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The Magic Flavors Of High End Chocolate Stores

Shopping for candy in high end chocolate stores is nothing like the usual pick-em-off-the-rack experience one goes through in a supermarket or a convenience store. For one thing, once you go through the shops’ glass doors, you are welcomed by the aroma of finely blended chocolate – strong and sharp but pleasing. For another, you won’t find box upon box of familiar brands stacked on shelves. Instead, you will find spread out in single file, trays of delicate bonbons, chocolate covered fruit and assorted bits of chocolate in interesting shapes.

High end chocolate stores share several characteristics. One of these is the way customers are attended to. The first thing you notice is that most of them will have very good customer service. There is almost always a smiling salesperson ready to answer your questions and even tempt you with a free sample. One cynic commented that at the prices they charge, they better make sure they are nice to customers who will sometimes have to pay as much as three times more than they would if they bought ordinary chocolate. The indifferent salesperson is an exception, rather than the rule when you go into the expensive chocolate stores or boutiques, as they are sometimes called.

This brings us to the second attribute common to the exclusive chocolatiers: price. If you go to a supermarket, you can probably get a whole 35 ounce bag of milk chocolate for less than twenty dollars. If you go to exclusive chocolate stores, you might get a dozen bonbons or so for the same amount. One boutique whose specialty is chocolate dipped strawberry charges about six dollars for each piece. Another company offers a single pound of candy for more than sixteen dollars plus tax.

Still another characteristic shared by high end chocolate shops is the unbelievable variety of creations they offer all chocolate lovers. Some shops will have over a hundred varieties to offer their customers. Here is where their magic flavors come in and here is where opening a gift box of chocolate becomes pure adventure.

A Thousand Enchanting Flavors

Quite a few high end chocolate boutiques have a long history of artistry in the field of making chocolate candy. As a result, some of them will offer confections made from recipes that date back to over fifty years. These recipes usually call for old fashioned ingredients like genuine cocoa butter; most modern chocolate factories today have shifted to the use of vegetable oil. The difference in taste is of course astounding because when you get down to it, the cocoa butter adds to the richness of the candy instead of just fulfilling some function in the mixture.

Dark Chocolate

The art of making dark chocolate candy is probably where you can draw the great divide between regular chocolate factories and the more exclusive chocolate shops. By European standards, at least 35 per cent of dark chocolate is supposed to be made exclusively from the cacao bean. When you buy dark chocolate candy from the exclusive and more expensive establishments, you get candy that indeed has some of the bitterness that comes with unsweetened cacao liquor but this is tamed with the artistry of their kitchen so what you get is a strong, slightly sweet and extremely smooth creation. The dark chocolate that is mass produced will be tougher and just plain bitter.

Some of the most fascinating dark chocolate candies would be those that are filled with a surprising burst of refreshing taste from fruit. If you say you do not like dark chocolate, you will probably have a change of heart after you taste some of the following products that are produced by a chocolate shop in California: dark chocolate filled with pomegranate dark chocolate ganache and dark chocolate filled with blueberry dark chocolate ganache.

When the Stores Reach Out to Their Public

While visiting the high end chocolate stores is in itself a treat, the sad fact is that few people today have the luxury of spending time just browsing through delicious chocolate miracles. The good news is that these exclusive shops are making a real effort to reach out to their public. You can now buy a lot of high end chocolates in airports, malls and of course through the internet. These easy methods of purchasing allow you to have your fix of chocolate masterpieces without spending hours away from work or home although of course, nothing beats the experience of walking by tray after tray of beautiful chocolate candy.

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