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February 2007

Thursday, February 8, 2007

Leonardi Cioccolatini

I hinted heavily after Christmas to my husband (well, via the blog anyway) that I was pretty keen on trying some of the sale items from Dean & Deluca. He came through with every one of them. This is the Leonardi Cioccolatini Aceto Balsamico di Modena (Chocolates with a glaze of Balsamic Vinegar from Modena).

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Balsamic vinegar seems like a new thing to throw in chocolates and I’ve had a few of them now. Often they’re quite tart or acrid, I don’t think the acidity of the vinegar always goes well with chocolate. These came in a pearly paper tube with a sealed plastic bag inside holding the individually red mylar wrapped pieces. They smell of smoky chocolate and carnations.

imageThese are generous two bite pieces. The outside shell is a nice mild bittersweet chocolate that holds a wonderful dense creamy classic truffle center (there are eggs in here).

The balsamic vinegar is not overwhelming, instead it provides a smooth sherry-like background. A little sweeter but also with a slight almost alcoholic bite.

These are really good.

They were originally $42 but are still on sale at $10.50 for the 8.8 ounce container. (Mine are good until March 13, 2007 ... as if they’ll make it to the end of the week.) This might be the deal of the season for Valentine’s Day.

Name: Chocolates with Balsamic Vinegar
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Leonardi
Place Purchased: gift (Dean & Deluca)
Price: $10.50
Size: 8.8 ounces
Calories per ounce: unknown
Categories: Chocolate, Italy

POSTED BY Cybele AT 7:49 am    

CocoaVino

I got this fabulous box of from CocoaVino as a Christmas gift. Cocovino is one of those companies that sells the story & the experience as much as the product. The pride themselves on their Eco-Forward ideals (organic ingredients, fair trade, wind powered kitchen and environmentally sensitive packaging).

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The collection is simply called BonBons. The array features six different flavors arranged in pairs, each with a different chocolate and spirit/wine combination.

Bacchanal - Malbec and dark chocolate - dark and complex, it has a lot of the fruity raisin and plum flavors you’d expect from a wine grape.

Roman Holiday - espresso and Sambuca - a mild chocolate and coffee mix, nice and smooth without bitterness.

Tango Nostalgico - dulce de leche and Spanish Mintilla Moriles wine - interesting, but I don’t think the tang of the wine mixed well with the caramelized milk.

Raspberry Beret - raspberry, as you’d expect. Fragrant and fruity, a classic combo with chocolate. Not much of a tangy bite, but that’s no problem for me.

Baci al Limone - limoncello in white chocolate. I’m a big fan of limoncello (though I find it a bit too sweet and like to add some extra lemon zest to it) and of course the smoothness of a white chocolate is a great base, especially with the balance of the dark shell.

Queen of the Harvest - Sherry and dark chocolate - even darker than the other chocolates. I wasn’t able to get many of the sherry notes as they blend so well with the normal chocolate flavors. Tasty.

The other item on their site that intrigues me is their Fig Caramel. (Please chime in if you’ve tried them.)

As a Valentine’s gift, these are an excellent idea for a foodie or as a sensual gift to share with someone special. The BonBon box comes with each of the flavors in pairs, so it’s a natural idea that you could both have one and discuss the different textures and notes that you sense. They’re a bit on the expensive side (this box retails for $31) but then again everyone is getting paid a living wage and someone had to build those windmills.

Name: CocoaVino BonBons
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: CocoaVino
Place Purchased: gift
Price: $31.00
Size: unknown
Calories per ounce: unknown
Categories: Chocolate, Coffee, United States, Organic, Fair Trade

POSTED BY Cybele AT 6:31 am    

Boxed Chocolates in Short

Today I’m going to do all boxed chocolates all day long. Perhaps a half a dozen of them. However, there are a few chocolatiers that have entered my radar (mostly from the Fancy Food Show) that I can offer little bites on (to supplement the Chocolate Gift Guide):

Bissinger’s - it appears that this 80-year-old St. Louis, MO, chocolate company has reinvented itself, with a more modern look and updated flavors. The catalog they sent me after the Fancy Food Show was certainly tempting. I tried some of their marshmallows, and Spa Chocolates as well as their tasty Green Tea Gummi Bears. Order online of locate one of their retail stores. Moderate prices and elegant/fun packaging.

Lillie Belle Farms - based in Jacksonville, OR, this chocolatier uses organic (and fair trade when possible) ingredients, many of which are grown on the farm. Innovative flavor combinations, tasty caramels, smooth truffles ... I really liked the black pepper truffle I tasted at the Fancy Food Show. Order online or find in stores in Oregon. Moderate to expensive.

Valerie’s Confections - Los Angeles based toffee-maker and confectioner,  they have a great sense of elegance paired with comfort-candies. They have a special Valentine’s confection assortment (free local delivery if you use the code VAL when ordering $40 or more). Order online or pick up at a local store. Expensive. (Full review of other items here.)

