1. California Honey – Simplicity sings in this beautiful golden California honey ganache dipped in Swiss milk chocolate.

2. Hazelnut Praline Truffle – Pure and delicious Hazelnut praline is better than ever in this luscious milk chocolate truffle.

3. Hot Dark Chocolate – This intense dark chocolate confection is infused with jalapeno pepper for a delightfully spicy sweet combination.

4. Mango – Ripe sweet mango provides a taste of paradise, which we enrobe in delicate white chocolate.

 5. Peaches and Cream – Nothing says “summer” like tart fresh peaches drenched in heavy cream and coated in white chocolate.

 6. Peanut Brittle Truffle - The buttery toffee and roasted peanuts that make peanut brittle such an all-time favorite are blended into a creamy milk chocolate truffle.

 7. Peanut Butter Banana – Back by popular demand, this confection is new again, honoring a classic flavor combination with a blend of creamy peanut butter and fresh banana covered in milk chocolate.

 8. Rum Cake – Indulge in a rich buttery dark rum-soaked cake, which we’ve blended into white chocolate ganache and covered with dark chocolate.

 9. Sweet Tea – Fresh brewed black tea and a splash of lemonade covered in white chocolate is a refreshing change from the ordinary.

 10. Tiramisu – Ciao down on creamy vanilla mascarpone and rich espresso ganache enrobed in a dark chocolate shell.

Norman Love Confections offers a total of 36 flavors year-round. In addition to the new flavors described above, the following delectable tastes are making a comeback this year:  66% Venezuelan Dark (formerly known as 70% Complexite), Almond Marzipan, Caramel Apple, Cherry Cordial Truffle, Cinnamon Roll, Coconut Truffle, Cookies ‘N’ Cream, Dark Chocolate Cream Truffle, Espresso Truffle, Florida Orange, Key Lime Shell, Milk Chocolate Truffle, Mint Chocolate Chip, New York Cheesecake, Passion Fruit, Passion Panna-Cotta, Peanut Butter, Peanut Butter & Jelly, Pistachio Cherry, Pumpkin, Raspberry, Strawberry, Tahitian Caramel, Vanilla Cupcake, White Chocolate Raspberry and White Vanilla Truffle.

For more information on these 36 flavors, special collections such as BLACK and S’more Love, Specialty Chocolates and more, visit http://www.normanloveconfections.com/.

At Norman Love Confections, we hold chocolate tastings occasionally at the Fort Myers, Florida Chocolate Salon, and we find wine is a perfect complement to our gourmet artisan chocolate creations. However, there is an art to selecting a wine and chocolate pairing. A wine can bring out the flavor notes of a fine gourmet chocolate, or it ruin the flavor by turning it bitter or sour to the taste.

Of course, discovering the combinations you enjoy most is the whole point of this activity. We suggest the following tips to help you begin your adventure in wine and chocolate pairing on your own:

The wine should be as sweet or sweeter than the chocolate served with it to avoid a bitter or sour effect.

1. A light, buttery White Chocolate should typically be paired with lighter, sweeter wines such as Sherry or White Zinfandel.
2. Milk Chocolate is usually excellent with Pinot Noir and lighter bodied Merlots, with chocolate accented desserts and mild milk chocolates better complemented by Rieslings and dessert wines.
3. Robust Dark Chocolates, such as those in Norman Love Confections BLACK™ line, are best paired with a Red Zinfandel, and Tawny or Vintage Port is best for dark chocolate desserts and Truffles.
4. If your tasting includes many different types of chocolates, start with the lightest chocolate and progressively work toward darker varieties, ending with dark or bittersweet chocolate.

Visit http://www.normanloveconfections.com/ to order a wide selection of fresh handcrafted chocolate creations, from the single-origin dark chocolate collection Norman Love Confections BLACK™ to the 36 different flavored confections available year-round.

Please share your favorite Norman Love Confections chocolate and wine pairings here for others to try!

The facts about BLACK
BLACK was inspired by the growing demand for dark chocolate. Norman Love Confections’ signature line already included many delicious dark chocolate confections, but BLACK is unique as a pure dark chocolate confection, with no additional flavors to distract the palate from the special character of each chocolate. On Sept. 1, Norman Love Confections will hold a BLACK Tasting, led by an expert artisan, to help aficionados explore and discover the nuances of each origin confection. Here is a summary of what they will experience:

Each of the five confections in the BLACK collection derives its distinct flavor based upon the origin of the cocoa means used in its creation and what percentage of pure cocoa it contains. Just as with single-vineyard wines, the flavor of an origin chocolate depends on a variety of conditions unique to the place in which the cocoa beans used to make it are grown. Here is a detailed description of the five origin chocolates in the BLACK line:

