High Value Chocolates for your Valentine

Just before Valentine’s Day, The New York Times had an article on the front page (below the fold, of course) about special chocolates that cost $2000 a pound. Here’s the title and the link if you want to read more.

YOUR MONEY
Figuring Out Gift Giving in the Age of $2,000-a-Pound Chocolate

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/10/business/10money.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Well, my Valentine loves chocolate, but I wasn’t about to consider these super expensive kinds. Not even the little box from NoKa for $65 was worth it to me. No, you have to know your Valentine and mine finds value and frugality more seductive than expensive purchases.

So what was a cost conscious girl to do? I may be on a beer budget, but my tastes are very champagne… it had to be low cost, yes, but very good quality and preferably very dark chocolate. Trader Joe’s came to the rescue. While there picking up the few things I needed for something else I was making, I found a new product that fit the bill exactly: a box of handmade dark chocolates for $2.99. Should I blush to admit it? Well, I won’t I tell you. Yes, it was down right cheap, but it turned out that they are fabulous chocolates and my Valentine has nearly annihilated the entire box. They are all dark chocolate with different flavors – mocha, orange, mint… and they are truly delicious.

You must try them. I insist. For $2.99 I think I’ll buy my Valentine another box. Maybe he needs one a week. On second thought, that would add up to quite a bit over the course of a year. Why I could get 52 boxes of these chocolates for the cost of one medium sized box of NoKa truffles. I think I’ll take the 52 boxes every time – especially when they are this good.

Trader Joe's
Dark Chocolate Collection
Handcrafted, Premium Dark Chocolate

Kettle Chips Party Pack of Unreleased Flavors

Kettle Chips
http://www.kettlefoods.com

Although the official voting is over and done and the Kettle site has named its winner, it is still not too late to order any of the five unreleased flavors. I’d been saving up my own Kettle Party Pack for just the right occasion and the Super Bowl seemed like the right time to pull it out and inflict it on all my friends. Not all of the flavors were loved (I believe several people called the Aztec Chocolate “disgusting”), but it certainly gave us all plenty to talk about during the pre-game show.

Here is the list of flavored chips that we sampled:

Twisted Chili Lime
Dragon Five Spice
Aztec Chocolate
Royal Indian Curry
Island Jerk

I collected only 8 ballots at the party, but people had a lot of additional detail to report to me about what they like, didn’t like at all, what they thought a potato chip should be, how it should be treated. I had no idea that people felt so strongly about potato chips. In the end, nobody in our small group liked the Aztec Chocolate – the best it could rate was “not as bad as I expected it to be”. Dragon Five Spice got three votes for favorite flavor as did Island Jerk.

For me personally, I found that it was a toss up between Royal Indian Curry, Island Jerk and Twisted Chili Lime. Several people strongly disliked the Chili Lime flavor – it was love it or hate it, I guess. For my tastes the Curry wasn’t spicy enough and had too much sweetness to it. I thought the chip with the best kick was the Island Jerk (glad to see that it won in the official race) and I wished that some of the other flavors had been a little hotter.

Now that the official voting at the Kettle website is over you can create your own party pack with the flavors you liked best and have it mailed to you directly from Kettle. It was a fun idea for a party although don’t forget that some people are potato chip purists and make sure you have some plain, salted chips on hand to keep them happy (and quiet).

Spicy Thai Kettle Brand Chips

Product:

Kettle Brand Chips
Spicy Thai - ginger with ATTITUDE

all natural potato chips - never any trans fats


My husband is the potato chip lover in our house. I usually forget that we even have a bag in the cupboard, but come lunchtime on Saturday, he sits down with his sandwich and pulls out the bag of chips. Oddly enough, I ran into these spicy Thai chips on a visit to the Science Museum and I just had to try them. I love them. Not that I eat them everyday, mind you, but if I was the kind of person who could eat potato chips everyday these would be my potato chips of choice.

They are spicy, but not so hot that your mouth is burning. They are a tad sweet and more than a tad salty. They definitely give you that sensation of moving from sweet to spicy to hot that good Thai food can do for you. I have to admit that the idea of combining Thai flavors with potatoes would never have occurred to me. I need to get out more. These are brilliant.

So, what does my potato chip loving husband think of these Thai chips? He doesn't really like them. "A potato chip is perfect just the way it is," he says, "Why mess with it?" He thinks flavored potato chips are like flavored coffee and he went so far as to compare my Thai chips to Swiss Mocha Hazelnut Peppermint Stick coffee. So for all of you potato chip purists out there - you may not appreciate these spicy asian themed chips. Everyone else.... you'll love 'em.

Cary's of Oregon - English Toffee

Cary's of Oregon (http://www.carysoforegon.com)
413 Union Avenue
Grants Pass, OR 97527

English Toffee

In case you didn't know, we are entering the real candy season of the year. Some folks mistakenly believe Halloween is the big annual sweets event in America, but Halloween (a one-day-only extravaganza of kid candy) doesn't begin to compare with the month long candy binge that we go on as a nation from Thanksgiving until New Year's. People pull out all the stops and load up on expensive chocolates from Godiva and Neuhaus and tins of confections from Crate & Barrel and Willliams-Sonoma.

I don't believe most Americans eat much toffee during the rest of the calendar year, but come December toffee is suddenly more widely available.

I love toffee all year round. I can't wait around for December to enjoy it. My preferred toffee is dark chocolate covered - with nuts. I've even made it myself - although it is a lot harder than you might think - even with a candy thermometer.

Cary's is the best toffee I've ever had. It is not too hard. It is not too soft and chewy (like the real English Toffee that you get at sweet's stores in London). Cary's English Toffee is divine.

I was in Oregon over this past summer and I tried to work a pilgrimage to Cary's world headquarters in Grants Pass into my itinerary, but no one else felt inclined to drive 250 miles out of our way just for a little candy. How sad.

Next year, I'm renting a car by myself and going. Anyone want to come along?

Sweet Olive Oil Tortas

Product:

The Original Torta De Aceite
Handmade since 1910

Ines Rosales (www.inesrosales.com)

Sweet Olive Oil Tortas
Imported from Seville, Spain

I found them at Whole Foods. They are imported by Mt. Vikos, Inc. Marshfield, MA 02050

These sweet olive oil tortas are nothing like what I expected. They are thin and crisp with a crunchy sweet layer of demera sugar across the top. These tortas are delicate cookies lightly flavored with anise. They are perfect with an afternoon cup of tea or as a light dessert after dinner.

Cranberry Pepper Jelly

Product:

Cranberry Pepper Jelly from New England Cranberry (www.newenglandcranberry.com)

The label reads "Spicy, but not too hot"

I tried some of this jelly at Whole Foods Market three or four years ago when they were giving out samples and I liked it enough to buy a jar. Although I spent good money on the jar of jelly I brought it home, put it in the door of my fridge between the Gooseberry Jam and the Tandoori Paste and promptly forgot all about it.

Fast forward to the present.

I noticed the jar of spicy cranberry jelly and vaguely remembering that it was delicious finally decided it must be time to open it. Wow. This is wonderful stuff.

My favorite way to use it is to put some fresh goat cheese on a toasted slice of baguette and spread the jelly over the top. The jelly is sweet and tart at first taste and then a warm pepper kick follows up at the end. Imagine greating your Thanksgiving guests with a big plate of these as a little appetizer before the main event.

It would also make a fabulous glace for a roast - say a ham or a leg of lamb.

I've tried other cranberry pepper jellies, but I usually find them too sweet. This one has found the balance of flavors.