THETFORD, Vt. -
No matter how you say it -- caramel or carmel -- the soft gooey candy can be hard to beat.
In this unassuming house in Thetford, the owners are mixing up something sweet.
"Carmels are my passion. love carmel -- anything carmel," said Elaine McCabe, who started Red Kite Candy in 2009.
She makes a variety of caramels, toffees and nougats with her husband Mike. But Elaine wasn't always up for the idea of turning candy making into a business.
"I've been making caramels for about 30 years -- toffee for 20 and everybody always been encouraging me to sell the candy. I was like yeah, yeah..."
But during the fight of her life, she changed her mind. "In 2007 I was undergoing cancer treatment -- I'm a breast cancer survivor. I was getting my daily treatment and I had this epiphany," McCabe said.
She knew she had nothing to lose and turned her passion into a business -- one that's doubled its orders in the past year. The caramels are soft and gooey, the way they should be. The milk, cream and sugar is cooked down for hours and made with almost all local fresh ingredients.
Reporter Gina Bullard: Is it carmel or caramel?
Elaine McCabe: It depends what part of the country you're from. I'm from the mid- west so I say carmel.
And if you're wondering about the name -- Red Kite Candy holds several meanings. Mike came up with it, not knowing it was his wife's favorite childhood memory with her deceased brother. "We'd wait all winter long for that first blustery day to fly a kite," McCabe said.
Now Elaine is on a different kind of kite ride. "It's because of the cancer. I have to get that kite up in the sky now myself and see where it takes me," she said.
A sweet concoction that has Red Kite Candy soaring to new heights.