• 74 percent Hacienda Elvesia, an elegant, robust chocolate with notes of black tea and a hint of tobacco made with beans from the Dominican Republic. The processing method produces a fruity note that is sustained by a refreshing hint of orange and a splash of grapefruit.
• 72 percent Arriba, made with cocoa beans of the prized Nacional from Arriba Mocache, Los Rios, Ecuador. This chocolate’s flavor is enhanced by intense coffee and licorice fragrances. A gentle processing technique gives rise to an intense dried plum bouquet and a long finish of flowery black currants.
• 68 percent Cru Sauvage, the world’s first chocolate made from beans harvested from wild cacao trees growing in the Beni region of north-eastern Bolivia. This harmonious chocolate possesses fresh lemon and grapefruit notes, an intense dried plum bouquet, and an exquisite hint of vanilla.
• 65 percent Maracaibo Clasificado, made with noble criollo cocoa from the vicinity of Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela. This well-balanced chocolate is enhanced by coffee and plum aromas with an undercurrent of orange blossom and cinnamon, possessing a light, sweet raisin bouquet.
• 64 percent Madagascar, made with cocoa beans of the trinitario variety from Sambirano, Madagascar, an island off the southeast coast of Africa. This is a fruity chocolate with a roasted hazelnut aroma and wild berry notes as well as a subtle hint of clove and cedar.

Quality in every detail
BLACK features confections made with five signature couvertures (from the French word for ‘cover’). These couvertures are made by the well-respected Swiss supplier Max Felchlin AG, a 100-year-old boutique manufacturer recognized internationally for their high quality cocoa products.

Handcrafted at the Chocolate Salon in Fort Myers, Florida and individually decorated with captivating colors and designs, the BLACK confections are available for purchase in the Chocolate Salon and online at www.normanloveconfections.com in five-piece, 10-piece and 15-piece boxes, as well as in gift baskets. BLACK sipping chocolate is also available for in store and online purchase and is incorporated into beautifully decorated BLACK-themed gift baskets.

“Norman has long been known for high quality work that combines a distinctive style of decoration with classic flavors,” says Clay Gordon, author of the 2008 IACP Cookbook of the Year finalist Discover Chocolate, and moderator of the online community for chocophiles, www.TheChocolateLife.com. “In BLACK, Norman is using everything he has learned about the techniques of making fine confections and focusing his attention to creating pieces that are all about delivering the flavors and textures of the remarkable chocolates he’s using with finesse and maximum impact, if you can imagine such a combination. It is no coincidence that he’s chosen to use Felchlin chocolates for BLACK; I and many others regard the Hacienda Elvesia and Cru Sauvage to be two of the finest chocolates to have been created in the last five years.”

Health benefits of dark chocolate
Chocolate has long been known to soothe the soul but more recently it has also been scientifically proven to help the heart. Dark chocolate contains antioxidants known as flavanols that destroy free radicals, which have been implicated in heart disease. Dark chocolate also contains endorphins, the body’s natural opiates, which provide a feeling of well-being and reduce sensitivity to pain. Another element, the amino acid tryptophan, produces serotonin in the brain, promoting feelings of calm and well-being. And, according to a report in The Journal of the American Medical Association, dark chocolate can help lower blood pressure in a way that milk and white chocolates do not.

Due to the high cocoa mass in BLACK confections, it is an excellent source of the ingredient responsible for reported health benefits. Do you agree dark chocolate is good for your health or do you just enjoy the taste? Tell us why you like BLACK. To experience the BLACK line visit: http://www.normanloveconfections.com/store/BLACK-Single-Origin-Chocolate/

…a gift from Norman Love Confections is a great way to say “I LOVE you” this Father’s Day.

Our signature gift boxes provide an assortment of dark, milk and white gourmet chocolate confections in quantities of 5, 10, 15, 25 and 50 pieces.

Sleek gift baskets include the Chocolate Lovers Gift Basket, as well as the Euro-Style Sipping Chocolate Basket and Dark Chocolate Deluxe Gift Basket featuring the ultra-premium BLACK dark chocolate line.

Gift certificates and chocolate specialties also make excellent gifts for Dad, and there are sugar-free selections as well.

This Father’s Day, remember: real men LOVE chocolate!

Be sure to order online by 2pm today, or stop by Our Salon.

Enjoy!

…Anne Schuette, who was born on April 7th, 1905!

Anne lives with her daughter and family in Fort Myers (and in Illinois), and here she is enjoying our Norman Love Confections cake and gourmet chocolate for her 105th birthday!

Thanks for sharing your photos Anne & family!

