Tameletjie

Tameletjie is a traditional toffee. It's made with a combination of brown sugar, water, butter, vanilla essence, and chopped walnuts, coconut, almonds, or pine nuts. The concoction is boiled until it becomes caramelized, and it's then left to rest and harden before being cut. This sweet is very popular within the Afrikaner and Malay cultures. Originally, the Malays used to sell tameletjie in Cape Town, so the sweet became well-known among the settlers. Due to its stickiness, tameletjie is also used as a term in South African publications and articles, denoting a sticky or tough situation.