a world of wildly creative new chocolate confections

by amy reiley with meredith cella 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 positive of lights.) In the past six months I’ve been introduced to more variations on a theme than I ever thought possible. This isn’t you’re mama’s chocolate, Milton Hershey! The business of chocolatiering in America and beyond has progressed into a new, highly sophisticated age.

I’ve watched a shift over the past few years of chocolates shaped in classic bars to jewel-like presentations of tiny, highly flavored morsels. I believe many of the smaller chocolatiers have taken their cues from Vosges, the Chicago-based chocolate company 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 presciousness of a fine gem stone?

I naïvely thought 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 arrived via the UPS truck last week. A Tiffany blue-topped box held inside four round, sparkling diamonds. As fabulous 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 through one of the precious gems, and the premium dark chocolate pillow on which it was perched.

The diamonds were perfectly formed, crystal clear, sugar paste replicas of the real thing, stunning 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 little bit superfluously adorn, but these chocolates are nothing short of a girl’s best friend.

Listen up, men: they are outrageously priced for the quality 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 counterparts, but the mail order bonbons are sure to deliver. A box of Miami Sushi will easily 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 rolled filled with crisp rice and marzipan. There’s even “ginger” and “wasabi,” hold the soy sauce, please!

I credit Vosges with not only starting an American trend the art of chocolate presentation, but also in the blending of culinary flavors to create 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 particular favorite confectionary concept 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 favorite new chocolate bar, the Firecraker. 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 firecraker 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 decide on my favorite. (If you prefer your aphrodisiacs to slide down smooth, I highly recommend the passion fruit caramel-filled chocolate Chuao introduced a couple years ago. Who can resist an aphrodisiac with passion in the name?)

Outside the box chocolatiering is definitely the way of the future as can 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 enhance a man’s energy, stamina and sexual performance).

And speaking of blessing her, if you need a little positive mojo with your chocolate fix, I have to recommend the newest thing in functional foods: Intentional Chocolate. Every chocolate from this New Age manufacturer is blessed with good intentions meant to be passed on to the eater. (The company also passes on 50% of its profits to organizations benefiting humankind).

Whether or not those good intentions will enhance your life is up to you, but the chocolates are of excellent quality and will most certainly, if nothing else, bless your palate with a burst of creamy goodness. — 2/20/09