Warning: this post is about food. If all you care about is perfume, come back tomorrow, when we'll almost certainly be talking about perfume again.
I think I've mentioned before that I like chocolate. I do. Very much. I've explored a few chocolate perfumes, but relatively few perfumed chocolates. Dagoba makes a lovely dark chocolate bar with lavender and blueberries, and perhaps that qualifies? But the Chocolat Parfumé line at Desire in Sunlight might be the closest I've come to blending my two biggest addictions. The line comes in two forms combining Guittard chocolate with floral essences: "creamy flowing chocolate" (essentially a thick sauce or thin ganache, made with organic dairy cream) and truffles.
I literally swooned over my first bite of the Chocolat Jasmin ganache. It tastes exactly like it sounds: rich, creamy dark chocolate underscored with a beautifully lush and full jasmine. The aftertaste is more jasmine than chocolate, and is something close to heaven. If you're not used to eating flowers, the taste might seem odd at first — "like eating perfume", my husband announced after his first (and only) bite. Is there anything more perfect than a really fabulous chocolate product that nobody in your household will eat but you, and that therefore does not necessitate guarding? I drink jasmine tea every day (usually Yin Hao Jasmine by Upton Tea), so the taste wasn't at all unusual to me, and I'd venture to guess that serious jasmine fanatics won't have much trouble getting used to the idea.
The Desire in Sunlight website offers a few recipe suggestions for their products, and for the jasmine, recommends pouring the chocolate over fresh figs. A really good cook would undoubtedly come up with other delicious ideas, but since a) I'm incredibly lazy and b) I will go to any lengths to avoid actual food preparation, even if all it involves is pouring one food item over another food item, I just ate the entire jar with a spoon. Not at one sitting, mind you, but hey, the stuff doesn't keep forever. I made pretty short work of it.
The Desire in Sunlight chocolates will keep 4-6 weeks, refrigerated. They can be shipped from parfums.desireinsunlight.net (in Seattle) via 2 day mail in cooler temperatures, otherwise, overnight shipping is best. The Jasmin Chocolat is $18 for 6 oz or $24 for 9 oz. Other flavors: Lavender, Lime, Frangipani, Tuberose, Vervain and Blue Lotus. The chocolate truffles (which I have not tried) are available in Tuberose, Lotus and Jasmin.
Have other floral-chocolate recommendations? Do comment!
Note: images via Wikipedia.
Oh lordy, woman, I am swooning! I can envision eating chocolate bars and truffles of this stuff, but I'm also thinking ice cream sundaes, even room sprays!
I can almost taste the chocolate-jasmine because I like jasmine teas, too. I can't quite get my mouth around the chocolate-frangipani or tuberose, but I am game!
Hugs!
Swoon is right! What a delicious subject. Reminds me of the candied violets — real, fresh, organic , heady with flavor and scent — the fancy food store nearby me sells, sprinkled over excellent bittersweet chocolate ice cream. (Sounds like your namesake, violetnoir!) And now I'm yearning for a steaming cup of jasmine tea at my “coffee” break, R. Thanks for brightening our day.
R (violetnoir), seriously, you would love this stuff! I did try the frangipani, and it is nice but didn't make me swoon nearly as much as the jasmine. I'm not even sure I recognize the taste as frangipani, really. Dying to try the tuberose, and the lime is appealing too.
And now I want a chocolate bar with real jasmine tea leaves in it, sort of like my (much loved) Dolfin Chocolat Noir Au The Earl Grey, which by the way my husband also finds disgusting
R, Violetnoir above is also Robin, so this *is* confusing! And now I want a lovely sundae of bittersweet chocolate ice cream sprinkled w/ candied violets…
Want to clarify — when I said “not sure I even recognize the taste as frangipani”, part of that is that I don't know what frangipani tastes like. But to me, jasmine tea is instantly recognizeable as jasmine — e.g., as the same stuff you smell in a jasmine perfume. I didn't find that to be true of the frangipani.
Love perfume, Loooove chocolate, just not combined. Chocolate notes in perfume make me queasy, and perfumed chocolate would probably taste perfumey (like chocolatey soap?).
