...and patties, nuggets, balls, and bites. Mixed box from Garrison Chocolates. [Photographs: Robyn Lee] No offense to Snickers and Nestle Crunch, but in a perfect world, we'd trick-or-treat and be handed these hand-made chocolates. Inspired by classic Halloween candies, these chocolatiers from all over the country have stepped it up with fancy ganaches, fruit pâtes, pumpkin puree, and (kids, close your eyes) scotch. Ordering these might require a little more effort than hopping into a CVS, but they're pretty special. Check out the five chocolatiers, after the jump....
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In late 2008, Robert Steinberg, co-author of this week's Cook the Book selection, finally succumbed to a two-decade battle with leukemia. Written with business partner John Scharffenberger, The Essence of Chocolate acknowledges Steinberg's bittersweet debt to the disease. For it was his diagnosis with the illness that drove the physician to apprentice himself to a small chocolatier in Lyon, to follow the trail of the cacao bean to Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago, and, in 1996, to co-found Scharffen Berger. The Essence of Chocolate is an extraordinary book. It covers the history, cultivation, and lore of chocolate—and it does it in deft and lucid prose (before he was a doctor or a chocolate maker, Robert Steinberg was an English...
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New York Times How does a serious eater justify a tour of Paris chocolatiers? In the New York Times, Amy Thomas pedals from shop to shop. There's no way she could have burned off all those chocolates, but it's the kind of rationalization I would use. Where did she pedal? Patrick Roger, Michel Chaudon, Pierre Hermé, Christian Constant, Jean-Charles Rochoux, Pierre Marcolini, and Michel Cluziel. Thomas actually quotes the great Paris-based food blogger and pastry chef David Lebovitz, but in typical Times style the piece doesn't link to Lebovitz's blog, which has an incredibly discerning and passionate Paris chocolate section. My guess is that Thomas used David Lebovitz's blog as the jumping-off point for her story....
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They look like notebooks or planners from a high-end stationery store, but these are actually wrappers to chocolate bars from Mast Brothers Chocolate, which Cool Hunting found in Brooklyn flea market Artists & Fleas. Marrying beautiful packaging with tasty chocolate concoctions, brothers Rick and Michael rely on organic, single-origin Venezuelan and Ecuadorian cacao for their products. Even the packaging paper is imported from Italy. Available at Artists & Fleas (weekends only), Marlow and Sons and Spuyten Duyvil Grocery....
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You've got your milk chocolate, dark, white, and ... garlic? Takko Shoji of Aomori, Japan, has been developing "black garlic chocolate" there. Fermented black garlic is coated with chocolate and sprinkled with cocoa powder. It's got a "sweet-and-sour taste resembling prunes, with the bittersweet taste of chocolate." Perfect for your adventurous valentine (although I'm not sure how much kissing will be done afterwards). [via Japundit]...
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Just in time for Super Tuesday and Valentine's Day: send some Democrat love with a box of Obama chocolate truffles filled with espresso-Cognac ganache. While you're at it, why not pair 'em with his supporter Oprah (who comes raspberry ganache)? Four pieces go for $12.00 at Cosmic Chocolate Shop. [Via The Nibble]...
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Another day at Serious Eats world headquarters, another box of chocolates delivered to our door. These chocolates came from
Sahagún Handmade Chocolates in Portland, Oregon. Here's what we've tried so far.
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