The evolution of JT’s Confections:

1974 was a great year, I got my first taste of heaven, Mrs. Cook’s caramels. Who is Mrs. Cook you ask…my best friend, Andy’s, mother. I was in fourth grade at Caroline Elementary School in Ithaca, NY and Andy brought in a bag of homemade caramels. It was the highlight of fourth grade, some will argue it was the highlight of my academic career. (I’ll think passing chemistry my senior year was the academic career highlight).

Fast forward 25 years…I decided I needed Mrs. Cook’s caramels, so I went into the kitchen and started experimenting with recipes.  After several attempts and more than a few ruined pots, I came up with an amazing caramel recipe that tasted liked my memory of Mrs. Cook’s caramels.

For the next 10 years, I made these caramels in small, 2.5-pound batches for gifts and special occasions.  Although they were labor intensive, and I would always burn myself, the caramels were always worth the effort.

In the fall of 2008, after an insane 23 year run on Wall Street, I announced my retirement. For the next 2½ years I slept, got myself healthy, and reintroduced myself to my family.  Apparently, my memory of this period is different from my wife’s as evidenced by her leaving roller skates at the top of the stairs and resting plugged in toasters on the edge of the tub. In 2011, as an act of self-preservation, I decided to get out of the house and start JT’s Confections.

In 2011, as an act of self-preservation, I decided to get out of the house and start JT’s Confections.

Although JT’s Confections was originally intended to get me out of the house, it quickly took on a life of its own. In 2014, when we starting to make a profit, my wife suggested we do something good with this craziness, so we started to donate to charities. In 2016, we decided to donate all profits to charity.