Caramac is the brand name for a

caramel Caramel ( or ) is a range of food ingredients made by heating sugars to high temperatures. It is used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons or candy bars, as a topping for ice cream and custard, and as a colorant ...

-based confectionery created by

Mackintosh's Mackintosh's ( ) was a British confectionery firm founded in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. It was known for Mackintosh's Toffee, its toffee and the Quality Street (confectionery), Quality Street and Rolo brands. Beginnings The firm was fo ...

, and is manufactured by

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

. It was introduced in the United Kingdom in 1959 and was discontinued in 2023 and brought back for a limited period in July 2024. The name is derived from the

syllabic abbreviation An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening, contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened form of a word, usually ended with a trailing per ...

of ''Caramel'' and ''Mackintosh''. A similar confection is used in the covering of

McVitie's McVitie's () is a British snack food brand owned by United Biscuits. The name is derived from the original Economy of Scotland, Scottish biscuit maker, McVitie & Price, Private company limited by shares, Ltd., established in 1830 on Rose Street ...

Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

biscuit A biscuit is a flour-based baked food item. Biscuits are typically hard, flat, and unleavened. They are usually sweet and may be made with sugar, chocolate, icing, jam, ginger, or cinnamon. They can also be savoury, similar to crackers. ...

bar. A limited edition Caramac

Kit Kat Kit Kat (stylised as KitKat in various countries) is a chocolate-covered wafer bar Confectionery, confection created by Rowntree's of York, England. It is produced globally by Nestlé (which acquired Rowntree's in 1988), except in the United S ...

bar was released in the United Kingdom in 2005 and due to popular demand it was brought back in 2007. In 2015 a buttons version was launched. In November 2023, Nestle announced that they would be withdrawing the Caramac from their range due to low sales. In July 2024 the bar was brought back for a "limited release".

History

The name of the product was determined in a competition. The competition was held in what was the Norwich factory of

, and won by Barbara Herne. The bar was made at the old Norwich factory until its closure in 1996, when production transferred to

Fawdon Fawdon is an electoral ward of Newcastle upon Tyne, in the county of Tyne and Wear, England. It is also close to the A1 western bypass. The population of the ward is 10,890, reducing to 10,090 at the 2011 Census, 5.7% of the total population ...

Tyneside Tyneside is a List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne, England, River Tyne in Northern England. The population of Tyneside as published in the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 774,891 ...

Design

The bar was a light brown colour and was manufactured using sweetened

condensed milk Condensed milk is Milk#Cow, cow's milk from which water has been removed (roughly 60% of it). It is most often found with sugar added, in the form of sweetened condensed milk, to the extent that the terms "condensed milk" and "sweetened condensed m ...

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...

, various

flavouring A flavoring (or flavouring), also known as flavor (or flavour) or flavorant, is a food additive that is used to improve the taste or smell of food. It changes the perceptual impression of food as determined primarily by the chemoreceptors of ...

s, and

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

. It has been compared to blond chocolate (a variant of

white chocolate White chocolate is a chocolate made from cocoa butter, sugar and milk solids. It is Ivory (color), ivory in color and lacks the dark appearance of most other types of chocolate as it does not contain the non-fat components of cocoa (cocoa sol ...

). Caramac uses, however,

palm Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae ** List of Arecaceae genera **Palm oil * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music ...

and

shea butter Shea butter ( , , or ; ) is a fat (triglyceride; mainly oleic acid and stearic acid) extracted from the nut of the African shea tree ('' Vitellaria paradoxa''). It is ivory in color when raw and commonly dyed yellow with borututu root or ...

instead of cocoa butter. It was packaged in a red and yellow wrapper.

References

External links

* Candy bars Rowntree's brands Yorkshire cuisine 1959 establishments in the United Kingdom Products introduced in 1959 Products and services discontinued in 2023 {{Confection-stub