The Pumpkin Truffle Debacle

I read my new copy of Money magazine today and there is a section asking financial experts where they are putting their money right now. Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist, Standard & Poor's Equity Research says, "...But if I did anything now, I'd be letting my emotions rule my investing decisions. I cope with the stress by eating chocolate." Yay, Sam!!!! See, dear readers, in times of stress and doubt - turn to chocolate!!

I have mentioned several times in this blog how much I love pumpkin. I really do. I love pumpkin so much that I consider canned pumpkin (not the pie mix, just the pumpkin), with a dash of pumpkin pie spice, and several tablespoons of Splenda, a delicious dessert. This is hardcore.

So I have REALLY been looking forward to today's blog. I have a spiced pumpkin truffle from Lake Champlain's fall collection, one from Godiva, and one from Knipschildt Chocolatier for Dean and Deluca.

Let's talk art first. Here are the respective packages:

I have to say I like them all, although all are very different. I love the color on the Lake Champlain box, I like the cute foil wrapped "pumpkins" of Godiva, and I love the description and the cool handmade paper looking box for the Knipschildt truffles (although the box has a closure method that looks great but is horrible in execution).

I'm excited, they all look really good, let's get them out of the boxes:

Everybody is still looking good - see the cute leave and little coil stem of the Godiva pumpkin?

Here they are all naked. The Lake Champlain truffle was the largest - also twice as big as the Knipschildt truffle. I still like them all - cute pumpkin seed on the Knipschildt, nice drizzle on Lake Champlain, cinnamon on Godiva.

Let's see what they look like on the inside:

I can really smell the pumpkin now! Although Lake Champlain doesn't look very pumpkiny. The color actually winds up reflecting the various tastes very well. Knipschildt tasted the most like pumpkin, only lightly spiced as the description on the box says. Godiva started off strong - I really liked more spice (cinnamon, nutmeg) with the pumpkin. But just as I was really enjoying it, I noticed a weird aftertaste, like sour milk. What the heck? I actually ate another one to make sure I wasn't crazy and sure enough - it was there again. What a disappointment!!

But wait, there's still Lake Champlain, the biggest truffle!! Yay! After some palate cleansing, I take a bite and the chocolate coating is definitely the best, and it is very light and fluffy, but wait....pumpkin? Where's the pumpkin? It's so subtle I can't taste the pumpkin. I check the box to make sure I got the right truffle, it says I did. I'm disappointed.

As far as pumpkin truffles go, my favorite was the Knipschildt truffle. But the truth is, I won't buy any of them again. I would buy Godiva if it didn't have that awful aftertaste or Knipschildt if it had a little more spice. Just goes to show you, you can't judge a pumpkin by it's patch!

But here's the good news! (I still have more Lake Champlain chocolate left!) and I discovered a new chocolatier: http://www.knipschildt.net/ And who can worry about the stock market when they are sampling pumpkin truffles?? Life is short! Have fun!