B.T. McElrath - a Minneapolis-based chocolatier. I tried a few of their assortment at the Fancy Food Show and was pleased with them. The truffles and seasonal offerings are lovely to look at. They’re sold via their website and I saw many of their smaller mixed chocolate boxes at Whole Foods last weekend. Expensive.

If you’re looking for some other opinions on fine chocolates, check out these stories:

Consumer Reports tries out fine chocolates (from 2006), and a second write up based on the NY Chocolatiers mentioned.
This year NPR tried out some of the big names as well. I can’t say I agree with all their assessments, but they have a very nice list. (There are a few on their list that I still haven’t tried.)

UPDATE: February 12, 2007: Consumer Reports has done another taste test. Though you have to be a full subscriber to see all the results, here’s a brief report of how everyone did.

POSTED BY Cybele AT 6:14 am     CandyChocolatierReviewValentinesChocolate7-Worth ItShopping

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Mercat la Boqueria

I spend a lot of time looking a photos of candy on Flickr. It’s a good way to stay in touch with what is enchanting other people. The thing that I’ve noticed lately is that people are often attracted to the same thing, over and over again. In general this would be like people taking photos of common landmarks (lots of photos of the Eiffel Tower that are tagged Paris, a lotta Golden Gate Bridge shots in San Francisco and “cute” has more cats than dogs or babies).

One of the things that pops up with startling regularity in the Candy tag is a candy vendor at the Mercat la Boqueria in Barcelona, Spain. So I did a quick search and found more than a smattering of them (well here are 48 at least):

From neb From lotje From derekb From NoellieBellie From tanya_b From Zoomphoto From pov_steve From Haacked From gail delderfield From Katie M From gromitgirl From Kiki J From James Cridland From Jeroen! From TriLauraTri From amiev From p53 From jonesprimavera From froghospital From Neon Heart From antares3001 From dressed.in.cobras. From loonatic From B.G. Johnson From buffalo_girluk From greekadman From votreceinture From Sachmanns.dk From hitsman From clubzone.it From dellvink From Eelco Visser From ClaudiaLx From luz de vidrio From :: SL Emerick From Ncwfresa From James Pearson From juliehicks75 From RichKD From Kipourax From scanna283 From trunko From goodlance From ThreeEggOmlette From Oceana Z From lunaciel From Laura VW From acastellano

Has anyone ever shopped at this market or bought anything there? How much are those gummis?

POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:41 am     CandySpainFun StuffPhotography

SpongeBob SquarePants Heart

imageThere are quite a few of these puffed plastic hearts filled with candy at the stores. The shelves are packed with them. You can get plastic hearts filled with Skittles, Kissables, Reese’s Pieces ... anything that comes in little morsels.

I decided to go a bit further afield and chose a product that didn’t contain a big brand name candy. This SpongeBob SquarePants embossed heart holds Yogurt Covered Raisins (and stickers). The little saying that you can’t quite make out there next to SpongeBob is “Valentine ... let’s soak up some smiles!” (I’m sure if they could spell it they’d put his creepy laugh in there, too.)

imageI have to admit that I don’t watch SpongeBob that often, usually when I’m visiting my niece and nephew. (I like to ask them if each of the characters are called Crabby Pattie ... who is this Crabby Pattie? Is that Patrick’s nickname?) And that’s who I’d be tempted to buy these for.

Inside the heart was a little packet of candies and the stickers. I was pleased that the candy was further wrapped to keep it fresh, however it didn’t look that appealing, as the raisins kind of peeked through the yogurt coating, making them look dirty or scuffed. The smelled like absolutely nothing.

Upon biting into them I found that the yogurt coating was not a soft “chocolate-like” experience, but a crunchy shell. The shell itself had no real flavor, but did have a slight cooling effect on the tongue. There was a strange, gamey/musty aftertaste, which I suppose is the yogurt, but was really off. They were, um, unappealing in all respects.

The candies are under the brand label “NickTrition” which I’m guessing makes it look like it’s healthy. However, here are the ingredients: Raisins, Sugar, Partially Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil, Yogurt Powder, Titanium Dioxide, Soy Lecithin, Salt, Vanilla & Confectioner’s Glaze, Artificial Colors.

I will admit that raisins are plenty healthy. But I think the only reason there’s no listing for trans fats in the nutrition facts is because the serving size is only 20 grams. So I guess they’ve achieved the goal of balanced nutrition, because you’re really paying for a plastic box and some stickers and the nutritional benefit or hit is negligible from these candies ... if your kids eat them. I suspect you’ll find them in the cushions of the couch in a month or so.

Name: SpongeBob Squarepants Plastic Heart
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Frankford Candy
Place Purchased: Walgreen's (Echo Park)
Price: $1.50 (on sale)
Size: .71 ounces
Calories per ounce: 140
Categories: United States

POSTED BY Cybele AT 8:51 am    

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