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May 2006

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Edelweiss Chocolates

Edelweiss Candy Kitchen in Beverly Hills is an old fashioned candy store. From the classic awning outside to the displays inside, it was like I’d stepped back to 1953 (they’ve been there since 1942) and perhaps Julie Andrews would step out from the counter in her Sound of Music outfit and sing a little song about a the wonders of chocolate.

There’s even a sign on the back wall that purports that the famous I Love Lucy episode where Lucy and Ethel get jobs on the factory line at a candy company was conceived of here when Lucille Ball saw the conveyor in the back. In truth the episode ended up being filmed at See’s (in Culver City, I think).

The store shelves are filled with plenty of novelty chocolate items and glass jars filled with everyone’s favorite candies available by the scoop. They had gummies, licorice, misty mints, Swedish fish, foil covered chocolates, panned nuts ... just about anything you might want. But I went for the things that I can’t find everywhere. They make their own custom chocolates on site and are rather well known for their candied and chocolate dipped fruits. At $28 a pound, they’re certainly not cheap, but also not the most expensive candies I’ve come across. Especially in Beverly Hills.

image

Here’s what I picked up:

Chocolate Covered Candied Orange Slice - this one was not nearly as good as the Jacques Torres I had in NYC. The orange was firm, but the peel was a little too tough in spots, especially on the edge that wasn’t dipped in chocolate. However, it wasn’t too sticky or too sweet, so the flavors were wonderfully deep and complex.

image

Chocolate Covered Fig - the amber-colored fig was plump and sweet with a strong tart bite to it that mixed well with the chocolate. That fresh herby taste of the fig goes so well with chocolate, I was sorry I didn’t get more of these. After eating dried figs all week, it was nice to have something plump and juicy ... and of course covered in chocolate.

I wish all the chocolates were a bit glossier - they’re a little dull looking but I’m not sure if that affected the taste or texture much.

I don’t remember what the little chocolates in cups were called (and there’s no reference to them on their website), but it was described as ground almonds and honey in either dark or milk chocolate. I got one of each. The milk chocolate one was pleasant, not too sweet and not too milky. I couldn’t really taste the honey, but the almond flavors mixed with the chocolate and the slightly chewy, crunchy bite of the nuts was nice. I liked the dark chocolate one a bit better, as the flavors of the chocolate were more complex and I could detect the honey tones.

I’m not suggesting that anyone order up some over the phone, but if you’re in Beverly Hills and looking for something authentic, this might be a nice stop amidst the Cartier and Tiffany and Prada overload. If you want some tasty chocolate that’s not too expensive then I always suggest See’s. But since there isn’t one in this area of Beverly Hills, Edelweiss might be nice.

Edelweiss Candy Kitchen
444 N. Canon Drive
Beverly Hills, California 90210

Name: Edelweiss Fruit/Nut Assortment
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Edelweiss Candy Kitchen
Place Purchased: Edelweiss Candy Kitchen
Price: $28.00 a pound (I spent $8.10)
Size: 4.63 ounces
Calories per ounce: unknown
Categories: Chocolate, Nuts, United States, Los Angeles

POSTED BY Cybele AT 12:13 pm    

Cajeta Elegancita

I’ve seen these Hershey’s candies called Cajeta Elegancita at the 99 Cent Store for a while, but I didn’t buy them for myself. My sister, in Pennsylvania, gave them to me.

image

The Elegancita (little elegance) bars are part of Hershey’s attempt to capture the Hispanic market in the United States. However, it seems that they didn’t do all of their research. Cajeta, in Mexican-Spanish is a flavor where milk is slowly condensed and caramelized, kind of like dulce de leche. It’s very well known not only in Mexico but in many border states and you can even find it in fine restaurants (I had a cajeta flan at Ciudad in Los Angeles, which is run by those Too Hot Tamales). The important thing to know is that cajeta also means “little box” which in Argentina is a euphemism for a part of, um, a woman’s anatomy. But hey, maybe that’s a selling point.

The candy is branded as part of Hershey’s La Dulceria Thalia (Thalia’s Candy Store). Thalia Sodi is apparently quite a big music star. Of course, I don’t follow stuff like that ... and don’t think that it’s that I’m ignoring the Hispanic music scene, I also didn’t recognize that Carrie Underwood was doing special promotions last year for Hershey’s. I’m obviously not their target market.

