Last-minute Christmas shopping for candy, for which there are lots of choices in Salem. Ye Olde Pepper Companie on Derby Street near the House of the Seven Gables and Harbor Sweets on Leavitt Street are very well-established. The former has been in business since 1806 and lays claim to America’s first commercially-sold candy, Salem Gibralters. Harbor Sweets sells their chocolate candy (including my favorite Sweet Sloops, a white-chocolate-covered toffee in the shape of a sloop) at their shop and website as well as through lots of local vendors.
