Turtles are a candy made with pecans and caramel dipped in chocolate, with a shape resembling a turtle. The name is trademarked by DeMet's Candy Company. In Canada, they are sold under the Nestlé brand name.
History
Turtles were developed in 1918 by Johnson’s Candy Company (which became DeMet’s Candy Company in 1923), after a salesman named Earnest Woollard came into the commissary’s dipping room and showed a candy to one of the dippers, who pointed out that the candy looked like a turtle. Soon after, Johnson’s Candy Company was making the same kind of candy and selling it under the name "Turtles".[2]
Today, Turtles candies come in all sizes, shapes and recipes, some even shaped like a turtle, with modern mold-making techniques, but the originals were produced by candy dippers on a rectangular marble 'board', similar in size to a contemporary kitchen cutting board. The original recipe, as executed on marble, was pecans, caramel and various chocolates; they were a multi-task confection, requiring several sittings.
Trademark
Pecans dipped in chocolate were commonly made in the early 1900s, however, Johnson's Candy Company first protected the trademark "Turtles".