Chocolove is the chocolate for lovers ... or the chocolate for chocolate lover, or something like that. Whatever or whomever you’re supposed to love, Chocolove has the tools. Each bar is wrapped like a mash note and a love poem inside the outer paper (this one was an excerpt from Dream Love by Christina Rossetti).

Nothing says deep infatuation than Chocolove’s Strong Dark Belgian 70% dark chocolate.

The bar itself is a wonderful testament to true love: it’s glossy smooth but has bumps. The scent is a heavenly mix of the woodsy and smoky chocolate flavors as well as a hint of rum. There’s no vanilla in this bar, it’s all chocolate and sugar. The melt on the tongue is smooth (the little domed piece fits really well in the roof of the mouth for maximum comfort during meltage).

It’s very buttery and has some nice dark notes to ... a little coffee but mostly just that quintissential chocolate flavor.

It’s an easy last minute gift for someone you care about ... already wrapped. They have a pretty large selection of bars, most are sold at Whole Foods, Cost Plus World Market and Target. Much better than a greeting card. They also have a limited edition Dark Chocolate with Cherries and Chilis that’s sold only at Whole Foods. I tried it at the Fancy Food Expo and though it was very interesting, the cherries weren’t really my friends. (But if you like cherries, it’s a worthy bar to give a try.)

This, I think, is the last of the candy I picked up on sale after Christmas. This was from Target during their 75% off phase. While I wouldn’t pay $8.00 for it, I was happy to pay $2, if only because I thought the jar was pretty cool. (Real glass jar, but the lid is clear plastic with a stainless steel rim.)

Peanut Butter Caramels candy, I figured, would be rather like the molasses peanut butter kisses that I like (and so many others loathe) that are sold around Halloween in orange and black waxed wrappers.

What’s especially pleasing about these is that instead of being wrapped in an opaque colored wrapper, these are in clear cellophane. You can see just what they are, a big O of caramel filled with a little spot of peanut butter.

It smells like peanut butter and tastes like it too, with a good salty, woodsy, nutty, creamy flavor ... and after you chew for a while the peanut butter dissipates and the soft chewy caramel with its buttery and caramelized sugar tones kick in.

I liked them. I like the simplicity of them, I liked the packaging. The ingredients were all natural. I loved the price. I might pay $4 for these, but I truly doubt I’d take the plunge at $8.

ALLERGEN STATEMENT [from the package]: this product may contain or have proteins derived from milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts and/or soybeans.  (emphasis mine) ... wow, talk about covering your bases! (And maybe they need to keep their factory a bit cleaner!)

There are quite a few candy craft kits out there. I often see candy jewelry kits at the 99 Cent Only store, but haven’t picked one up before because the packaging made me doubt that it was manufactured in this century. This little heart box/locket on the other hand looked bright, clean and inviting.

The “Be My Love” Edible Jewelry Kit has four compartments with three different colors/flavors of candy beads and a single white charm. The kit also features a cord to hang the whole kit from your neck (or doorknob) and an extra three feet of cord in a little bundle inside the box. The ingredients/nutrition label on the back of the package can be torn off to reveal a gift tag.

Though there’s a whole yard of cord in there, the beads only add up to about 12” of coverage. However, a careful crafter can use knots (like the way pearls are strung) to space the candy beads out and still make it feel full.

As a candy, they’re not bad, in fact they’re very cute. The beads have a glossy panned coat of colored glaze that really makes them sassier looking than their simple pastel pressed dextrose kind on those elastic strands.

Pink is strawberry
Red is cherry
White is possibly pineapple

Most bags of candy necklaces give you more candy than this little package does. However, the fact that the kid might be occupied with a craft before munching on the candy is rather attractive as treats go. The candy is also much better than some of the super cheap candy necklaces I’ve bought at the dollar stores, so I guess you get what you pay for. The little box is also nice and practical for keeping things like small barrettes or things like paper clips and thumbtacks later. (Of if you have a child who likes Polly Pocket, this could be a shoe keeper!)

Dove Jewels are a mid-range Dove confection packaged for Valentines. Inside this little red reflective cube were individually mylar wrapped chocolates. There were six varieties (two of them just solid chocolate). The packaging is attractive and the description of the candies is compelling. I’m not a huge fan of Dove chocolate, but these looked like an interesting option compared to the heart-shaped boxes I already reviewed this week.

Raspberry Truffle (magenta wrapper) - an oval shaped piece in dark chocolate. The truffle center was soft, a bit salty. On top of that (or maybe on the bottom) was a bit of raspberry jam. It didn’t have much zazz, so I didn’t catch more much more that indicated this was raspberry than a few authentic seeds.