But I'm curious about the lime. Is it actual lime, or is it lime blossom (tilluel)? The citrus lime might be kind of interesting!
The site says “tangy light floral” but it also says “citrus”, so perhaps it is both??
I'm also reminded that rose is another floral note that is found in flavourings. Rosewater makes the most beautiful Indian yogurt and honey “lassi” and the little golden, syrup-soaked dessert balls called “galub jamun.” And remember that gorgeous Mexican roast chicken in Like Water for Chocolate, strewn with a confetti of huge, fresh yellow (pink? can't remember) rose petals???? That's how she was seducing herself a husband. . .
Oh, that sounds so enticing! I can taste it too. I've spent a couple minutes trying to come up with another flower that sound tasty and drawing a blank, though. Which is odd. If I liked rose better I'd probably be more excited about rose, but …
what I really need is a wife.
How do you feel in general about unusual flavored/filled chocolates? For as much as I like chocolate, those artisanal matcha tea things and what have you leave me sort of cold. There's a famous choclatier in Paris and I was embarrassed that almost nothing appealed…
And what do you eat for dinner if you don't cook? Looking for helpful hints
I do like rose petal jam, but hate those galub jamun thingies. Never saw Like Water for Chocolate, but did read the book. I'm sure she could steal my husband in a second…
I kind of like weird things in chocolate. But won't pay “famous choclatier in Paris” kind of prices for them
We need a wife around here BADLY. My husband grills a lot, and we eat lots of throw-together kind of meals from Trader Joe's, and every so often I'm forced to cook something vaguely homemade. My son's two favorite meals are from the freezer: the fake soy protein corn dogs by Morningstar Farms and Stouffer's Mac n cheese. Isn't that sad?
Heh, you know as your resident foodie I have to throw my hat in here.
For weird choc, have you had wasabi-filled choc? WEIRD! Don't recommend it. There's bacon choc now, but kill me the day there's a bacon note in perfume. I drink quite a bit of jasmine tea, so I can probably dig jasmine choc, but the whole eating-perfume thing is a bit over the top for me. I love lavender, but I made a shortbread once and the outcome was less than spectacular. I am an osmanthus freak, so I bought osmanthus blossom tea. Bleahgh. Sorry. Not tea. I'm a Proust freak wanna be, so I also bought linden tea. Bleahgh. Sorry. Not tea. While traveling in Turkey I had quite a bit of desserts flavored with rosewater, but I swear it smells like ten pounds of sugar up your nostrils. I've had violet encrusted with sugar and it tastes like, surprise, sugar.
BTW you *must* get Like Water for Choc, one of the greatest foodie film evah.
They had brag day at school once when Diva was in first grade. She was so proud: she told the teacher and the class that I made the BEST Annie's mac-and-cheese in the world!
Not sad. We eat a lot of TJs. I generally dispose of the packaging, hoping to get away with the appearance of homemade… hey, I heated it up on the stove, didn't I? I would be more excited about cooking (I actually cooked from Gourmet for years) if everyone weren't so picky.
LOL — Annie's!
And I used to adore cooking too. I have an impressive cookbook library, and still read food blogs, but once I had a family and HAD to provide 3 meals a day, cooking lost all its luster and became just another annoying chore.
When my son was 5, I told him we would make cupcakes that he could take into school for his birthday, and being entirely unaware that you could actually produce baked goods in your own home, he asked “Do we buy muffins and cut off the tops and put on icing?”
I hate wasabi anyway, so not likely! But I know there is a bacon bar — is it a Vosges? Haven't tried it.
But Ten Ren's Osmanthus Supreme oolong is fab — is that what you tried? They have a cheaper osmanthus oolong that isn't as good. I will agree on linden tea — I've hated every one I've tried.
And better than Babette's Feast???
I am still worshipping at your clafoutis altar.
Well, there's sort of a bacon note in vintage Kolnisch Juchten. It's pretty fabulous, though. Works well with the smoke smell.
Orange blossom might be nice in chocolate. I had lavender-infused chocolate something once and it was nasty.
