Unparalleled

Scanning our pantry needs, I noticed a dust-covered jar of nonpareil capers. My first reaction was of disgust. It wasn’t the little nodules floating in murky liquid that turned me off. I happen to really like capers. It probably should have been the amount of dust collecting in my pantry, but that wasn’t it either. The leading “nonpareil” made me immediately think of chocolate. Chocolate covered capers lack appeal.


After trying to recall the culinary experiment that prompted a caper purchase, I then started to think about the word “nonpareil”. That’s one of those words that my brain mumbles. It’s kind of like the first time I saw Hermione Granger’s name in a Harry Potter book. My brain just acknowledged it and moved on. I decided I’d try to say “nonpareil” out loud. My seventh grade French teacher would have been horrified.

Pronounced, non-puh-rel, the term is defined as “having no equal” and also as the round, chocolate candy covered with sugar beads. The origin of nonpareil candy dates back to the late 1700s, when they were a cake decorating item. Today they are a candy in their own right and available in a variety of chocolates and colored sprinkles.


Unparalleled is a bold title for such a simplistic candy. But considering its 250+ year history and very subtle evolution, it certainly seems deserving.