If you think pralines, divinity and peanut brittle from Punta Clara Kitchen taste like candy your grandmother would make, you’re right.
Way back in 1952, Dorothy Pacey started a business handcrafting specialty candies in her backyard just a block or two east of Mobile Bay in historic Point Clear. Today her granddaughter helps run the kitchen that takes the definition of Sweet Home Alabama to a whole new level. And to this day, Punta Clara Kitchen hasn’t change Grandmother Dorothy’s recipe one bit.
“Our signature is pralines. That’s what grandma started with, the exact same recipe. She didn’t have a lemonade stand when she was six years old, she had a praline table out by the road,” her granddaughter Kim Clay told a television reporter not long ago.
“A lot of people come in and say, ‘My grandmother used to make it. We’ve tried to make it, and it never sets up.’ And then they taste it, and they say, ’Oh, it’s what I remember.’ It’s quite a nostalgic candy, an old fashioned candy.”
And since old fashioned nostalgia seems to be part and parcel of Christmas, right now would be a perfect time to indulge.
Around this time of year, another one of the big sellers is divinity, a traditional Southern Christmas candy. Each piece is creamy smooth, snowy white and topped with a pecan. Peanut brittle is also in demand. The list includes fudges: chocolate, caramel, and vanilla pecan. Chocolate covered pecans and cheese straws.
While they haven’t tinkered with the pralines, family members have come up with new specialty candies, and they’ve expanded into offering jellies, preserves, pickles and relishes. Watermelon rind pickles, red raspberry Jam, fig preserves and pepper jelly are made with top ingredients.
All Punta Clara Kitchen products are made from scratch in small batches to ensure homemade flavor and quality.
Punta Clara Kitchen specializes in Christmas gift giving with platters and mixed assortments, custom orders and gift baskets. If you’re down around the Bay, you can drop in at the 1897 Victorian house for free samples and watch second, third and fourth generation members of the family make your candy. Especially during the Christmas rush, everybody pitches in to greet customers and fulfill the high demands of mail order and retail sales.
If you can’t make it down to Baldwin County, you can go here to see the menu and send an email order. You can also call 800-437-7868.
