It'sNational Chocolate Week. It's always chocolate week for me, because I eat it daily. I take offense with the term "chocoholic" because it sounds like a problem. Chocolate is good for you! It's not an obsession that needs to be cured. Well, obsession - yes. Cure? No. Case in point: Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels, which are only seasonal. That is tragic, because they are one of the greatest edible delights in the world. I'm not talking caramels that have a bit of salt in them, aka fleur de sel caramels - they're a horse of another color. The dark chocolate ones have sea salt sprinkled on them and that irresistible sweet and salty combination - mixed with the alternating velvety texture of caramel and the crunch of chocolate and bite of salt - are a PMSing woman's dream come true. Chocolate pretzels sadly fall far behind.

I've made it a few months without them but my craving is back. Googling, I found that these caramels have made fiends of many others who are also jonesing for these seasonal-only delights. I found recipes, but once I know the ingredients (lots of cream, sugar, butter, some with corn syrup), I can't eat them without guilt. It's Irish-American month, too, and I've got to ration my guilt points.

I decided to drop Trader Joe's a line. They responded rather quickly:

Hello Donna,

We appreciate your inquiry. The Sea Salt Caramels are especially produced for the holidays and we have sold through all existing inventory already. We are sorry to inform you that we will not receive any additional shipments until the next holiday season. We will forward your request to our Buying Department for consideration.

Thank you for your inquiry and thank you for shopping at Trader Joe's.

Please, Buying Department, please! Meanwhile, my search continued. It appears that I'm not the only one addicted to Trader Joe's Sea Salt Caramels, and fellow deprived bloggers recommended a trip to Whole Foods for Fran's Chocolates. I began my search but was thwarted by chocolate bunnies and eggs. Finally I asked a clerk:
"Do you have a candy aisle, or is chocolate just ... scattered throughout the store?"
'Well, what kind are you looking for?'
"They're salt caramels -"
"Fran's salted caramels? Oh, we don't have them." He smiled. He obviously had seen quite a few desperate caramel seekers.

I also heard that The Little Flower Candy Company in Pasadena makes salt caramels, but they look like fleur de sels. Not sure about Edelweiss; LAist already did my Rechiutti research, but they appear to be fleur de sel as well. Meanwhile, the search continues.

photo detail by Elise Thompson for LAist.

*The title of this article comes from an English-to-Spanish and back again website translation of The Archies' "Sugar Sugar" lyrics.