet’s Candy Company, but that hasn’t stopped confectioners coast to coast from creating their own species, some of which do resemble an actual turtle, albeit one hiding from the world with its head and flippers drawn in underneath its shell (which can be either milk or dark chocolate or, in gourmet candy stores, white chocolate).
No single element of the turtle is essential for a candy to claim terrapin identity. Pecans may be replaced by cashews (which, when sticking out from the chocolate, are actually more flipperlike), macadamias, or almonds. Boston’s Upstairs on the Square uses brown sugar praline instead of caramel, resulting in a turtle that is shockingly sweet. Turtle Alley of Gloucester, Massachusetts, infuses turtles with chipotle peppers and does a dazzling riff on the subject by including dried sour cherries and apricots. We even have seen naked turtles, which are globs of caramel and nuts with no chocolate shell.
A perfect turtle sundae, complete with crisp, salty, toasted nuts, as served at Condrell’s in Buffalo, New York.