Sisters and Brothers, while your Chocolate Priestess may complain about many things in our state, who among you does not from time to time, I rarely complain about food from Indiana because in many ways it is similar to what I grew up with back in Iowa. One thing the state has done is establish a "Indiana Artisan" designation to recognize outstanding work from Hoosiers in food and other other items. Previously we looked at artisan marshmallows that had this designation and today for Valentine's Day we will look at another "Indiana Artisan" company called
Brooke's Candy Co. located in Dana, Indiana. Both their fudge and their toffee have this official award and they sent us two lovely boxes just in time for Valentine's Day.
The first product I want to look at is their Handmade Chocolate Fudge which contains both unsweetened chocolate but also cocoa butter making this one of the purest fudges I have ever had. Look at that amount of fudge! One pound of it! It is 7/8th of an inch thick and has a wonderful sugary cocoa scent as soon as I breech the plastic over it. The black plastic along the side helped me cut out a small piece to sample because it bent without breaking. That first piece of fudge can be a handful to get unless you have a slab of fudge on a cutting board.
This
fudge was firm but still very soft and that's a trick I haven't quite managed to achieve with my own homemade fudge. It is very cool in my fingers and when I take a bite it practically starts to melt in my mouth. First there is a cocoa essence that melts into a sugary sweetness only to meld again back to a sweet chocolate. Often fudge feels very overwhelming because it is basically butter, sugar, chocolate or whatever flavoring you have, and often marshmallows. In short it is fattening and tastes that way. However this tastes light both in terms of texture and flavor, so I have to remind myself "Moderation" so I don't start eating more and more of it. I can only imagine that the other seven varieties of fudge from Brooke's are this high of quality as well.
Brooke also offers several flavors of English style toffee and other candies. She sent us Milk Chocolate Turtles and Old English Milk Almond Toffee. Both of these are made with milk chocolate and have nuts and dairy in them. I liked how when I opened the box they were neatly arranged in this pattern you can see in the photo to the left. But let's look at each of these alone as well.
We'll start with the Milk Chocolate Turtle which has a huge pecan on the top, a slight cocoa but a stronger pecan fragrance with an undercurrent of sugar when I first take a whiff of it. This is a large piece of candy measuring 1.75 X 1 3/8th X 0.5 inches. Under a nice shell of milk chocolate is a thick sticky and tangy caramel with small pieces of pecans mixed in with it. This starts to give me a sugar rush right away but I can the milk chocolate and the pecan with every chew. Of course the nuts also add a bit of crunch to the treat. This is easily a 3-4 bite treat if you want to get the full sensory experience but know you will need to work on your teeth a bit to get the caramel off of them.
The
toffee has small pieces of almonds and drizzles of milk chocolate over the top. This is also a big piece at 1.75 X 1.5 X 0.5 inches. This makes a loud snap when I take a bite. Inside is a very solid buttery toffee with pieces of almonds. Every bite is a loud crunch so I hope you like some noise with your candy. The milk chocolate holds its own being the first and last flavor I experience. Like the previous candy, you'll need to work on your teeth to get all the toffee from them.
If you are new Dana, Indiana, you should check out
Brooke's. Don't be confused because, yes, her candy store is inside a huge plantation style house at 247 Maple Street (SR 71). If you want to order, do it soon for
Valentine's Day delivery. If you are near French Lick, the French Lick Resort Hoosier Sugar Shop also sells Brooke's products. But whatever you do, Sisters and Brothers, know that not only does Brooke get the Indiana seal of approval but we here on The Chocolate Cult believe that her treats are indeed worthy Sacraments.
Comments
Post a Comment
Do NOT leave a url link in your comments. Leaving such links will result in deletion of your comment. If you have a product you would like featured on The Chocolate Cult contact us and we will tell you how. We charge nothing beyond the product to be tested and written about.
Comments containing insults to other commenters, to companies or brands, or which attempt to insult or denigrate any group of people may be removed by the website editor. Think about how you would like to be treated and treat everyone with respect on The Chocolate Cult.