CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Nashville Hot Sweets is bringing a new, spicy candy experience to Clarksville.
Despite the name, Nashville Hot Sweets is a Clarksville-based candy company specializing in spicy, capsaicin-filled hard candies. They have a variety of fruit flavors with two levels of heat: Nashville Hot and Nashville Hurt.
Owner Rachel Gullett told Clarksville Now her candy is “kind of a rollercoaster for your mouth,” both spicy and sweet.
The candy uses a short list of all-natural ingredients: sugar, corn syrup, citric acid, fruit oil flavoring and a special capsaicin blend. Among the flavors are sour lemonade, tangerine, grape and cherry.
Gullett said she learned to make candy for her husband, who’s a big fan of spice challenges. Gullett hopes her business will one day take her to downtown Nashville, thus the name Nashville Hot Sweets.
“My husband said no one made a candy hot enough. Like any mother of four, I’m a great problem-solver, so I accepted the challenge,” Gullett says on the back of her candy packaging. “I’m proud to offer the hottest candy you can find.”
Gullett said she hopes to soon expand her selection. Some of her ideas include hot taffy, hot suckers and spicy margarita mix. Gullett is also looking into the possibility of a “one-candy challenge,” for the especially daring.
Nashville Hot Sweets does not yet have a brick-and-mortar store front. She makes her candy in small batches at a commercial kitchen in Cumberland Heights, but she plans to keep expanding and adding new treats to her repertoire.
Fans of Gullett’s candy can find her at local pop-up events and festivals as well as through the Nashville Hot Sweets website. On Aug. 28 and 29, Nashville Hot Sweets will be at Hopkinsville’s Salute to Summer Festival.