Want to pair wine and food like the pros? With nearly 200 wineries throughout the state, there's a vintage for very occasion. Here's what wine professionals across Texas recommend for your holiday gathering.

By Beth Goulart

The holidays are really upon us now, but you've still got time to whip up one last edible Texas gift. Salty Texas Pecan Caramels showcase the state's number one horticultural crop - and they're festive and tasty, too.  A surprise twist of good flaky salt gives them a savory-sweet flavor that folks will talk about all year.

[recipe after the jump]

From sweet to savory, nuts take a primary place on holiday menus every year.

Betty Delmore, owner of Houston’s Fredlyn Nut Company, says close to 40 percent of the company’s business happens in the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. “We do a lot of corporate gift packages, but we have all kinds of customers,” Delmore says. “We sell a lot of Spanish peanuts for peanut brittle at the holidays.”

She and her staff, she admits, are curious about what people make with the nuts they buy. “Chefs love honey toasted pecans for salads, and some people use them to make pecan pies,” Delmore says. “A lot of people make candy with pecans, peanuts or walnuts.” For eating out of hand, many try the firm’s deluxe mix of cashews, pecans, almonds and Brazil nuts. Fredlyn sells some 12,000 pounds of it from Thanksgiving to Christmas.