Wildwood aims to create ‘not your grandma's caramels’
The candymaker also sells chocolate bars, brittles, and more.
Wildwood, a Northeast-based haute-chocolatier, is the creator of a raspberry caramel that was just awarded Good Food Awards Finalist. The company also makes chocolate products.
Each Wildwood caramel is infused with ingredients that read like a forager’s dream, the brand says: rosemary, cardamom honey, fennel pollen, chai, and maple smoked chili. The result is reportedly delicate, surprising, and deeply comforting, the kind of sweetness that makes silence stretch around a table after a meal, the brand adds.
We touched base with Rebecca Adams Savage, co-president, Wildwood to learn more about the company and its methods of caramel-making.
Liz Parker Kuhn: Can you please talk a bit about how Wildwood was founded? What kind of products/flavors did it make initially?
Rebecca Adams Savage: Wildwood was founded in 2018 when Steven Lawrence and I joined forces to introduce the highest quality confections to market, drawing upon the lush beauty found in the forests surrounding Portland, Oregon as inspiration for their intriguing flavor pairings and brand aesthetic. In the early days Wildwood focused production on 10 of the chocolate bars with all the familiar flavors customers know and love today. Soon after, the eleventh bar, Yuzu and Roasted Brown Rice, was born to highlight ingredients and flavors from Japan, where one of Portland's sister cities is located. Our individually wrapped caramel pieces were introduced in 2022 and have quickly solidified themselves as fan favorites.
LPK: What products do you make now, and what flavors?
RAS: Our offerings include artisanal caramels, gourmet drinking chocolate, salted brown butter texas pecan brittle, and artful chocolate bars that embody the beauty of nature. We combine our dark chocolate with the finest ingredients, like freeze-dried berries, yuzu, or Marcona almonds, or sandwiching sheets of our decadent caramel, for a unique and unforgettable flavor experience.
We offer our caramels in gable boxes of 18 pieces or smaller artisanal boxes that contain five pieces each.
LPK: How did you choose some of your more unique flavors, such as Chai, Matcha, Cardamom, and Rosemary?
RAS: We approach caramel and chocolate like an art form, translating the feeling of the Pacific Northwest into confections that feel both grounded in nature and elevated in experience. Though we are continually inspired by the lush forests that surround us, our offerings have become a passport to global flavor exploration, highlighting how spices travel across continents, adapt to new cultures, and inspire traditions, all while maintaining classic caramel cravings.
LPK: Can you talk a bit about the art of caramel texture?
RAS: Wildwood is quietly ushering in a caramel renaissance. Our confections are not your grandma’s caramels. The secret is in the textural balance, not too soft or too hard, our caramels have satisfying chew and melt in your mouth. We accomplish this by perfecting the temperature and time we cook our caramel, taking into consideration environmental humidity.
LPK: How do you recommend growing with craft, rather than scaling with hypes and trends?
RAS: Growing with the intention of crafting products instead of responding to hypes and trends comes down to intention and fealty to the inspiration behind the Wildwood brand. Our philosophy is rooted in the ethos of creating artisanal products that taste delicious and look beautiful because they contain the finest quality ingredients and are handmade in small batches. We are more interested in developing legacy items that ring true to what inspires us—the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest—than responding to global trends, such as the Dubai chocolate bar. We recommend making product decisions cautiously and not on impulse.
LPK: What's next for the brand this year?
RAS: We are delighted to release a line of small chocolate bars featuring brand new illustrations that expand upon the world of Wildwood.
LPK: Where do you see the brand in five years?
RAS: Wildwood will continue to push caramel into a more botanical, modern, and sensory direction while keeping chocolate rooted in elegant simplicity.
LPK: What's your favorite Wildwood confection to enjoy?
RAS: While we are partial to all of our products, our current obsession is the Chocolate Raspberry caramel which has been named a Good Food Award Finalist for 2026. Chocolate Raspberry is everything we love about caramel. The flavor is indulgent yet composed, luxurious without excess. It’s rich, silky, and comforting, with that unexpected burst of fruit that makes the experience feel alive. When a piece like this resonates beyond our own kitchen, it tells us that people are hungry for flavor that feels considered, not rushed.
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