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Austria, Salzburg: Original Salzburger Mozartkugel

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Cafe-Konditorei Fürst created a treat made of marzipan, pistachios, nougat and dark chocolate and was renowned for its perfectly round shape. Each individual bonbon is put on a small wooden stick to be dipped into the chocolate.

Paul Furst opened a confectionery shop at Brodgasse 13 on Salzburg’s Alter Markt marketplace square in 1884. This shop quickly became popular with Salzburg’s fashionable crowd and the crowd loved these Salzburger Mozartkugel. You can find them all over old city in Salzburg, Austria.

Switzerland, Lucerne: Melting Chocolate Wall

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Yes, there’s chocolate shops in Switzerland. Who could resist licking that running chocolate waterfall?

US: Skippers, VA – Good Earth Peanuts are Virginia Peanuts at their Best

Virginia grows the largest variety of peanuts in the world. The Good Earth Peanut Company ships Virginia peanuts fresh in a variety of forms: raw and cooked, in and out of the shell. Sitting right on a 1650’s Tuscarora Indian trail which is now a railroad junction, in an old time (circa 1854) general store, this family business roasts and sells peanuts.IMG_3539

Lindsey and Scott Vincent go beyond the ordinary nut to sell cashew brittle, wasabi flavored peas, nut berry thrill, diet trail mix, cracked pepper and sea salt peanuts, chocolate covered peanut brittle (Sandra’s favorite) and maple covered nuts, as well as pecans like key lime ones (we’re addicted to the butter toasted pecans in our salads).

There are FREE tastes of the 36 or so salty and sweet treats. We’ll take the dark chocolate
covered cherries. Some groceries still line the walls, like McCutcheon’s preserves and Virginia hams.IMG_3538

You’ve gotta stop here, you won’t be disappointed, the quality and the assortment are amazing. You can even order them on-line and have them shipped to you. They will  include information about the history of peanuts, also known as goobers and groundnuts, and how peanuts are grown.  WARNING: These products are addictive!

Location: The Good Earth Peanut Company,  5334 Skippers Road, Skippers, Va 23879
Hours: Mon – Fri 8-6pm, Sat 9-4pm
Tel: 1-800-643-1695
goodearthpeanuts.com

Bitter Chocolates?

Laurent Gerbaud, Belgian chocolatier, was so good that he was sent to Shanghai for the World Expo to show off the sweet talents of his country. However, when he got there he soured on chocolates. Gerbaud discovered that the Chinese were not  used to so much sugar so making use of his creative skills he revised his recipes and started to work on tart and bitter tastes.

He searches purveyors for ingredients such as South African Barrrydale apricots, Persian cranberries, Turkish figs, pepper, spicy ginger  and orange peel, and mixes them with his dark dark 70 % chocolate recipe using  chocolate from Madagascar and Ecuador. The Turkish figs are crunchy, chewy and just slightly sweet. One with Greek pistachios blends salt, sweet (milk chocolate) and nut crunch. There’s a salute to Belgians love for specoloos (gingerbread) by rolling a truffle in the crumbs.

Gerbaud is really a chocolate pusher because once you get addicted to his intense flavor combos, it is very hard to go back to sweetened chocolate.

www.chocolatsgerbaud.be