Choco (not I) Pods

Hi Gang! I hope you're all hanging in there with this recession. It took me forever to admit we were in it and now I'm totally over it. Tomorrow I'm going to give some motivation tips because I need a pep talk!



Okay, let's talk Choco Pods:







The first one here is Banana - and after the god-awful banana Tootsie Pop, I was a bit gun shy. This is 41% milk chocolate and banana brown sugar caramel. After my first tenuous bite, I loved it. The milk chocolate was smooth and creamy and I hardly tasted the banana at all. The caramel was awesome. Very decadent and sensuous. A++



Next is Firecracker - a solid. 60% dark chocolate, chipotle, salt and popping candy. I'm biased here - I freakin' HATE Pop Rocks. I don't want anything I eat to fight back and that's how this feels. I would like this much better without the popping, but that's the whole point. If you like interactive candy, you'll like this. I prefer my food go gently into the night.



Passion is the next one - 60% dark chocolate and passion fruit caramel. I've actually reviewed this one before and while not as opposed to it as I was, it's still not my favorite. I must just not like Passion fruit. It has a strong taste I'm just not into.

Modena is the last one - 60% dark chocolate, strawberry and balsamic caramel. Doesn't that just sound AWESOME?? And it is! Love it!

These are all complicated, gourmet offerings - I think they are great for anyone who wants to try some of the the crazy flavor pairings being made with chocolate. I also think there are a good way to develop your palate without going way off the reservation. (For me that was Vosges cheese truffle. I still have nightmares.)

I also think chocolate is a great and relatively cheap way to pamper yourself during these challenging times. You deserve it!! (And remember - there are no bonus points in heaven for those who suffer the most. After all, God made the cacao tree and it was good. Dig in!)

Of Pods and Pants

One of the best things about Candy Expo was the people. One of my favorites was Master Chef Michael Antonorsi of Chuao Chocolatier. He made me a cup of the most fantastic hot chocolate I have ever had and actually took the time to sit down and talk with me while I drank it! You may think this is no big deal, but these guys were there to talk with buyers, not random bloggers. But he was the best!!

Here's their website:

www.chuaochocolatier.com

The company's mission is:

To arouse your senses with unusual, unexpected and delicious chocolate confections. Venezuelan born Master Chef and Chocolatier Michael Antonorsi lives and breathes the creative culinary process. I saw that - he is so excited and passionate about food and chocolate - it was awesome! (I have a secret crush on him.)

The samples they had at Candy Expo were their ChocoPods:

These are wafer thin chocolates shaped like cacao pods. Some are filled and some are solid. Each has only 60 calories!! They gave me one of each flavor - there are 8. I'll review 4 tonight (hey, I can only eat so much and keep my girlish figure!).

Picante - 60% dark chocolate and spicy Cabernet caramel. This had a liquid caramel filling and I didn't think I would like it - I usually don't like spicy chocolate. But this one was great - delicious. Subtle spiciness balanced by the sweetness of the chocolate and the Cabernet.

Chinita Nibs - 60% dark chocolate caramelized cacao nibs and nutmeg. This one is a solid. I loved the texture of the nibs - nice and crunchy and the nutmeg really comes through. Very unique taste. I usually think nibs are too bitter, but this balance was perfect. For some the nutmeg might be too strong, but I really enjoyed getting to taste it.

Spicy Maya - 60% dark chocolate, pasilla chile, cayenne pepper and cinnamon. Another solid. Love the cinnamon and the chocolate - the peppers give it heat, but are not overpowering. They kick in a bit after you eat the Pod. This might be my favorite of all the spicy chocolate combos. It's the cinnamon I like so much.

Candela - 60% dark chocolate and spicy macadamia nut. Okay - I am in love with this one!!! It's nutty, but not too nutty. The interior is a crunchy praline filling - YUM!!! I think what makes these so great is the balance of flavors. There is a hint of spice, but not too much. And the flavors kind of hit you in waves. Delish!!

