Candy is a year-round delight, but what season gives a better excuse to indulge than fall? This Halloween, we’ve decided to showcase a few talented candy makers who produce fun and delicious candy right in our own backyard. When catering for a spooky-season party or preparing rewards for trick-or-treaters, consider supporting a local business and giving these truly awesome treats a try!
Süss Candy
Bellingham’s Süss Candy is the brainchild of Julia Leaman, a mom who channels her creativity into colorful and ingredient-conscious candy-making. In 2023, Leaman discovered that her homemade taffy with natural ingredients was both more satisfying and more cost-efficient than her kids’ favorite store-bought candy. Eventually, making sweet creations inspired her to start her own candy business. Süss, pronounced “soos,” means “sweet” in German, honoring Leaman’s childhood in Austria. Her upbringing influences her candy in more ways than one; her methods are guided both by a desire to recreate flavors from her youth and by a respect for the EU’s rules against chemical food additives.
“I started this business because I wanted better candy for my own kids,” says Leaman. “That standard hasn’t changed at all. I make it for my children, and they love it, and then I share it with the world.”
Over the past three years, Leaman has continued to hone her candy craft, and now produces five different categories of sweets: fruit chews, lollipops, freeze-dried candies, hard candies, and salted caramels. Leaman prepares each batch by hand, and almost always by herself; a helper is rarely necessary. The sweets are colored using only the natural food dyes turmeric, spirulina, purple carrot, and red radish, and Süss Candy offers a rainbow of flavors to choose from. Just browsing their website, you’ll find classics like cherry and blue raspberry, along with unique flavors like pineapple habanero and blueberry lemon lavender. Süss Candy has also used ingredients from local businesses in collab flavors, like Marie’s Bees honey, Funky’s Hot Sauce, and Makeworth Coffee.
Leaman is constantly experimenting with flavor, and is currently focused on making the ideal sour candy formula. “I’ve been blending different acids to find the perfect pucker,” she says. “It’s nerdy candy science, but the results are so fun.” (Bellingham, susscandy.com)
BeachCastle Sweets
Located on Fidalgo Island near Anacortes, BeachCastle Sweets is a specialty candy business where all batches are made-to-order or prepared to be sold at market. The powerhouse chef responsible is Shannon Charnley, who produces BeachCastle’s entire sweet selection by hand. Though Charnley makes everything from caramel apples to rice krispie treats, the stars of the menu are her chocolate confections. Her process is guided by the teachings of traditional chocolatiering, with a tempering machine as her only kitchen appliance. Charnley’s recipe includes high-quality Californian Guittard chocolate, dairy from Lynden cows, and San Juan sea salt, trying to keep ingredients as local as possible. She uses her chocolate to form truffles, coat Oreos, and compose decadent chocolate bars. As for fillings, BeachCastle offers confections made with caramel, nuts, and local fruit, to name a few.
“It’s really good, very wholesome ingredients, as wholesome as I can make them,” Charnley says. “I think that makes a difference.”
When she bought BeachCastle Sweets in 2018, Charnley quickly found herself reimagining the business from the ground up. Her past experience working in a chocolate shop, along with her skills as a horticulturist, paralegal, and English major became very useful in the new venture. Fast forward to today, and BeachCastle has found its niche as a deluxe chocolate purveyor at farmers’ markets and special events all around the Sound. The business welcomes special orders, but no delivery; for pick-up, the options are to pick a prearranged location or coordinate for a market day.
“It’s not like ordering off Amazon,” Charnley says. “It’s an email, and then we set up a time, we agree on milk, dark, white, whatever it is.” This individualized treatment helps keep BeachCastle’s chocolate in good shape; each batch is vulnerable to direct sunlight, heat, and humidity. For chocolate this special, the care is well-deserved. (Anacortes, beachcastlesweets.com)
Chocolate Necessities
Downtown favorite Chocolate Necessities is known for its delicious truffles, but what it perhaps does best is chocolate goodies in whimsical shapes. Surprise loved ones with edible dragons, frogs, even motorcycles! (1408 Commercial St., Bellingham, 360.733.6666, chocolatenecessities.com)
JAK’D Candy
Based in Bellingham, up-and-coming business JAK’D Candy is your one-stop shop for all things freeze-dried! Sweet, sour, and spicy, these colorful and puffy treats are packing explosive flavors. (Bellingham, jakdfreezedriedcandy.com)
Sweet Art
Full of heart and assembled the old-fashioned way, the chocolatey creations at Sweet Art are always worth the visit. Whimsical flavors, creative shapes, a 28-year tradition, what’s not to love? (1335 Railroad Ave., Bellingham)
Photograph courtesy of Süss Candy and BeachCastle Sweets; additional photographs by Sophia Jellinghaus
