Thursday, February 2, 2012

Sweets for your Sweetie (or for you)

One of the great things about being a food blogger is that sometimes companies send me things to review. While it's great to work with food companies to create recipes using their products, it's a heck of a lot easier to just sample and comment. Reviews are easy. And often yummy.

With Valentine's Day rapidly approaching, I was pretty happy to get a lovely box of chocolates from Chuao Chocolatier. I'd never heard of the company, but chocolate is chocolate, right? Yeah, why would I turn that down?

In no time at all, the chocolates arrived. They were in red box with a red bow, all ready for giving. Speaking of bows, I may be the only female in the universe who cannot tie a pretty bow. They always look strangled instead of elegant. I think I got it from my mother. She seemed pretty inept about it, too. Whenever I needed a pretty bow tied, my dad would do it.
 

But I had to untie the pretty bow to get to the chocolates. Bummer, huh?

Well, no. Because they were interesting. Okay, I haven't eaten them all yet, but we've sampled enough to get an idea of what these are like. They're not the usual selections of marshmallow and cream and that weird pink gooey stuff. 
Luckily, the chocolates came with a little brochure that described them. The first one we tried was a little spicy and had a coating of popping candy. Weird stuff. Really interesting. I wasn't sure if I liked it, but it was the most interesting chocolate I've had in a long time. And it's kind of too bad there was only one in the box. I'd like to try another two or three so I could decide for sure if I like them.

Next, we sampled another spicy, smoky one. This time, no popping. I've tried spicy chocolates that I liked, and some that I didn't like. This one was good. The pepper flavor was more about spice than heat, and it was well-balanced with the sweetness of the chocolate.

And then we tried one that was filled with a banana filling. But not like that chewy taffy stuff - this was more like a roasted banana flavor. Think of bananas foster, and you're pretty close.

That's not to say that every one was quirky-cutting edge. The dulce de leche wouldn't intimidate less-adventurous choco-fiends, and some of the nutty flavors were just as friendly. Overall, something for everyone. 

I'm not going to describe every last chocolate in the box (because we haven't managed to eat all of them yet), but let's just say that this isn't your grandmother's chocolate selection. These are chocolates that make you savor the flavors instead of just chowing down like a kid with a bag of Halloween candy. My husband, who usually isn't very picky about chocolates, was impressed with these. That's saying something.

Maybe you want some chocolates for yourself? Or for your sweetheart? I don't have any for you, but the company is having a contest on its Facebook page where you can win a trip for two to San Diego, or maybe some chocolates.

Follow the link below to get there.

ChuaoChocolatier.com - Simply Irresistible

Good luck!

For the purposes of review, I received a free box of chocolates. I was not required to say nice things or to post the link to their contest.
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