Tag: Franceschi

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Chocolate Week 2016

It’s Chocolate Week! In the UK.  I’m not in the UK and have never been to the UK and maybe never will have a chance to visit the UK.  But that’s ok. I have assured myself it can still be Chocolate Week.  Not only that, but I’m sure it’s fine if you pretend it’s Chocolate Week too. Even if you’re not in the UK either.

Speaking of chocolate and weeks, there’s been a lot of chocolate happenings going on at my house in the past few weeks.

#1.  There was that Saturday I made Oreo Truffles, Mint Thins, AND Smores Bark… all in one day.

oreo-truffles-and-mint-thins-and-smores-bark
Yeah.  That was pretty epic.

#2. Ever heard of Funny-Faced Fudge?  I hadn’t either.  It started out as rather normal looking fudge that was placed in the fridge to set up. (Back story: The idea was that if some semi-waxy milk chocolate the boys weren’t eating (or at least they weren’t eating as fast as they normally eat milk chocolate) was melted together with a particularly strong brand of sweetened condensed milk that it might turn into a decent fudge.  Let’s just say it was edible and leave it at that.)  When the pan was retrieved hours later, we were amused to find somebody had scratched a funny face into the top. Sorry, no pictures.  It was evening and my no-natural-lighting picture-taking capabilities are shaky at best.

(I’m sure my brother just snorted when he read this.  Fine.  My no-natural-lighting picture taking capabilities are non-existent.)

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Franceschi Chocolate Comes Home

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine informed me that her son had brought her a chocolate bar all the way from the ‘States. She said it was a special chocolate that had won an international award, and wanted to know if I wanted a photo of it.

Of course I did. New chocolates aren’t easy to come by. Unless the local stores surprise me, acquiring most brands or new flavors of chocolate is a tricky process. It involves finding a site that even ships here, ordering it online, and hoping it doesn’t melt during its journey.   (I can’t do that all the time; it turns out that chocolate can be a rather expensive habit!)

I was mystified as to which chocolate it would be, and from which far-away place that it would be from. A celebrated hand-crafted bean-to-bar chocolate made in the USA? Or perhaps highly acclaimed European bar?

When the chocolate arrived at my house to have its picture taken, I had to chuckle.

Behold, Franceschi Chocolate, 70% Dark:

Franceschi Chocolate Comes Home to Venezuela

Award-winning chocolate, yes. Very fine tasting chocolate, without a doubt.

But it is hardly from a faraway place.   This chocolate had been transported back to the place of its birth; Franceschi Chocolate is Venezuelan.

We sampled this chocolate immediately after taking a few pictures of it, despite the fact it was before lunch. (Mom, if you’re reading this: I know you always said “no candy before lunch”.   But since chocolate comes from cocoa beans (beans are vegetables) and sugar comes from a beet (which is also a vegetable), I think it was okay. You never said anything about not eating vegetables before lunch.)

Franceschi Chocolate Comes Home to Venezuela, Unwrapped

I enjoyed my taste of this delicate, velvety smooth dark chocolate. Since I do not have any formal training or experience tasting and naming the flavors or “notes” contained within each bar of fine chocolate, I won’t try to give my opinion on the exact flavor.

You’ll have to find this, try it for yourself, and see what you think!