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Friday, January 30, 2009
Valerie Confections: Pour Homme and Pour Elle
At the Fancy Food Show, however, Stan & Valerie were excited to show me their new Valentine’s collections. There are three: The set called Pour Homme is for the gentleman. It has 11 pieces and comes in the dark brown box. Visually it’s dominated by large flat dark milk chocolate hearts that have fleur de sel and little almond toffee bits in them. It’s filled in with dark chocolate hearts with flowing caramel centers. The set called Pour Elle is geared towards the gals and comes in the classic ivory box. This features large flat white chocolate hearts with rose petals and the small bittersweet chocolate hearts filled with rose petal and passionfruit ganache. Both have 11 pieces and retail for $30. For folks who want to share or prefer a different assortment there are boxes of various sizes (9, 18 & 36 pieces) that hold the bittersweet ganache hearts, gianduja rocher, and bittersweet chocolate with almond toffee bits.
I’ll just run down a few of the items I tasted: Bittersweet Chocolate with Almond Toffee Bits (the smallest dark chocolate hearts shown above) - a simple pleasure. A mix of smooth bittersweet chocolate that has a glossy and smooth melt with little toffee chips and almonds. Sometimes I felt like I wasn’t getting enough toffee ... but then again, if I wanted chocolate and toffee, I could just order the chocolate covered toffee, so this piece is more about chocolate.
Bittersweet Chocolate Hearts filled with Rose Petal Passionfruit Ganache - a little petal graces the top of these pieces, but just sniffing it I could tell from the fragrance that it was the rose. The center is a white butter ganache with the tangy and tropical bite of passionfruit. The slightly soapy rose took some of the passionfruit earnestness away. There is a bit of a lingering aftertaste, kind of like jasmine. I suggest eating these last. Your dessert’s dessert. Large Rose Petal White Chocolate Hearts (shown in a small version in the picture above) - this one was a little bland for me, and I did eat it first in my tasting session because I know that white can be a bit delicate and finicky. The white chocolate was smooth and not overly sweet, with a slight malty taste of cocoa. But the floral infusion didn’t quite hit me, but did leave a fresh aftertaste.
Darkened Milk Chocolate Hearts with Almond Toffee Bits and Fleur de Sel - I want this in bar form year round. The “darkened milk chocolate” tastes like a cross between bittersweet and a European dairy milk chocolate. The dairy notes are complemented well by the toffee chips and the whole thing is set off by powerful zaps of salt in liberal reservoirs throughout.
The attention to detail in the items, with their perfectly placed decorations and well tempered chocolate is exquisite. No bubbles or voids, everything glossy and gorgeous. On the personal side of things, I go all weak in their knees for their nougat and am a little disappointed they don’t have it again this year for Valentine’s (as that’s what my Man gave me last year). But I like it when they try new things and enjoyed the darkened milk with toffee chips most of all. (So I guess I’d have to opt for the Pour Homme ... luckily the box doesn’t say anything about it being geared for fellas.)
Valerie Confections (213) 739-8149 Related Candies
POSTED BY Cybele AT 10:45 am
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Meticulously photographed and documented reviews of candy from around the world. And the occasional other sweet adventures. Open your mouth, expand your mind.
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KateC on 1/30/09 at 12:58 pm #
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Pam Walter on 2/01/09 at 2:24 pm #
Commenting is not available in this channel entry.Oh, my. I <3 Valerie’s. I visited the store last year when I came down to LA for a gluttonous chocolate tour and was fascinated to be able to watch someone dipping their toffees. I think I spoke with the/a pastry chef, who was extremely nice. I purchased the petits fours and the nougats. Wow. Amazing.
I agree about the nougat. New items are fine, but don’t do away with one of the best things around! It makes my top 5 list, easily.
I’m packing my bags immediately for the 3000 mile trip….
Yum - the rose petal chocolates reminded me of the MOST DELICIOUS piece of chocolate I have ever eaten: a rose caramel white chocolate piece from Rechuitti chocolates in SF. Have you reviewed Rechuitti before? If not, I hope you do!!
I would also recommend the sesame nougat chocolate and the marshmallow
Oh, I just drooled all over my keyboard. Oops.
I think if I sit at home on Valentine’s Day with a box of these beauties, I will be perfectly content! Who needs a man?
These are beautiful; almost too pretty to eat…almost.
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