Have you tried Kee's Chocolates, in NYC? It's two doors down from the L'Artisan boutique : ) http://www.keeschocolates.com/cho.html
They have a jasmine chocolate — also a balsamic vinegar one which is mmmm lovely — and a smoked salt one I love as well. And saffron. Also yuzu and keffir lime (common lime note in Thai food).
I do believe they deliver…
Would love to taste the frangipani — especially if it comes close to my imagination. (Frangipani smells slightly foody to me anyway–kind of rich and buttery.)
OMG — must have walked right by Kee's in a perfume-induced haze any number of times! How stupid! I want those lemon basil chocolates, and yes, the jasmine tea (!) and quite a few of the others toos.
Not better than Babette's feast. Probably nothing beats that. Except if you're in the mood for a laugh, and then Big Night with Stanley Tucci takes the biscotti.
Not really a flower-chocolate recomendation, but I recently visited a good coffee & tea shop and saw that they were selling chocolates with cumin… It *really* intrigued me (I loooove cumin), but I do not really eat sugar so I did not buy any. I am tempted to buy some for my choc-addicted dbf though and steal a tiny piece, I am so curious. I'll visit again one of these days and find out the brand – I don't remember off hand.
Robin, you have experienced tongue bliss! When Isabelle joined the Guild, she sent me several pots of her flavored chocolate delights, and I confessed to her a week or two later that although I am supposed to put Guild products in the Scent Library, I ate them! And I'm not even a chocolate freak!
Isabelle's perfumes are wonderful, too, have to mention that. She studied with Mandy Aftel, and Mandy started the flavored chocolate craze using natural essences, but I don't think she put a line of goodies out like Isabelle did, and bravo Isabelle for it!
It's 6a.m.-ish, I just awoke, and I can't find the invite to Isabelle's Seattle birthday Soiree next month, but as soon as I do I'll post it here, perhaps some of your readers can drop by and meet the lovely lady.
Oh, that ganache! The memories! We have a shared culinary experience, Robin, besides Taylor pork roll!
Found the information on the Soiree:
Desire in Sunlight Couture Perfumes
graciously invites you to a PERFUME CHOCOLAT SOIREE In celebration of Isabelle's Birthday to launch our newest perfume – 'La Fete' a rich honey floral blend Saturday 13 October 20074-7 pm location: 2510 42nd Avenue East, #447D, Seattle 98112 RSVP 425.471.4770 breathe in beauty, Isabelle Aurel
Ooooh, that does sound good! I love cumin too, in food at least. Not always in perfume
Well, they wouldn't keep in the scent library anyway, so you were justified in eating them. Did you try the tuberose, by any chance? Wondering how that one is.
And good to move the shared food thing to a higher plane than Taylor pork roll!
I liked Big Night! Only saw it once though, so don't remember it well. Have seen BF a zillion times.
Evidently Ratatouille is adult-foodie-worthy, too!
Not better, just different. It's more lushly photographed and amplifies the sensual aspect of the movie, instead of in BF where it served as a foil to self-denial. Very good, recommend it. Someone mentioned Big Night, that was awesome too.
I'm drinking straight-up osmanthus blossom water. No tea here for the intrepid.
Sure they call it tea, but it ain't. I should check out the Ten Ren, they have a storefront somewhere around here, all lose tea leaves sold by the pound.
Marchlion: funny I checked my book Le Cordon Bleu at Home (from the school, no less) and it also had a clafoutis baked at 45 min. In the text it also described it like a flan. So, somewhere in history, the 45 min. in France stretched to 2 hr. in Eastern Europe. I'm almost sure that the “real thing” would be runny and inedible by our American standard.
Next trip to Lyon must try local clafoutis, or perhaps someone who reads this blog who's from France can weigh in. BTW come by and worship at the duck confit and chicken sausage alter, I've taken up charcuterie. Choc-infused home-cured bacon by Xmas, promise. 
BTW you guys scare the hell out of me when you talk about kids like that. No more cooking if I have a kid? I'll just have dogs, then.
I mean “altar”, of course, because I'm a wank who can't spell.
I'm Canadian with a French heritage, so if that qualifies me to weigh in, I'll note that in my experience 45 minutes is perfectly adequate for clafoutis. It's thin-ish and cooks very quickly. Too bad cherry season's over!