These are fun to eat because they are like chocolate cookies, but with very complicated ingredients and flavors. I think they are perfect when you just want a really great taste of chocolate, but don't want to go crazy. I mean, we all have to keep fitting into our jeans, right?

Well, all of us except John Daly - he's got glue.

Live from Chicago - It's Candy Expo!!

Oh my God.

I am overwhelmed. I have never seen so much candy in one place in my life. My head is spinning and I have ingested enough chocolate for 10 people.

To give you an idea of how big Candy Expo is, the NCA (National Confectioners Association) press release says the Expo "encompasses nearly 10 football fields." Ten. Think how big ONE football field is. This is ten. Holy God.

Believe me, that is a lot of booths. I realized early on I was going to have to focus only on chocolate to have any chance of making it through. (Jonny and Matty I have failed you - but I do have all the scoop for next year. And Haribo had a tasting bar - like a Haribo buffet. I wept that you weren't there. We'll have to talk.)



I don't have pictures for you - they are weird about that, but I might try to take some tomorrow. Some of the booths are pretty amazing. All are colorful and gorgeous. And look how much candy I have:

Do you see that? It's amazing and disturbing all at the same time. How will I ever blog about it all? How will I make good on all the promises I made to get the samples? What if some of the nicest people have the worst candy? I do think I might have sold my soul to get candy today. Well at least part of my soul. Or maybe I just prostituted myself.

It's not that there weren't plenty of samples everywhere. It was that sometimes I really wanted the good stuff. And it's not like I'm a buyer. These people are there to make money, not deal with random motivational speakers who blog. What the hell is that about anyway? So sometimes I had to make promises. Basically I was charming people into giving me the good stuff. (Yep - I'm a chocolate 'ho.)

But let me tell you - overall - this was one great group. Master Chef Michael Antonorsi fixed me a cup of fabulous hot cocoa and sat down and talked with me about his philosophy of chocolate making! He was gracious and wonderful and brilliant and kind. The Mars representative for Seeds of Change - I will have to get her name tomorrow - gave me one of all of their full sized bars! That would be seven different flavors! We discussed distribution and positioning - it was cool! Erik Hemp and Kathleen Wells of Nestle hooked me up with their new product - Baby Ruth Crisp - which totally rocks!! You'll have to get your hands on one of these when they come out. I might have to go by and get more tomorrow. I am a sick, sick woman.

I also attended a blogger luncheon (thanks Carl and Susan) and an official Mars press conference. YAHOO!! At the press conference, they talked about their new chocolate relief act - where they are giving away free chocolate and are making all their products with real chocolate (not fake chocolate which is what's in so many candy bars today). Check out http://www.realchocolate.com/ to read more and find out about your free chocolate. It's really sad that we THINK we're getting chocolate, but some candy makers are substituting cheaper ingredients for the cocoa butter. Bastards!

All the M & M's were at the press conference (no Naked Cowboy in sight) and we all got cool give away bags with more candy. And get this!! M & M's are coming out with two new flavors - coconut and strawberry & peanut butter. They are in the bag and I'll be reviewing soon!

Snickers has a fudge bar - I also have and will be reviewing soon.

Nestle has cranberry Raisinets (although can they be Raisinets if they are cranberry?) Who cares - I'll be reviewing them also.

Dove Promises are now available in peanut butter! YUM!

Reese's Dark is coming out. Also York Peppermint Patty Pieces and Almond Joy Pieces and Hershey Special Dark Pieces. Also Hershey's Bliss will be out in white chocolate.

Tootsie Pops are out in banana - limited edition.

How cool is all of this? I also came across many companies I had never heard of. And I skipped over all the gum and snack and sour and all the other crazy candies. I snubbed Russell Stover and Palmer because you know how I feel about them. But I may go by tomorrow for the hell of it. If it wasn't chocolate, I didn't bother. It's just all too big!

I need to go through all the literature and business cards I picked up and try and put everything in some kind of order. I'll be at the Expo all day tomorrow, then I have to fly out to Alabama for a speech on Thursday. Thursday night I'll be flying back to Raleigh. So it may be a few days before I post again, but trust me, it will be worth the wait!

