Treat yourself to some Shhugar

Andrea Roberts
Times Contributor

 

When Sarah Foy was diagnosed with Lupus and Crohn’s Disease in Grade 11, she had no idea that her search for new chemical-free recipes would cause her to stumble upon a 150-year-old candy recipe that is now the fundamental piece of her recently launched candy business Shhugar.
The new Strathmore-based venture is the only hard candy business in town. Shhugar has been a hit since it made its debut one month ago at the Strathmore’s Farmers Market, and even resulted in the 21-year-old being commissioned to make favours for a wedding and candies for a birthday party.
“I have been doing the farmer’s markets very week and I just sold out of nearly everything this last Friday,” said Sarah Foy, the business owner and candy maker. “I didn’t think there would be this much interest in it, but there has been.”
The idea for the candy came about a year ago when Foy was looking online for free recipes. She makes her own food, as the chemicals in processed food are triggers for her illnesses. During her search she stumbled upon a Victorian cookbook that featured a 150-year-old hard candy recipe. She decided to give it a go and had so much fun during the past year tweaking the recipes with a plethora of different flavours that she quickly found her home packed with the candy.
When people started saying that they would pay for the candy, Foy began to do some research into what she would need to start up her own candy company.
“It took about three months to get that right and then I thought why not give the farmers market a shot and get rid of the stockpile that I had amassed.”
The candy is handmade by Foy and is packaged by her mother Helen. Foy has an old, custom-made candy hook that she uses to pull the candy. The only machinery she uses is a table that keeps the candy hot, and she makes about four batches a day.
Originally Foy planned on going between different farmer’s markets selling the candies, but the business has done so well that she thinks she would like to open her own store one day.
“I would have it so that people can see me making the candy,” she said. “They would be able to pick their own flavours and I would make it right there for them. I think that would be a good goal.”