Sugar Savvy

One of the highlights of my annual trip to New York City is a stop at Jacques Torres Chocolates. In a weak, chocolate-indulged moment I actually signed up for his email mailing list. This means I get to torture myself several times a year with news of his seasonal specials and other goodies, […]

According to Wikipedia, chocolate truffles received their name because their color and texture are similar to that of the (considerably more expensive!) fungus. Chocolate truffles typically have a thin shell of chocolate coating and a soft creamy chocolate center.

Compared to many other chocolates and candies, truffles are a bit of an elegant indulgence, which […]

Glaced Ginger
This week The Chocolate Box will be taking a bite out of See’s Candy’s glaced ginger. For a very full explanation of why I chose See’s Candy, and why I get to be the one to taste a different piece or two every week, please see the Author’s Note at the first See’s […]

Valentine’s Day usually brings at least two things to mind for most people: romance and candy. And for a true sweet tooth, candy might just beat out romance. Every year, store displays fill up with a vast selection of different types of sugary stuff for your Valentine’s indulgence.
Besides the big cheesy heart-shaped box […]

I spent Sunday at the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. I am working on several roundups for Sugar Savvy, but I wanted to share some observations:
1. Peppermint bark of one kind or another seemed to be everywhere.
2. Mango and passionfruit are up and coming flavors for chocolate fillings, but some of […]

Faith Kramer lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, but will always be a New Yorker at heart (at least until she loses the accent). She has eaten her way across England, France, Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, Austria and Vietnam, as well as the U.S. and Canada, and even now is plotting at least three […]

See’s Milk and Dark Bordeaux
Author’s Note: See’s Candy has 200 shops in 16 states. It offers 100 varieties of chocolate candies and other confections, many of them available for purchase by the piece. This one fact has determined the course of my life more than any other event except for maybe meeting […]

Le chocolat Africain at Angélina - does it live up to the hype?
Open almost any guidebook for Paris and you inevitably find a listing for this venerable salon du thé on Rue de Rivoli, facing the Tuileries. However, it’s not tea that draws hoards of people to this food landmark in Paris. Rather, […]

One of the many great things about candy is how much sense memory it brings to an individual. When I think about Reese’s Cups, I’m instantaneously transported to my youth, vividly recalling stacking up the dozens of single packaged cups that I had acquired after a night of trick or treating.
I remember the smell […]

Recently, I assigned myself the task of evaluating several brands of milk chocolate. I decided to try bars made by Lindt, Scharffen Berger and Ghirardelli. I was especially eager to sample the Scharffen Berger milk chocolate, as I’ve heard so many wonderful things about the brand. Scharffen Berger was founded in the […]