Modern Day Wonka

"Hello, I'm Brian Pelletier, the chocolatier!" And that's how our tour through the wonderful creations of the Ka-Ka-O Chocolate shop (http://www.kakaochocolate.com) began. Besides a few of the necessities that aren't grown in the United States, Brian does his best to use organic, locally grown ingredients in his chocolates, and we were excited to see the ways that he even works to rotate his products according to what crops are in season. This kind of intentionality with food is something that Linds and I have been really excited to start supporting with our own purchases, and Ka Ka O is a great example of a company that does it well. We went with the small-group that we've been a part of for the last year as a send off to one couple that is moving away to another state. It was awesome. Here is just a small sampling of the confectionary genius we were able to experience:

First was the Chai Truffle. It was a milk chocolate truffle with a little bit of cinnamon sprinkled on top of it. It had flavors of ginger, anise, and cardamum, and was fantastic. The cinnamon on top really pulled the flavors together!

Next on the menu was the mint truffle with a candied lemon peel placed on top. The mint flavor comes from real mint leaves that were grown locally, and the candied peel was a creation of Brian's wife. The combination of the two were fantastic!

To follow that up we were served a super dark chocolate truffle with "smoked sea salt" on top. The salt itself was actually black on the chocolate and the whole thing had a flavor that tasted "like the smell of bonfire smoke on your clothes the next morning." Yes, that is a little weird to say, but it was surprisingly accurate and even more surprisingly delicious!

There were many more amazing items that we got to dip into and each was more delicious than that which came before it. We had a wonderful time getting to talk with Brian about what he does and the passion that he has behind it all. We found a superior product and are glad to have been able to experience the joys of food done well!