Turtles
What Is It?
Pecan halves arranged in a cluster like a turtle's legs, bound together with soft caramel and enrobed in milk chocolate — a shape that inspired the candy's name.
History
The origin of Turtles is one of the most charming stories in American candy history. George DeMet's candy factory workers are said to have looked at the finished clusters of pecans bound in caramel and chocolate and noticed they looked exactly like little turtles — the pecan halves splaying out like legs from the caramel-and-chocolate body. The name stuck immediately. DeMet began producing them around 1916, and officially named and branded the candy Turtles by 1922. They quickly became one of Chicago's most popular gift confections, sold in gift boxes that made them a holiday staple across the Midwest. Unlike most candy bars, Turtles were positioned as a premium item — a boxed chocolate to give, not a nickel bar to pocket. That positioning has kept them relevant through decades of ownership changes. Today they are still produced, now by Yıldız Holding of Turkey, though the recipe and format remain faithful to George DeMet's original.