Touring Susie's South Forty in Midland

When my husband and I first moved here, we talked about visiting a place called Susie's South Forty. We were given a gift basket from our realtor to welcome us into our new home. And her goodies were included in it. Susie's is situated right next door to the Downtown Library, so we saw it often. But actually going in was difficult with my husbands schedule. So when another homeschool family requested a tour, we gladly jumped in with them! 

Susie's is a confectionery of unique proportions. She, Susie, is still in the lead. There are two locations here. She began this business with the help of a 40 acre pecan tree farm making toffee candies with the pecans on the south side of town. Thus the name including Susie, South, and Forty. But she didn't stop, didn't slow down. Kept pushing forward. And from her labors, she has born quite the impressive business. She even made her factory kid-friendly with glass plate windows that allow you to see the process and drool over the fresh made candies. 

We watched them make a fresh batch of their popular caramel popcorn, hand-dipped chocolate covered sea salted caramels, coating of Winners by the chocolate conveyor, and finally - my previous favorite - how they make the Texas Trash! I say this last one was my favorite until I bought and tried the Kicker Pralines. Interestingly, Susie used to be a dance teacher (thus the classic cowboy boot shape for the box). This is how the name Kicker came into play. They are amazing! Creamy caramels with pecans inside. Mmmmm! Making my mouth water all over again. We tried the Raspberry Bark. It was so creamy and flavorful. I'm usually not a fan of raspberry, but I really liked it. I think I'd love to try the Key Lime Pretzels next time.

Once the tour finished, each kid was given their very own workers cap to wear. Then they were allowed to dip their own cookies in the chocolate fountain. Some of the youngest kids wistfully wished to dip their whole hands, but we insisted that would NOT be allowed. Secretly, these girls take after my own heart. Belgium chocolate is amazing, with or without being a coating. 

Lastly, you step out into a magnificent shop. Here, you can find all kinds of gift-worthy options. Not sure if something is delicious enough? They offer samples to try as well as descriptions of what was included in the making. My kids loved this part! 

I didn't have much money on me when we went, but I was able to buy 6 taffy candies of various flavors. They had so many flavors that it was difficult to choose one for each of us. For the 6, it came to be .70. Then I bought a Kicker Praline for $2 and a Dreamy Praline for $2.50. As far as the pralines go, the adult consensus was that the Kicker was better. Not that the Dreamy wasn't good, just that original was better. 

I hope to go back one day soon. This time I want my husband to join us. Partly because he has the money... Just kidding! I think he would enjoy it! They have a beautiful reception room with tables and chairs. Here is also where you can see the Guinness World Record winning toffee mold they used to make the world's largest toffee. They have maps showing their ability to have shipped orders to all 50 states and 35 different countries! I was impressed to see that they also offer delivery to locals in Midland, as well as Odessa.

So if you stop by Midland, make sure that Susie's is on your list of places to see.