Caramel Espresso (gold wrapper) - an oval shaped piece in dark chocolate, this had two components, a flowing caramel on the top of the center and a firm truffle-like espresso chocolate on the bottom.

Chocolate Mousse Truffle (purple wrapper) - an oval shaped piece in milk chocolate. It’s the one pictured above bitten in half. It’s sweet and mellow, not terribly chocolatey. The center has a bit of a salty taste to it that keeps the sticky sweet milk chocolate under control. A little hint of coconut flavor in the center.

Cashew Almond Crunch (green wrapper) - a round jewel piece in milk chocolate. It has a rather firm center with lots of bits of cashews & almonds and some sort of crunchy, perhaps hard nougat, stuff. This was the winner in the package (well, it’d score even higher if it was in dark chocolate), however, by the second one I had a sore throat.

While the packaging was elegant for drug store fare from Mars and of course different from the cheesy and dated heart boxes, I still wasn’t blown away by the Dove chocolate itself. I find it a bit too sweet and waxy without much chocolate bang. I did appreciate that the flavor combinations were a bit more adventurous than the usual mint, coffee, blah.

As an after Valentine’s purchase, getting these for $2 or so is probably a great deal (better than an Elmer’s box) as far as quality goes but at pre-Holiday prices, for less than $10 you can get some really good See’s candies (in whatever assortment you think will please your honey) made with Guittard chocolate and fresh, mostly natural ingredients (I think some of their fruity items use artificial colors).

I know some folks are very fond of Dove but it just doesn’t have that zing for me at this price, this was the biggest ticket item I bought for my grand Valentine’s Week (granted, all those other high-end boxed chocolates were gifts) so it did have some high standards to meet.

Related Candies

1. Dove Desserts Bananas Foster
2. Dove Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate Bars
3. Hershey’s Heart’s Desire
4. Dove Caramels & Chocolate Covered Almonds
5. Russell Stover Heart

SweeTarts are made in special shapes for just about all the holidays. You can get them for Halloween, Christmas and Easter (maybe they even do all green packages for St. Patrick’s Day) and of course they have a version for Valentines Day: SweeTarts Hearts.

The packaging and candy is pretty much a rip off of the Necco Conversation Hearts. It’s a little box that’s ready to be addressed to your Valentine with little heart shaped candies inside with sayings on them.

The mottos aren’t earthshatteringly cool, just classic little lovey-doveyness. “Hug Me” “Love Ya” “Yes” “I’m Yours” and “Kiss Me”. Unlike the other conversation hearts out there, these are not printed, the lettering is engraved (or pressed) right into the compressed dextrose tablets. The candies meet the highest quality standards too, they’re always heart shaped and perfectly formed with readable lettering (I know I’ve gotten some pretty mangled hearts before from Necco).

Besides the shape, these are just plain old SweeTarts. They are an abbreviated flavor set: Orange, Cherry and Grape. As I don’t care for the Cherry, about one third of this box was “for sharing.” Now, I’m not sure if this is the way it’s supposed to be, the package shows green and blue hearts in the design (but no yellow).

I paid $.79 cents for this box, which is a bit high. I didn’t see any larger packages of them where you could get a ten pack and have your kid give them out as Valentines or anything. But if I saw these in the 75% off bin after Valentines I might pick them up. But I miss my yellow SweeTarts.

There are quite a few small confectioners based in LA and one that I’ve visited (and reviewed) before is Boule. They have great ice cream (I love the banana) and sorbets as well as caramels, nougats and of course chocolates. Of all the things I’ve had there, the one that blew me away was the Pate de Fruit in Calamansi flavor.

Imagine my delight when one of my fellow bloggers, Joz, handed off this awesome hatbox from Boule courtesy of The Ellen DeGeneres Show. The box contained quite a few treats, including some cookies, a package of chocolate covered almonds rolled in cocoa, a box of the Pate de Fruit (which I opened and devoured the Calamansi before offering the other pieces around to my husband and neighors) and a wee little purse/box with some caramels. There were also two small boxes (6 pieces each) of Truffles.

The chocolates themselves look more like coat buttons than confections, with stripes and splashes of color and in some cases edible irridescent dustings.

While I find that attractive in a pair of earrings or beads, I don’t really find it that enticing as chocolate. No matter, they were still tasty.

As much as I admire the flavor combinations in theory, they just didn’t thrill me in practice. Some were kind of muddy and most of all they didn’t have a big chocolate boost to them - the chocolate shells were more of a delivery device for the novelty of the colors and exotic names.

