Bark is as good as its bites
Published: May 13, 2008
Updated: May 15, 2008
Sue Charney and Kelly Michelsen decided to market their culinary skills about six years ago and, frankly, they have a pretty sweet deal.
Even Rachael Ray thinks so.
The effervescent talk show host and her staff selected Red Rocker Candy’s peanut brittle as the “snack of the day” for the Emmy-winning syndicated talk show. The episode featuring the handiwork of Charney and Michelsen is scheduled to air 9 a.m. Thursday on WCAV.
“It is pretty exciting,” Charney said. “They contacted us.
“The wouldn’t tell us how they found out about us or who told them. They sent us a message last week and said, ‘Send us all of your stuff today.’ We dropped everything and sent it out. That didn’t guarantee that we would get on, but they put us on the show.”
It has been a busy week for the young Palmyra-based company. Red Rocker Candy LLC is introducing a new product today at Great Taste 2008, the Virginia Food and Beverage Expo in Richmond. Charney’s hand-molded Dogwood Flowers will be among 50 new products on display at the Greater Richmond Convention Center from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“We chose the Dogwood Flower because of its beauty and it being the state flower of Virginia,” Charney said. “Virginia is very special to us; we moved to Virginia six years ago … and we are never leaving.”
Packed in pink and white dogwood wrapping, the new one-ounce hand-molded chocolates are about three inches wide from petal to petal.
“These lovely dogwoods open up several significant
new markets for us,” Michelsen said. “We look forward to becoming more involved with Virginia’s historical site stores.”
Michelsen and Charney moved to Fluvanna from Southern California six years ago and began their dream of owning their own business. Tapping into Charney’s talents, they decided to market their tasty hand-made creations made of chocolate, nuts and pure butter.
Not counting the new dogwood-shaped candy, their current line includes two toffees and four brittles — Cashew Toffee with White Chocolate, Almond Toffee with Dark Chocolate, Cashew Brittle, Pistachio Brittle, Pecan Brittle and Rachael Ray’s favorite, Peanut Brittle.
Charney also offers up a few seasonal confections, including chocolate covered fudge. If you check out the Web site, you also might find a couple of “barks” — an almond-blueberry mix or a pistachio-cranberry choice. Both come folded in smooth dark chocolate.
If you would like to sample some of Red Rocker Candy’s wares, stop by Ash Lawn-Highland’s WineFest this weekend. The 14th annual event will run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
“We do a lot of festivals,” Charney said, “but Ash Lawn is my favorite.”
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