Friday, May 11, 2007

Call me a snob



There are a few things about which I might be said to have snobbish tastes:
--Shoes (just can't buy the cheap ones anymore, and it's only partially due to my fallen arches)
--Perfume (don't get me started about how the classic old perfumes have been reformulated to use cheaper ingredients. Chanel is one exception. Ormonde Jayne uses stunningly high quality ingredients, especially for the price.)
--Chocolate

I don't seek out the most expensive or gorgeously packaged chocolate, but I'm pretty picky about chocolate, I only eat the dark stuff, and my 3 favorites are quite hard to find. They are bars from:
Burdick's
Kingsbury
Kallari

I feel the last one especially marks me as a snob. It's a chocolate bar produced by a very small Ecuador-based co-op. I bought two of their bars at the GreenFest in DC last year. I gave one to HS, and when I ate mine a few days later, I was blown away by the aroma, texture, taste--the whole package. I then tried to deviously score myself another bar.
Me: Did you try that Kallari chocolate bar yet?
HS: Yeah, it was great!
Me: (damn)

It took me a few months to track down a means to order more Kallari, but I finally was put in touch with a woman in Pennsylvania. I ordered 15 bars, and hoard them jealously. However, today I am mailing out a chocolate care package for my pregnant friend Pam. Shown above are 2 of the 3 bars that she'll receive.

Kingsbury chocolates is closer to home, fortunately. I love the bar shown above, which is dark choco with tamari-flavored almonds and coarse salt. They also have a delicious bar with dried chipotles and chinese 5-spice powder.

Is it chocolate time yet?

1 comment:

L.Augustine said...

Have you tried out Green and Black's? Their chocolate can be pretty heavenly. By the way, I'm a chocolate and perfume fuss same as you.
I make my own perfumes, but chocolate... I'm not sure if I could grow cocoa beans here.