I’ll continue to vist Boule for a special treat, but I’m probably going to stick to the pate and perhaps a little dish of ice cream every now and then. I have to, the retail value on this little hat box? $85.00. If you’re looking to dazzle someone for Valentine’s Day, the hatboxes are certainly splashy looking, but make sure that everything in the assortment would be appealing, otherwise it’s a waste of money. Ordering a la carte may be the way to go to assure that whatever you pick out there is exactly what you want. (If you live in the Los Angeles area they do offer local delivery with more ordering options, and I’m sure if you call them they can help you pick out a real custom fit.)

As a whole gift, this one gets a 6 out of 10.

Related Candies

1. Theo Confections
2. Charles Chocolates
3. Chuao Chocolatier
4. Boule Chocolates and Fruit Pate

I got this fabulous box of from CocoaVino as a Christmas gift. Cocovino is one of those companies that sells the story & the experience as much as the product. The pride themselves on their Eco-Forward ideals (organic ingredients, fair trade, wind powered kitchen and environmentally sensitive packaging).

The collection is simply called BonBons. The array features six different flavors arranged in pairs, each with a different chocolate and spirit/wine combination.

Bacchanal - Malbec and dark chocolate - dark and complex, it has a lot of the fruity raisin and plum flavors you’d expect from a wine grape.

Roman Holiday - espresso and Sambuca - a mild chocolate and coffee mix, nice and smooth without bitterness.

Tango Nostalgico - dulce de leche and Spanish Mintilla Moriles wine - interesting, but I don’t think the tang of the wine mixed well with the caramelized milk.

Raspberry Beret - raspberry, as you’d expect. Fragrant and fruity, a classic combo with chocolate. Not much of a tangy bite, but that’s no problem for me.

Baci al Limone - limoncello in white chocolate. I’m a big fan of limoncello (though I find it a bit too sweet and like to add some extra lemon zest to it) and of course the smoothness of a white chocolate is a great base, especially with the balance of the dark shell.

Queen of the Harvest - Sherry and dark chocolate - even darker than the other chocolates. I wasn’t able to get many of the sherry notes as they blend so well with the normal chocolate flavors. Tasty.

The other item on their site that intrigues me is their Fig Caramel. (Please chime in if you’ve tried them.)

As a Valentine’s gift, these are an excellent idea for a foodie or as a sensual gift to share with someone special. The BonBon box comes with each of the flavors in pairs, so it’s a natural idea that you could both have one and discuss the different textures and notes that you sense. They’re a bit on the expensive side (this box retails for $31) but then again everyone is getting paid a living wage and someone had to build those windmills.

There are quite a few of these puffed plastic hearts filled with candy at the stores. The shelves are packed with them. You can get plastic hearts filled with Skittles, Kissables, Reese’s Pieces ... anything that comes in little morsels.

I decided to go a bit further afield and chose a product that didn’t contain a big brand name candy. This SpongeBob SquarePants embossed heart holds Yogurt Covered Raisins (and stickers). The little saying that you can’t quite make out there next to SpongeBob is “Valentine ... let’s soak up some smiles!” (I’m sure if they could spell it they’d put his creepy laugh in there, too.)

I have to admit that I don’t watch SpongeBob that often, usually when I’m visiting my niece and nephew. (I like to ask them if each of the characters are called Crabby Pattie ... who is this Crabby Pattie? Is that Patrick’s nickname?) And that’s who I’d be tempted to buy these for.

Inside the heart was a little packet of candies and the stickers. I was pleased that the candy was further wrapped to keep it fresh, however it didn’t look that appealing, as the raisins kind of peeked through the yogurt coating, making them look dirty or scuffed. The smelled like absolutely nothing.

Upon biting into them I found that the yogurt coating was not a soft “chocolate-like” experience, but a crunchy shell. The shell itself had no real flavor, but did have a slight cooling effect on the tongue. There was a strange, gamey/musty aftertaste, which I suppose is the yogurt, but was really off. They were, um, unappealing in all respects.

The candies are under the brand label “NickTrition” which I’m guessing makes it look like it’s healthy. However, here are the ingredients: Raisins, Sugar, Partially Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil, Yogurt Powder, Titanium Dioxide, Soy Lecithin, Salt, Vanilla & Confectioner’s Glaze, Artificial Colors.

I will admit that raisins are plenty healthy. But I think the only reason there’s no listing for trans fats in the nutrition facts is because the serving size is only 20 grams. So I guess they’ve achieved the goal of balanced nutrition, because you’re really paying for a plastic box and some stickers and the nutritional benefit or hit is negligible from these candies ... if your kids eat them. I suspect you’ll find them in the cushions of the couch in a month or so.