I was actually lucky enough to attend the Jo Malone White Jasmine & Mint launch party last night and not only did they have pumpkin flowers tempura style (didn't really taste of flowers just batter) but they also had some jasmine chocolates and mint chocolates. The jasmine chocs I didn't think were very jasmine but the mint chocs were amazing – not just your bog standard mint chocs but bitter chocolate flavoured with a mint that was almost like crushed fresh mint leaves picked from the plant – amazing. Unfortunately the canapes and chocolates were better than the actual fragrance which was rather thin and non descript.
But, for any Londoners out there, you should go to Annex 3 on Little Portland Street. Apart from the amazing decor they use floral syrups in their cocktails – jasmine, lotus, poppy, violet…..I can't remember what others. An evening of sampling floral cocktails – life can be so hard sometimes…..!
I am cashing in my frequent flyer miles RIGHT NOW! Lusting for a jasmine lotus poppy violet martini. And it's only 9 in the morning.
TF: many Moms I know actually pride themselves on cooking everything from scratch, LOL. Of course, they don't leave themselves multiple hours to devote to their own hobbies, like say, perfume. So I wouldn't worry about it. If/when you have kids, it impacts your free time tremendously, and you sort of find out what you really care about. I found that cooking and gardening didn't matter to me as much as reading and perfume. And cooking for children, who prefer Stouffers mac to almost anything I've seen featured on your blog, turned out to be particularly unrewarding.
Ten Ren is in Wintergreen Plaza in Rockville, if that helps. For the osmanthus, you don't want the loose — you want the osmanthus supreme, which comes in an orange canister for $65 (around 10 oz). It is awesome, if you can bring yourself to spend that much on tea.
Hope you've got enough miles for me, LOL…
Shift — for what it's worth — the thrill of meal-making dissipated somewhat over the course of 14 years of cookery, but maybe it would have anyway. BUT. Baking is one of the things we all really love to do together — it's FUN with kids, it's hands-on, they learn stuff — it's math and science, you know? Who doesn't love homemade bread? I don't even consider myself a great cook (just a reasonable one) but I missed the memo that said Baking is Hard. Decorating cookies, making cakes, etc. with a couple of helpers is a total blast, even if you have to share licking the bowl.
Date: 9/13/2007
To: Marchlion et al.
From: Third Shift
Re: Baking is Hard
Sorry, couldn't resist. Had a little baking disaster last night.
Very interesting, the foodie/wine angle. I come to it from a different direction — I'm not a foodie at all, I'm just a collector. When I get interested in something, I tend to go overboard. My green tea collection is massive, although less guilt-inducing than my perfume collection as I do go through the teas pretty quickly, whereas the perfume bottles just sit there gathering dust.
And absolutely true about florals & foods, and for that matter, also I think we compartmentalize food ingredients in general. We have a wonderful Mexican ice cream place near us with the most fabulous flavors: avocado, corn, pine nut, etc. If you spend any time at all in there, you're bound to hear Americans exclaiming “corn ice cream!!”. Corn = vegetable side dish, therefore it is NOT dessert. And now I'm wishing they made rose ice cream.
Okay, a little update on the cumin chocolate : The brand is from Belgium and it is called Dolfin. A little list of products to tantalize you all:
– Chocolat Au Lait Hot Masala des Indes
– Chocolat Noir Poivre Blanc & Cardamome du Guatemala
– Chocolat Noir au Poivre Rose
– Chocolat au Lait a la cannelle de Ceylan
– Chocolat Earl Grey
– Chocolat Noir a l'Anis Vert
– Chocolat Noir Gingembre
…and of course the aforementioned Chocolat Noir Cumin
Might make a chocolate convert out of me yet! Damn..
Aha — I have tried 2 of their bars — the Earl Grey and the Anis Vert. Both lovely. The store near me that used to carry them has closed, unfortunately, but I know you can get them online at Chocosphere (which by the way has an incredible selection and is fun just to browse).
Hi Robin,
Am having trouble emailing “Desire in sunlight.” How did you reach her?
Thanks,
Jess
I used the email address on her website — under Contact.