But no amount of star power matters when it’s candy. Cajeta Elegancita is a series of bland wafers with a milky cream center layer and then a partial milk chocolate dip. I was hoping it would be like the long-gone Bar None (which may or may not still be made in Mexico).

Cajeta is very distinct tasting, very milky. It has a bit of a coconut twang to it, a little tartness as well. It’s interesting, but not very compelling for me. The condensed milk flavors completely dominate the chocolate, so it’s rather one note in the end. The delicate wafers do give it a nice crunch and texture, but not enough for me to go for this bar instead of a Heath if I’m feeling like something caramelized.

The package doesn’t have a lot of candy in it - at only 1.1 ounces, it’s rather scant for a commercial candy bar. However, at 170 calories and no trans fat, it’s not a bad little indulgence. The dairy taste makes it very satisfying as a little treat and of course the fact that there’s only 1.1 ounces means there’s little chance of eating too much.

Now, if they wanted to do something more chocolatey, I’d be all for it.

Also in the La Dulceria Thalia line are special flavors of Jolly Ranchers - tropical and spicy ... I’m kind of curious about the spicy ones, so I’ll get back to you on that!

(See also: Nestle’s La Lechera, which is a sweetened condensed milk product just launched in squeezable bottles to use as a sweet condiment & this story about Hershey’s move to capture the Hispanic market in the US)

Name: Cajeta Elegancita
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: La Dulceria Thalia (Hershey's)
Place Purchased: gift
Price: $.33 (at the 99 Cent Only Store)
Size: 1.1 ounces
Calories per ounce: 155
Categories: Chocolate, Cookie, United States, Hershey's

POSTED BY Cybele AT 6:37 am    

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

K Chocolatier

On my thrice yearly trip to Beverly Hills to get my hair cut, I was lucky enough to go on a weekday (Friday) this time, which meant I could finally visit K Chocolatier.

imageThey’re only open Monday-Friday ... I haven’t a clue why, but that’s the way it is. The shop is tiny. Think of a Fotomat Booth, oh, wait, they don’t have those anymore. Anyway, it’s tiny. The photo you see on their website shows the ENTIRE store. No need for a wide angle lens or positioning yourself across the street for that photo.

K Chocolates were created by Diane Kron, who I guess is one of those “chocolatier to the stars” people because they mention that kind of stuff a lot on the website. I have no idea if movie stars, TV networks or banks have good taste in chocolate. But they’re certainly not wrong in picking K Chocolatier because it is good stuff, just freakishly expensive.

The nice thing is that the shop offers free tastes of EVERYTHING. There’s a little dish on the counter with a select few goodies so I tried all of them.

imageK Chocolatier is known for their little K Bears, which are crisped rice in milk, white and dark chocolate. They’re super cute, about the size of a Teddy Graham. The milk chocolate one was very milky, quite sweet but very smooth and of course the crisped cookie/rice was fun. The dark chocolate was much smoother, with an ultra buttery dark chocolate with a really satisfying smoky taste to it. The white chocolate wasn’t very sweet, but very milky and not enough vanilla for my tastes.

The sampler tray also had their famous K Chocolate Truffles, which were little squares about the size of sugar cubes dusted in cocoa. They were not sweet at all, smooth and with some very complex coffee and woodsy flavors. There was even a bit of a salty hint to it.

My favorite free item was the K Spanish Orange, which was chocolate covered candied orange rind. That smooth and buttery chocolate was the perfect complement to the zesty and slightly bitter orange peel.

But I was there to get something I couldn’t get anywhere else, which is one of the reasons to shop an exclusive store like this.

imageI wanted to try their Vodka chocolates. And they let me! There were two varieties - K Vodka Shots and K Vodka Martini. They were a little smaller than a standard malted milk ball and a little flat on one side. The little spheres of dark chocolate held a crunchy sugar shell and inside that, a burst of real vodka. Not cheap vodka either, this was good stuff. After trying both I opted for a small box of the K Vodka Martini - it had a touch of vermouth in it that gave the alcohol a good balsam/citrus note to it that really brought out the fruity/floral notes of the chocolate.

image

But the sad part is that they were $40.00. Seriously. But I bought them anyway. And they were good. They weren’t a huge hit at home though and of course you have to practice a little self control as that’s real alcohol in there. (Okay, it wasn’t a lot, but I can get a buzz off of a half a dozen of them). The other irritation with the store is that nothing is marked with a weight or size of any kind. I don’t know how much chocolate I bought. Was that a half a pound? A full pound? Do they all weigh the same?