YAHOO!!!!

Tutti Frutti, oh Rudy

Little Richard was born in the town I grew up in - Macon, Georgia.

Today we are going to talk about chocolate with fruit flavors.

That means we have a theme song - Tutti Frutti, oh Rudy! a wop bop-a-loo-bop a wop bam boom!


Let's start with orange:

We have already reviewed Terry's Orange (the best thing about it was its cool shape and that I had to beat it with a stapler to get it to break apart into slices). As a rule, I'm not thrilled about the chocolate/orange combo. I dunno - just seems like there are sooo many better choices (I mean why pick orange when you can have caramel, peanut butter, or nuts?)

The fluorescent nightmare on the right is a teuscher Mandarin Chocolate bar http://www.teuscherfifthavenue.com/index.php I got this in their Fifth Avenue store which is decorated like a bad cross between a funeral parlor and Hello Kitty. It's actually disturbing - like five year old beauty queens. The home page of the website gives for a feel for it. This is a Swiss chocolatier, but this bar is awful. I have several of their bars, so I'm hoping the others are better. Avoid this orange wrapper like you avoid orange traffic cones.

The Lindt bar really surprised me - it actually has pieces of orange and almond slivers. And I found the chocolate richer, smoother and creamier by far than the teuscher bar. This is the best orange/chocolate combo I've tried yet. If you like orange and chocolate - this is IT! Good Golly Miss Molly!

Chuao Chocolatier makes these ChocoPods:

Great packaging! Love the shiny, metallic pink wrapper and the cacao pod shape! These were Passion - Passion Fruit Caramel. Okay - I don't know if I got a bad batch, but these tasted terrible. Maybe the passion fruit is too weird, I don't know. I just thought they tasted, well, wrong. If I see a different flavor, I'll try these again, but they were really bad. Oh Rudy!

Another Lindt bar:

This one is a 70% dark bar (delish, smooth dark chocolate) with cherry filling and supposedly with "the lingering heat of chili." My verdict? zzzzzz Boring. Too subtle on the cherry and chili. If there's a whole lotta shakin' goin' on, it ain't going on here. Pass.

Now these kind of scare me, but I'm going in:

Let's start with Crave by NewTree http://www.newtree.com/chocolates.php The chocolate was good, but I'm not a big apricot fan and the apricot flavor is pretty strong. I did like the fact that in this box are three individually wrapped bars - very nice. Here's what I don't like - they have 11 flavors - crave is one - others include forgiveness, blush, cocoon, vigor - PLEASE! Forgiveness is not a flavor! Neither is cocoon! Everybody has to have an angle, but damn! There's a whole lotta BS goin' on! (I'll try more of these, though - the chocolate was nice and smooth.)

The other two are by Dolfin (they had a great chocolate bar that was weak on the almonds, reviewed in the Nuts post). In the tan wrapper is Summer Memories, Apple Crumble - it has apple, hazelnuts, and sugarcane. Eh. Didn't do much for me. Sounds more interesting than it is. Caramel and chocolate REAL apples are soooooo much better.

The screamin' green wrapper is Fruity Escapade (okay, that's just insane - it sounds like something the Fruit of the Loom guys would be involved in). The flavors here are apple, peach and apricot. What the hell was I thinking when I bought this?

Actually it's not bad - the chocolate has so much flavor and the fruit is very subtle, so the combo is very good. There are fruit pieces in the chocolate. I like the size of this bar too - it's a 1.058 oz bar (those large Lindt bars are 3.5 oz to give you a comparison).

So far, I really like fresh fruit with chocolate best - the giant apples at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory - oh, baby!! Those are awesome!! But of these bars, my very favorite was the Lindt Intense Orange. I highly recommend this one. A wop bop-a-loo-bop a wop bam boom!

Music is a great motivator - I think we all should have a theme song. Or at least a cool fruit costume.