kokoro chocolate

I recently read about Kokoro chocolate and I am loving this cute brand.  Based in Belgium, Kokoro chocolate makes beautiful, mouth-watering chocolates which have some pretty stylish packaging if you ask me.   The chocolate flavours are innovative as well ranging from white chocolate sake pearls and dark chocolate piemonte hazelnut to dark chocolate fleur de sel citrus confit and dark chocolate mint passionfruit.

The website is also great.  On the home page, when you scroll over a chocolate, the chocolate breaks and you get to see what is inside; every chocolate eater’s favourite part.

via trendpress online

Boaboca Gourmet

Boa Boca Gourmet is Portugal’s answer to food meets design.  What began as a project back in 2004 in Evora, Portugal has landed the original team of five international design awards and recognition for the company’s design focused packaging and high quality products.  Boa Boca Gourmet makes chocolate, cookies, dried fruits, coffee, tea and liquor and are currently sold at the Boa Boca store in Portugal, as well as in Scotland, Amsterdam, Los Angeles, Barcelona and Buchareste.    What is notable about Boa Boca’s products is that a lot of care and time are put into the selection of ingredients and baking.  For example, the cookies, made by hand in Alentejo (south Portugal) come from an old recipe and all the ingredients are natural and baked in a firewood oven.

New Chocolate Shop on Dundas West: Odile Chocolat

I was having brunch with my father on the weekend on Dundas West at Musa.  While we were walking back to the car, we stumbled across a tiny store front that I thought was under renovations.  What caught my eye to make me think otherwise, the chocolate and colourful logo in the window.  I couldn’t just walk by this little gem so I dragged my dad in the store for a peak and a sample . What I discovered: Odile Chatelain, owner and chocolate maker extraordinaire has been making chocolate all her life in one way or another.  This is her first retail location but she has been selling her confections for years.

If you are downtown and are craving something sweet, stop by and say hi to Odile.  Her confections are tasty and beautiful.  Great if you want to colour coordinate chocolate for an event.   I took a couple pictures of some of the chocolates I purchased from the store.

Odile Chocolat 829 Dundas Street West

Odile Chocolat Truffle Mexicana

Odile Chocolat Truffle Gentleman

Odile Chocolat Fleur de sel Caramel

Odile Logo

Organic Chocolate Treat

Today I went to a wine, chocolate and cheese pairing at Kakayo Chocolate Company where owner, Colleen Wong-Sala, graciously treated her guests to a tantalizing array of organic chocolate truffles. 

(photo courtesy of sweetspot.ca)

We began by pairing a white chocolate matcha green tea truffle with goat cheese and a fruity sparkling wine.   To participate in the tasting, guests were instructed to lick the cheese to coat our tongue (this gave a couple of us the giggles- the thought of licking cheese is a bit odd but surprisingly effective/fun) followed by a bite of the truffle, a full bite of the cheese and then a sip wine. 

After moving from white to dark chocolate filled with a spicy Mexican chili ganache and a glass of Zig Zag Zin and Beringer’s Third Century North Coast Cabernet Sauvignon, guests were gifted with more truffles and were out the door. 

The quality of the organic chocolate was superb.  Flavour combinations innovative and what’s best is that the chocolate be customized. 

If you are in the market for some chocolate to serve guests at an event or to treat yourself, I would recommend stopping by Kakayo.  I really enjoyed it.

Kakayo Truffles

Cocoa Room Dragees Revisited

What on earth is a dragee?” a friend recently asked while walking into a home accessory and gift store on a recent outing in Toronto. 

She was referring to the colourful box of Cocoa Room dragees resting on the checkout counter. 

If you are not familiar with dragees, they are a a type of candy that can be used as decoration, hold symbolic meaning (fertility/abundance) at an event or for pure eating pleasure.   Dragees have taken on many forms over the centuries including almonds coated in honey, sugar to the more recent Smarties-like candy coating.  

The dragee downside is that they used to taste sickeningly sweet and were not very attractive.  The pastel looking almonds came with a matte finish, looked like an almond (not very imaginative) and overall, were in need of a makeover.  Exit stage left!

Enter stage right, the Cocoa Room (no drama).  This Chicago based company quietly crept onto the scene a couple years ago, glamed up the dragee colours (from matte to gloss), changed the product mix, the expanded the flavours, revamped the packaging and gave other dragee makers a run for their money.  This fabulous brand offers both monochromatic and colourful blends of chocolate covered almonds, sunflower seeds, peanuts, pistachios, dried cherries just to name a few, got the ’O-List’ endorsement from Oprah are incredibly addictive to eat.   

For more information on how to gift, buy, taste or decorate Cocoa Room dragees, check out their website. 

Happy celebrating.