- February 5th, 2016
- Comments Off on 2016 Valentine’s Day Gift Guide – Traditional
Valentine’s day is a day steeped in love, chocolate and candy – and that is more than okay with us! Sometimes you need that kind of thing and what more perfect time than in the doldrums of late winter? For Valentine’s Day, we handpicked a pretty wonderful selection of goods this year and even whipped up a couple of our own. What are you waiting for? Dig in!
First up – a heavily brooded over chocolate from Brooklyn. Focused on keeping as much of the rich chocolate goodness and bright flavor; Fine & Raw capture the essence by roasting low and slow. Most chocolate is roasted at super-high heat over a short period of time to reach the desired roast fast. Fine and Raw roasts low and slow – locking in the layers of goodness that are usually blasted off with the high heat. For this box of goods, Fine & Raw uses that delicate chocolate and crafts mini-truffles that rock socks. What is not to love?
Few things are more romantic than dipping things in warmed chocolate. Thankfully the Aux Anysetiers du Roy folks in France make these adorable ceramic (reusable) containers filled with delicious chocolate. Our pick for this valentine’s day? 70% Dark with raspberry – a nice bitter chocolate with little kisses of tart raspberry. Dip or be dipped.
The easiest and fastest way to say “kiss me” is with Veruca‘s Kiss Me Caramels, heck it’s right in the name. Don’t worry if you don’t have anyone to share with or give a box to, you’ll want to give the chocolate a smooch and nibble. Get, give, or devour locally made – delicious sweets to your sweet.
We at Southport Grocery have been long-time fans of TCHO and wanted to make sure one of their big squares made it onto this list. For our pick for Valentine’s day – TCHO’s Strawberry Rhubarb Pie bar comes with a mouthful of actual pie flavor, heck they even put the pie dough in there. It’s basically as if they took a pie slice and dipped it in chocolate – fantastic stuff.
Zingerman’s knows candy and they’ve shipped a couple of great boxes of wonderful goods. One is a 4-pack of their stupendous ZZang candy bars, coming with one of each of the Original, Ca$hew Cow, What the Fudge?, and Wowza. Each ZZaang bar could stand on their own as delicious candy-gifts. Got a big brittle fan that took your hand? Zingerman’s could be some of the best stuff we’ve ever had, then they slather the pieces in chocolate. Easiest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach and candy is a low entry point to get there!
Have a bit more of a sophisticated chocolate lover? Mast Brothers are the pioneer of ‘bean to bar’. We like the Goat Milk version for Valentine’s day because it’s got a little bit of that great grassy flavor that makes goat milk what it is – delicious.
Need to add a little bit of sweetness to an already rock-star gift? Or just want a taste of something sweet and valentine’s day themed? We bagged up a couple of our favorites – mixed gummies & chocolate caramel hearts. Our team also whipped up our newest Valentine’s day creation – hot chocolate fudge sticks. A simple thing of chocolate covered fudge that transforms any milk (or milk-like product) into a sweet retreat.
An elegant chocolate bar from Sucre would also fit into any Valentine’s gift. Real candied rose petal and Sicilian pistachio are at once delicate and crunchy. The perfect gift or anyone with a little bit of a sweet tooth.
Dough Dough Bird makes our favorite gingerbread cookies – light and chewy with a punch of ginger with yummy sugar frosting – then they went and made them even more darling. They use the same soft gingerbread recipe but for Valentine’s Day Heart n’ Soul Pack they cut them into the cutest heart-shapes with varying amounts of pink. Impossible to ignore – a lot like your love perhaps?
If you want to get more serious – locally made Indulgence Chocolatiers whipped up a few boxes of Aphrodisiac Inspired Truffles. You can use your imagination about what flavors they’ll bring to the party, just like you should be doing about your date when nibbling on these hand-made creations.
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