Before I got busy mooching free bacon chocolate from Whole Foods, I actually bought some chocolate truffles too. The flagship Whole Foods has a chocolate bar (as in a bar that serves chocolate) with the most amazing display cases. Ginormous jars of chocolate-covered nuts and fruits and malted milk balls, tantalizing slabs of fudge, chunks of chocolate bark, and various truffles and things by the piece. And the piece de resistance: a chocolate fountain.
There were little boxes of Vosges truffles, but I couldn’t remember which ones Cybele had recommended. As the little buggers were pricey (around $11 for four, I believe), I wanted to make sure to pick the delicious ones and ended up passing on those. Instead, I picked up a Fran’s salted caramel (which I’d also read about and was thrilled to discover in my hometown; I thought I’d have to make a pilgrimage to Seattle to get my hands on them) and a Mexican chili truffle for $2 apiece. Sorry for the extra-poor photos, but I took these at Whole Foods because I just couldn’t wait until I got home to eat them.
The Fran’s salted caramel was my first taste of a salted sweet. It was gooood. I ate it upside down so that the coarse sea salt hit my tongue first. Rich, dark chocolate coated a dusky, smoky caramel, and the addition of salt brought out the lovely burnt-ness of the caramel. Delicious. For a poor college student, $2 a caramel is definitely too much for me to make this a repeat indulgence, but I now want to try salting cheap, mass produced caramels (BUY) before I eat them. Maybe the next time I add caramel syrup to an ice cream sundae I’ll finish it with a sprinkle of salt.
The Fran’s caramel was my first salty-sweet chocolate experience; the Mexican chili truffle was my first taste of spicy-sweet, in the world of chocolates, at least. This little guy was super spicy – almost too fiery to bear. Fortunately, the smooth dark chocolate was just enough to soothe the mouth and prevent the chili burn from being too painful. Still, it left a tingle that lingered on the tongue. The outer coating of the truffle was dark chocolate with a dust of spices and a sprinkle of chili seeds on top. The inner ganache was spicy as well, and its texture was surprisingly liquid, somewhere between chocolate syrup and pudding, I’d say. It oozed a little, but it wasn’t liquid enough to flow. I’m pretty sure that I tasted cinnamon in the mix of chili spices, but my palate is not refined enough to pick out anything else. There was also a familiar spice I recognized from my family’s Chinese cooking, and it still bothers me that I can’t figure out what it is.
These two truffles were a delicious splurge. They’re too expensive for me to buy for myself again (I only bought them because it was my penultimate night in Austin before I left for college, and I wanted to treat myself), but I wouldn’t refuse more as a gift!
Edit 09/05: For their deliciousness, I hereby bestow the Fran’s caramels with a ZOMG!
The salted caramels sound delicious!
Chinese Five Spice is something I often use in sweet applications. Usually applesauce, apple crisp, and the like, but I could see adding it to chocolate, too.
Thanks to this entry, I added a little salt to one of the carmels from a pack of carmels-with-chocolate-inside I bought at the grocery store today. It was delicious! You’re right, the salt really brings out the inherent burnt taste of caramel (although the cheap ones I was eating probably weren’t nearly as tasty as the ones you had).
If you want a sampling of Russian candy, let me know and I’ll send you some! It might be kind of pointless to review since you can’t get it in the US, but still fun to try. 🙂
PS I was so happy to see that you reviewed Toffifee (Toffifay? I guess there is an English and a French spelling, or something). It’s one of my favorite candies!