By Muriel Nelson
Note: This article is one in a series that features tenants of the Clear Lake Area Community Center.
When you think of Out of the Woods Goods, you’re probably reminded of the caramels, truffles, and other hand-made confectionaries they sell at the Three3Sisters Gift Shop (Clear Lake), the Calico Umbrella (Somerset), and events such as area craft fairs, county fairs and Amery Fall Festival. They make and sell several other tasty items including jams and jellies, mustards with different levels of heat, award-winning pickles, different varieties of apple butter and yes, cookies too.
Out of the Woods Goods is a relatively new tenant to the Clear Lake Area Community Center (CLACC). They moved their business office to Room 305 in February 2022. Co-owners include Misty Wood, Amber Schmit and Kristina Howell.
The business has gained its popularity from their caramels. Some customers say the artisan caramels remind them of what their grandmothers made back in the day. The Out of the Woods Goods website (www.outofthewoodsgoods.com) currently lists five “everyday favorites” including classic caramel, sea salt caramel and honey chocolate. In addition, they’ve perfected about a dozen specialty flavors such as rainbow nougat, cranberry orange, raspberry white chocolate and peppermint mocha, just to point out a few. Not to be forgotten is that these candies are made with milk, butter and/or heavy cream that yield a richness that caters to our tastebuds.
Misty indicated that each flavor has been carefully researched and tested. There is no basic recipe that is modified for each flavor. Instead, each flavor is made from its own recipe that was extensively researched from many sources. Before they bring a new flavor to market, these candy makers ‘prepare, sample and tweak’ the recipe several times until they determine the product is ready for testing by family and friends. Only the flavors that receive the “all thumbs up” are finally added to the growing list of flavors.
The “Caramel Ladies” have many years of experience in making their product. Misty started making the candy some years ago as Christmas gifts. That may be when she learned to ‘avoid crystallization of the caramel by not scraping the sides of the cooking pan’. Eventually, she started selling the caramels with help from friend Amber. Over time Misty convinced her sister Kristina, who was still living in Arizona, to join them in the confectionary business. Kristina moved back to Clear Lake, bringing along her knowledge gained from a culinary degree in Baking and Pastries. During this same time, they named their business “Out of the Woods Goods” and obtained a business license for ‘confectionary desserts’.
Making caramels is quite the production. Once a batch is cooked, it’s poured into a large sheet pan to cool prior to cutting the caramel into 400 pieces. Each piece is then manually wrapped in special paper and that takes another 3 hours. The cut and wrapping work is done in their office space at CLACC that also serves as their operations and sales area.
Kristina mentioned that they hope to expand their online business. When people order on the website, not only is the flavor selection greater but the confections will often be made up fresh for their order. It’s worthwhile checking out their website, www.outofthewoodsgoods.com for more information on their artisan caramels and candies.
Out of the Woods Goods is another example of why CLACC strives to provide space in the community for young and promising businesses. The center wants to provide opportunities for entrepreneurs to develop and grow their business. Learn more at clacc.org.
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