I’m a big fan of alcohol/chocolate cordials. As a touchstone, I bought the Trader Joe’s holiday box of vodka filled chocolates for New Years. They were nice, they had different fillings - orange, lemon and raspberry vodka inside of dark chocolate shells. But the vodka wasn’t very high quality, so they didn’t quite have the sassy snap that K Vodka Martinis do. I suppose you get what you pay for, the Trader Joe’s box was about $5.

Will I buy K Chocolatier products again? Probably not, but I’m glad I did.

K Chocolatier
9606 Little Santa Monica Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA
310-248-2626

Name: K Vodka Martinis
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: K Chocolatier
Place Purchased: K Chocolatier (Beverly Hills)
Price: $40.00 (zoinks!)
Size: unknown
Calories per ounce: unknown
Categories: Chocolate, United States, Los Angeles

POSTED BY Cybele AT 12:07 pm    

Twix Might Throw You a Party

Here’s some hot news to cool you off this summer…

imageTwix is running a promotional giveway right now. Sure, you can win Twix bars, but you can also win:
- 42” HD Flat Panel TV
- Surround sound audio system
- $1000 for hosting a party
- Baseball memorabilia
- A cooler
- A portable grill

The entry requires more than just your name and address though - there’s an essay portion where you testify to Twix’s awesomeness at helping you through difficult decisions (the theme is “Chew it over with Twix”).

Enter at their special promotional website ... you’ve got until July 9th, 2006! If you win, you have to invite me over for a candy themed movie night.

POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:41 am     Fun StuffNews

Nougat de Montelimar

imageI don’t know what came over me when I went to Mel & Rose, but I bought this super-expensive nougat bar.

Here it is May, and I’m really missing my Christmas Torrones and I was weak and overwhelmed while browsing at Mel & Rose. It’s such a pretty looking bar too, look at all those nuts and the sticky white nougat.

The label is in French, except for the ingredients: Sugar, Almonds 28%, Glucose Syrup, Lavender Honey 7.5%, all flowers honey of provence 7.5%, Pistachios 2%, wafer of egg white, Vanilla natural aroma.

There’s not a single ingredient in there that doesn’t have my mouth watering. And it’s not just plain honey ... it’s Lavender honey! Yum.

Let me tell you, it’s divine. The honey flavors come out loud and clear here, more than any other French nougat that I’ve had (and I’ve had co-workers bringing me the stuff directly from France for the last 10 years). The honey is strong and musky and slightly floral. The delicate, light nougat is sweet without being cloying or sticky. It’s lightly fluffed which allows the honey and almond flavors to permeate the bar. The nuts are dreamily crisp and firm.

As it’s thinner than a regular Torrone block, it’s easy to bite off a bit, but hard to resist cramming the whole thing into my maw.

Though I balked at the price ($5.99) after I’d paid (I wasn’t paying attention), once I started photographing it and noticing the density of the nuts and glossy nougat, I knew I hadn’t made a mistake. Opening the wrapper and biting into it only confirms that.

Part of me never wants to go back to Mel & Rose because I will be obligated to buy this again, which of course will keep me from trying something new (or several somethings since this was $6), but it’s soooo good.

Even if you think you’ll never run across this nougat bar, browse around their website (or visit them if you’re in France). Here are some fun things I learned:

They produce 168 tons of nougat a year, using 33 tons of almonds ... that’s 45% of the almonds grown in Provence every year! They detail the process of making it, too (though some of the translations are a little wonky). The website says that you can order online, but I have no idea about the exchange and delivery to the United States. If you do end up ordering, please report back on how it went (and order some marshmallows and let me know how they are).

Name: Nougat de Montelimar
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Arnaud Soubeyran
Place Purchased: Mel & Rose
Price: $5.99
Size: 1.76 ounces
Calories per ounce: unknown
Categories: Nougat, Nuts, France

POSTED BY Cybele AT 6:17 am    

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