Is it just me, or is the world of chocolate getting more creative by the minute? (And by creative I mean weird, but in the most unavoidable of lights.) In the past six months I've been introduced to more variations on a theme than I ever opinion possible. My have we grown since the days of Milton Hershey! The firm of chocolatiering in America and beyond has progressed into a new, very sophisticated age.
I've watched a shift over the past few years from chocolates shaped in superior bars to jewel-like presentations of tiny, very flavored morsels. I believe many of the smaller chocolatiers have taken their cues from Vosges, the Chicago-based chocolate firm who made Americans feel that a new millennium called for a hatbox filled with confections. I mean, aren't foil-wrapped bars so last millennium? And its true, after viewing Vosges, what chocolatier could ever go back to a Whitman's sampler format, when plush-topped pillow boxes could elevate chocolate to the psychological preciousness of a fine gemstone?
I naïvely opinion that the jeweler's presentations would stop at the box - I was wrong. But I have to admit a girlish squeal escaped from my jaded lips when a box of Chocouture's diamond collection made by Chicago's Chocolatines arrived via the Ups truck last week. A Tiffany blue-topped box held inside four round, sparkling diamonds. As much as I like to think I deserve it, I am not accustomed to receiving diamonds in the mail. So when the Chocouture arrived, I immediately dove in and crunched my way straight through one of the high-priced gems, and the premium dark chocolate pillow on which it was perched. (In light of current conflict, I am very much anti-diamond. But, boys take note, these are sparkling gemstones I would all the time be happy to accept and a gorgeous alternative to conflict diamonds.)
The Chocouture diamonds were perfectly formed, crystal clear, sugar paste replicas of the real thing, astonishing in their simplicity. The chocolate truffles the "diamonds" topped were filled with a lightly flavored single-malt Scotch ganache and dusted in 24 karat gold. Yes, they were more than a petite bit superfluously adorned, but these chocolates are nothing short of a girl's best friend.
Listen up, gentlemen: they are outrageously priced for the capability of the chocolate, but if you cannot afford to give a girl the jewel she deserves, shell out for these chocolates and you will be out of the doghouse and/or between the sheets in seconds flat.
Having friends over for sushi night? Look to Romanicos. Their simple, red-topped boxes aren't quite so decadent as their counterpart's, but the mail order bonbons are sure to deliver. A box of Miami Sushi will admittedly satisfy four while giving you an excellent workout of laughter.
Why the giggles? Because inside each box is a perfectly formed sushi platter... Made of chocolate. Salmon made of painted white chocolate over dried mango is nestled next to a chocolate-wrapped roll filled with crisp rice and marzipan. There's even "ginger" and "wasabi," hold the soy sauce, please!
I reputation Vosges with not only starting the American trend of the art of chocolate presentation, but also in the blending of culinary flavors to generate truffles of great complexity.
Although I first saw the trend of using spices like anise, wasabi and saffron mixed with chocolate in Europe about 20 years ago, it was thanks to Vosges that truffle-spicing caught on Stateside. A singular beloved confectionary opinion of mine is Vosges aphrodisiac hat box, which contains chile chocolate toffee and other aphrodisiac-spiced chocolates to get your blood pumping.
But not even Vosges could have dreamed up my beloved new chocolate bar, the Firecracker. Introduced by Southern California-based Chuao Chocolatier in time for Christmas '08, the Firecracker combines premium dark chocolate with chipotle and unflavored pop rocks. Yes, I said pop rocks, those candies you put on your tongue as a kid and waited for them to make tingly music in your mouth. The Firecracker is sold as a bar or bonbon. I've tried it in both forms and think I'll need to try a few more before I resolve on my favorite. (If you prefer your aphrodisiacs to slide down smooth, I very advise the passion fruit caramel-filled chocolate Chuao introduced a join years ago. Who can resist an aphrodisiac with passion in the name?)
Outside the box chocolatiering is assuredly the way of the future, as can not only be seen at home in the products of Chuao and its wildly creative counterparts but also abroad in the work of chocolatiers like New Zealand's Hanna Fredrick and her Mamor Chocolates. Fredrick, bless her, makes an aphrodisiac chocolate for men from a blend of Belgian chocolate with the Asian herb Eurycoma Longifolia, (used in Southeast Asia for centuries to heighten a man's energy, endurance and sexual performance).
And speaking of blessing her, if you need a petite unavoidable mojo with your chocolate fix, I have to advise the latest thing in functional foods: Intentional Chocolate.
Every chocolate from this New Age builder is blessed with good intentions meant to be passed on to the eater. (The firm also passes on 50% of its profits to organizations benefiting humankind). Whether or not those good intentions will heighten your life is up to you, but the chocolates are of excellent capability and will most certainly, if nothing else, bless your palate with a burst of creamy goodness.
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