Chocolate of the Day:
Lillie Belle Farms
Pear Ginger Chocolate
Good + - Very Good
Weight: .6 oz. (16.98 g.) (estimate) in 1 piece
Cost: $2.00 for 1 piece
Calories: 90 calories (estimate) in 1 piece
Purchased from: Lillie Belle Farms, Central Point, OR
This week is all about Chocolate and Ginger. Ginger is one of my favorite food items to pair with dark chocolate.
Ginger stands up to, and still harmonizes with, dark chocolate. Many more delicate items are overwhelmed by chocolate, especially dark chocolate. For a simple shotglass dessert*, it's hard to beat a small scoop of high-quality vanilla ice cream topped with dark chocolate sauce and candied ginger.
I recently visited the Rogue Valley in Oregon, home to wonderful pears (home to Harry and David, and many a pear orchard), and cheeses (Rogue Valley Creamery smokey blue cheese, and cheddars). Within a few dozen steps of the Rogue Creamery is the lavender colored building that houses Lillie Belle Farm chocolates (Central Point, OR). A few years ago, I featured a blue cheese chocolate truffle from Lillie Belle Farms (made in partnership with Rogue Creamery). Don't knock it, it's better than it sounds.
Where am I going with all this chocolate and cheese talk? First, pears and cheese and ginger (or quince paste or honeycomb) are natural companions on a cheese plate. And, why not roll these wonderful flavors into a chocolate? As it turns out today's chocolate does just this. Second, this is a good time to talk about an upcoming Chocolate and Cheese/Dairy Week, I'm planning a few weeks. (If you have ideas, let me know.)
Today's unique chocolate started with a fresh, flavorful and incredibly moist dried pear half, rolled around roasted/toasted almonds. Enrobed in dark chocolate, this rolled pear confection was then topped with a thin stripe of candied ginger.
*For more information, see my Shotglass Dessert Gallery, coming soon.
Chocolate of the Day: 
Purchased from: The Oakland Chocolate Co., Oakland, CA