- Norman

]]> http://www.gourmetchocolatelove.com/a-gourmet-chocolate-birthday-meet-our-oldest-customer/feed/ 3 http://www.gourmetchocolatelove.com/gourmet-chocolate-project-panama-truffles/ http://www.gourmetchocolatelove.com/gourmet-chocolate-project-panama-truffles/#comments Mon, 03 May 2010 21:08:57 +0000 Norman http://www.gourmetchocolatelove.com/?p=382 Now here’s a fun and interesting use of our Gourmet Chocolate!

Maura, our Production Manager, worked with Jennifer Hicks (and her staff) of the North Carolina Museum of Art to create a gourmet chocolate version of the Kirchner’s Panama Dancers painting!

Using 2,400 flat, square shaped Norman Love Confections dark chocolate shells filled with Tahitian Vanilla Ganache, they recreated the painting.

We used 12 colors to produce the 2,400 pieces, and then mixed and matched the colors out of cocoa butter — airbrushing them to match the painting.

They assembled the piece in the studio at the end of April (here’s the video!)

Panama Truffles from The North Carolina Museum of Art on Vimeo.

The event was on Thursday, April 29th, and the guests were allowed to eat the chocolates during the evening, uncovering the artwork underneath!

Here’s a funny photo of the male servers passing the extra chocolates out in tutu’s to match the girls!

Thinking of Gourmet Chocolate?  Be sure to check out all of our offerings on our web site at www.NormanLoveConfections.com.

Gourmet Chocolate Collection!

Our Mother’s Day Gifts feature 8 Special Heart Shaped Flavors:

1. 70% Dark Complexite
2. Cookies ‘n’ Cream
3. Passion Fruit
4. Strawberry
5. Tahitian Caramel
6. Vanilla Cupcake
7. Vanilla Latte
8. White Chocolate Raspberry

Learn more about our Mother’s Day Gourmet Chocolate Collection, or visit our Online Store to see our Mother’s Day gift boxes.

Enjoy,

Norman

How about taking a “sip” around the world, with our BLACK sipping chocolates?

What a perfect way to warm up during these cold winter days…

The culinary adventure continues with our gourmet collection of sipping chocolates –

Fill your cup with the ultra-premium flavor of dark chocolate from the world’s five premium growing regions and experience the exotic and deeply satisfying flavors of rare Criollo and Trinitario beans from:

• The Dominican Republic,
• Ecuador,
• Bolivia,
• Venezuela and
• Madagascar

and manufactured by Max Felchlin.

Each tin of sipping chocolates contains one of the five flavors in the BLACK collection:

1. Hacienda Elvesia,
2. Arriba,
3. Cru Sauvage,
4. Maracaibo Clasificado and
5. Madagascar.

You can learn more about each of these delicious flavors on the BLACK Single Origin Dark Chocolate section of our web site.

For the ultimate exploration of BLACK, try both the BLACK artisan confections and sipping chocolates together!

Whether you’re interested in our BLACK Sipping Chocolates, or our BLACK single-origin chocolate confections, you can order both on our web site, or stop by Our Salon for a taste test!

Enjoy!

it has a cocoa mass of 68%, which puts in the middle of our BLACK Single-Origin Dark Chocolate selection.

Its flavor profile:

shows it’s less bitter than the previous two dark chocolates I reviewed – Arriba with a 72% cocoa mass, and Hacienda Envesia with a 74% cocoa mass.

Cru Sauvage is the world’s first chocolate made from beans harvested from wild cacao trees growing in the Beni region of north-eastern Bolivia. This harmonious chocolate possesses fresh lemon and grapefruit notes, an intense dried plum bouquet, and an exquisite hint of vanilla.

It is available with all of our other Ultra-Premium BLACK chocolates in our BLACK Gift Boxes (in 5, 10 and 15 piece boxes), and in our BLACK Sipping Chocolates on our web site, or in our Salon.

Enjoy!

has the second highest cocoa mass of our BLACK Single-Origin Dark Chocolate selection.

It’s Arriba with a 72% Cocoa Mass, and here is its flavor profile:

You’ll notice as we reduce the cocoa mass, the sweetness starts to increase while the bitterness decreases.

This dark chocolate is made with cocoa beans from the prized Nacional from Arriba Mocache, Los Rios, Ecuador, and its flavor is enhanced by intense coffee and licorice fragrances. A gentle processing technique gives rise to an intense dried plum bouquet and a long finish of flowery black currants.

Arriba is available with all of our other Ultra-Premium BLACK chocolates in our BLACK Gift Boxes (in 5, 10 and 15 piece boxes), and in our BLACK Sipping Chocolates on our web site, or in our Salon.

Enjoy!