Saturday Sacrament, July 4, 2009

Today your Chocolate Priestess is sitting in a hotel room at another convention, but since I am on this Path to the Divine I must keep my Saturday Sacrament. Helping me do that today is an offering from Astor Chocolate, who sent me five different products to reveal to you all. Today I’ll be utilizing the first of these, their Nouveau Truffles, which are a hazelnut truffle that comes in two types: White and milk chocolate. The box they came in is lovely, as you can see to your left here, and below you can see how the wrapped truffles are displayed.
The silver foil ones are the white chocolate, and the gold foil are the milk chocolate. The foils unwrap easily, and when they do a light scent of chocolate is released. Normally I expect truffles to be half spheres or spherical in shape, but if you look to your right you’ll see that these are faceted like gems in a hexagonal pattern that measures 1.25 inches across and 0.75 in. high.
The very unique form of these is appealing to me, Sisters and Brothers, and I’m enticed to spend a few moments just studying them. As I do that I’m also allowing myself more time to breathe in their scent, and I realize something else. Much of the time I don’t think that white chocolate smells much like its milk or dark cousins -- the cocoa content is simply too low -- but these have a definite cocoa aroma feathered with the underlying hazelnut.
I bite into the white truffle first -- remember, the silver one -- and inside I find a firm milk chocolate center heavily flavored by the hazelnuts. I don’t actually feel any nuts themselves, but the next bite I let melt in my mouth to check. It takes a long time, at least two minutes, for this good bite to melt, and this allows the chocolate and hazelnuts to blend well together.
The milk chocolate has the same center when I bite into it, and interestingly it tastes sweeter than the white chocolate version, which I do not expect at all and which gives this a very different but very pleasant flavor. While the white chocolate complimented the nuttiness, this milk chocolate lingers more and pushes the flavor into a deeper nuttiness.
Both the Nouveau Truffles from Astor Chocolate taste great, but if you are allergic to nuts stay away from them. The products on the Astor website change with the season, and you can buy according to holidays, types or prices, which I think is always useful in a tight economy. I spoke with the owner, Meir, on the telephone and in email several times. His company is a family affair, and you can taste their pride and love in these truffles. I’m looking forward to trying their other products in the future, so stay tuned to read more.
Sisters and Brothers, may you too take the time to slowly appreciate what the Divine and human ingenuity have offered you in chocolate.
If you are reading in the eastern half of the Midwest, don't forget The Chocolate Cult's first CONTEST.

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