Everything it’s cracked up to be

Countless candy lovers have reaped the rewards of Sue Charney’s insistence on getting her sweets just right.

The Fluvanna County confectioner uses the finest

  ingredients in her Red Rocker Candy and refuses to add chemicals to her candies that will increase shelf life. She also proudly stamps a best-if-used-by date on each package.

“I think there are two things that make my candy stand out,” Charney said recently after cooking up a fresh batch of dark chocolate mixed with almonds and blueberries. “One, we use only butter and a lot of it.

“That makes it more expensive, but that’s also what makes it so good. The other thing is that we don’t extend the shelf life of our candies in any way. Our candy is only good in the bag for three months from the time I make it.

“From a food standpoint, that’s really low. Stores generally want a year, but we absolutely refuse to extend the shelf life, because if we did it wouldn’t be as good.”

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, even people without a sweet tooth are thinking chocolate. According to the Nielsen Company, more than $345 million will be spent on chocolate this year during Valentine week by U.S. consumers.

Charney uses dark, white and milk chocolates as the bases for her toffees and barks. Brittles are a mainstay as well, and in addition to the traditional peanut brittle,

she creates cashew, pecan and pistachio varieties.

Cranberries and blueberries also are among the natural ingredients that go into an assortment of goodies produced by the small company. Charney and four employees make the candy fresh every workday in her shop in Troy.

The 49-year-old candy maker started producing the treats as a commercial venture eight years ago in the basement of her Lake Monticello home. Her no- frills operation consisted of a stove, two 18-quart sauce pots, a stirring paddle, a stainless steel table and a lifetime of experience.

“I started making fudge for fun when I was a kid,” Charney said. “Then one day I found a recipe for toffee and I gave it a try.

“It turned out really good, and I thought I could probably make it better if I did this and that. I kept experimenting until I got it just right.

“The trick is knowing the temperature to cook it to, and also the right amount of butter and sugar. If you can nail that down, then you’ve got a good thing. I’ve nailed it down.”

Charney said she had long dreamed of owning her own business, but didn’t know what to launch. Losing her job as a computer programmer, followed by the horror of 9-11, motivated her to try to make a living doing something she had once done simply for fun.

“When 9-11 happened it made me realize that none of us knows how long we’re going to live,” Charney said. “Everything became very focused for me from that day forward.

“I told myself if I was going to go into business I needed to do it. For whatever reason, I was really good at making sweets, and people were always telling me how good my candy was.

“So I went for it, and I haven’t looked back.”

Charney’s marketing plan was simple — she’d let the candy sell itself. She made up samples and started visiting gift and gourmet shops.

“One of the first places I went was Michie Tavern, and I was nervous as all get out,” Charney said with a laugh. “I went in and said, ‘Here’s some samples. Would you like to buy some?’

“Every single person who sampled it said, ‘Yes.’ Almost everybody gave me an opening order, but I learned the trick was getting them to re-order.

“And that really comes down to persistence. Now we’re doing great, and we have our first little factory store, which we opened last September.”

Foods of All Nations in Charlottesville was one of the first places to carry Red Rocker Candy. Jenny Herring, the store’s stock supervisor, said the hardest thing about the hard candy is to stop eating it once one starts.

“It’s absolutely delicious,” Herring said of Charney’s candy. “I’ll bring some home for my husband, and after he eats it he’ll ask me if I have more.

“I have to tell him he doesn’t need any more right now. It’s great quality and the chocolates are wonderful. And she’s doing something new all the time.

“They’re making these little chocolates that look like dogwood flowers, and we do great with those. We have customers come in just to buy the candy.”

Charney opened her shop near Zion Crossroads because the business had outgrown the basement. The product line also has grown, tempting people with interesting combinations of blueberries, cranberries, pistachios, pecans and cashews smothered in white, dark and milk chocolates.

One of Charney’s challenges has been convincing potential customers that her brittles are not the rock-hard variety most people think of.

It usually only takes one or two bites to be won over.

“You know what? Regular peanut brittle usually doesn’t have any butter in it,” Charney said. “And if it does, it’s probably a little bit of margarine.

“And it messes with your teeth. Mine doesn’t do that. Because of the amount of butter we use, it’s soft, not chewy, but soft. I go to a lot of wine shows, because butter and chocolate go great with red wine.

“People will often tell me they can’t eat brittle, because they have crowns or whatever. I say, ‘No, no, try this, it’s different.’ And nine out of ten people will see it’s true and will end up buying some.”

A nine-ounce bag of Red Rocker Candy costs around $9. It can be purchased locally at Giant Food Pantops, Foods of All Nations, Rebecca’s Natural Food and the Virginia Shop in Barracks Road Shopping Center. Candy also can be purchased online at http://www.redrocker

candy.com, and at the factory in Troy.

Charney said the secret to her candy is that it’s simple, honest and good. And the only thing that has changed since she started is the candy is now made in a cooking machine.

“I really needed a cooking machine that would turn itself, because I blew my shoulder out from stirring for so many years,” said Charney, whose brightly packaged candies can be found in stores from Wintergreen to Baltimore.

“I’m glad I didn’t know how hard this would be when I decided to go into business for myself. If I had, I wouldn’t have done it.

“With that said, I never thought I would be this fulfilled either. And I still love making really, really good candy.”

For more information on Red Rocker Candy and directions to its shop, visit Web site http://www.redrockercandy.com.