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Rarely do green dreams go down so pleasurably. Walk into the new store and you'll see the dream in a single refrigerator case. Inside is what looks like a thousand two-ounce lidded take-out cups. Inside each is a single chocolate truffle. Each cup bears a computer-generated label: 85 percent espresso, 73.5 percent classic Champagne, 41 percent pistachio, and so forth. These percentages each refer to the amount of cocoa mass, the part that isn't butter, cream, or sugar, in the chocolate shell of the truffle.

The 85 percent chocolates, then, are nearly devoid of cream and butter and are sharp and clear, bearing the deep, midnight wine resonance of a bat's cry in the dark. The 41 percent are Legacy Chocolates' version of milk chocolate, and taste light with lactic acid, the way sour cream tastes light. The 73 percent are winelike and focused, but have enough sugar that you can distinguish different notes of, say, mustard and tea tannin. The 58.5 percent ones taste like high-class candy. You can learn everything you want to know about what these percentages mean by lining up a row of ascending chocolates.

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This filling is about 60 percent pure chocolate, and tastes like some kind of elegant nighttime heaven, rolling across the tongue in dizzying crescendos of deep and deeper. The truffles labeled "classic" are those covered, on the very outside, with cocoa powder, the most traditional way of making a chocolate truffle...

If you get a classic 85 percent then, let it come to room temperature, and when you eat it you will really be off on a roller coaster of sensation. First, the bitter powder of the cocoa covering, then the Sangiovese-like chocolate with its tea, raspberry, coffee, sour cherry, and tannic notes. Then the explosive deep silk of the truffle center melting on your tongue. And then the long, long, half-hour finish of the chocolate...

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I think I'll be stopping by. Perhaps tomorrow after work. Perhaps before work.

Oh, and:

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Legacy Chocolates also sells a few, a very few, other things: They have a marvelous packaged cocoa, which they blend with organic evaporated cane juice sugar, which gives it a richer, broader taste than refined sugar. It's spicy and deep in just the right way.

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Shall I pick some up for the henna party weekend?

(If you go read the article, it takes her a long time to get to the chocolate. She's my favorite local food writer, but she does sometimes get a bit wordy.)

(Also, the guy that makes the truffles has a pasture-raised beef farm in WI... can't wait until he starts selling the beef!)
 

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Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
 
Mmmmmm.

Mmmmmm.

I can't say anything else but I want chocolate and MMMMMMMMM!
 

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Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
 
*drool*
 

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Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
 
Sounds pretty good, huh?

I guess I forgot today is Saturday, I was thinking it was Sunday. I will not be going to work tomorrow, so I probably won't get to try them 'til Monday. Unless I make a special trip. It's just that it's right on my way to work... and right next door to one of my favorite local ice cream shops, too, now that I think about it...
 

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Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
 
How can that NOT merit a special trip?!
 

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Posted by esl (Member # 3143) on :
 
I concur! You and this writer sure know how to make a person's mouth water. I had chocolate already today. No more til tomorrow.. and it's almost time for dinner. :sigh:

I'm just wondering whether they're still open at this hour. kinda getting late.
 

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Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
 
Ummm. Hmmmm.

If it was summer, I would ride my bike over there tomorrow. Which would be perfect, since it would negate the calories, too.

It just seems wrong somehow to burn fossil fuels on a completely unnecessary trip to buy something that's made with sustainably grown products.

And it's a little far to bike in the winter, even if there wasn't freezing drizzle predicted for tomorrow.
 

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Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
 
They're probably not open anymore. That's what I'm telling myself. Besides, I just poured a glass of port, so I'm not driving anywhere tonight.
 

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Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
 
Well, not TONIGHT.

*goes off to bake cookies*
 

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Posted by Christy (Member # 4397) on :
 

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are sharp and clear, bearing the deep, midnight wine resonance of a bat's cry in the dark.

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I would never in a million years think to describe ANY food taste that way.

That said, it sounds divine.
 

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Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
 
I was thinking about that, Christy. Do bats make noises at all? If they do, aren't they rather high-pitched? Rather un-chocolatey, if you ask me.

Not that I'm not trying them anyway. But kinda a weird descriptor.
 

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Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
 
Well, who *doesn't* associate echolocation with chocolate?
 

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Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
 
Dolphins.
 

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Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
 
Yeah. Wet chocolate, no good.
 

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Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
 
Okay, I haven't made it there yet, so I am going now over my lunch break. I suppose I should post this in Jay's lunch thread, then? Nah. Ah, the anticipation...
 

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Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :
 
Mmmmm... You should have some for the henna party..
 

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Posted by Stray (Member # 4056) on :
 
Wow, my brother-in-law lives in Menomonie...too bad it's the brother-in-law I hate
 

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Posted by dread pirate romany (Member # 6869) on :
 
*****drools copiously*****

Well? How are they? How much are they?
 

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Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
 
Ryuko, I think I suggested that in my first post. But really, you're closer to the shop than anyone, it's right on Marshall and Cleveland.

As for how much, they are $1.45 a piece, and they are about the size of a Godiva truffle, maybe a little smaller. I bought 6, and a box of the Connoisseur European Blend Hot Cocoa Mix.

I haven't tried them yet.
 

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Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
 
So how long does it take for a truffle to come to room temperature?

*fidgets*
 

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Posted by Vána (Member # 6593) on :
 
Can we go when we're there for the henna party? Please?
 

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Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
 
You know, Menomonie is about 3 hrs from here, just right off the interstate on the way to St. Paul. A good stopping point for lunch, given that we'll be leaving Madison aroung 9:30.

Methinks this would make an excellent hostess gift.
 

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Posted by Vána (Member # 6593) on :
 
Excellent idea!
 

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Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
 


(We even get to feel virtuous!)
 

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Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
 
The first bite brought tears to my eyes. Literally. I don't know that I'd say it's the best chocolate I've ever tasted, but I can't think of any better off the top of my head. I ate a 73.5% almond truffle... luscious.


 

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Posted by dread pirate romany (Member # 6869) on :
 
****drools some more******

Please, please tell me they do mail order.
 

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Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
 
Your wish is my command.

More or less.

I tried a raspberry, too, even better. And gave one to the woman who sits next to me, just because.

I'm having dinner with I3 tonight, if we ever stop playing phone tag and actually connect, and I'm going to bring along the 85% classic merlot ones for dessert. Can't wait to try them, that's the darkest I bought. (And the darkest they have.)

Edit: The site says they only have 4 levels of cocoa, they actually had 5 at the store.

[ February 08, 2005, 06:02 PM: Message edited by: ElJay ]
 

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Posted by dread pirate romany (Member # 6869) on :
 
ohh....myyyyy...

((((((((slumps in chair....counts days til payday....)))))
 

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Posted by Intelligence3 (Member # 6944) on :
 
So, I'm near my phone now.
 

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Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
 
I'm on the phone with Mommy. Will call you momentarily.

Edit: It's only been 13 minutes! Where are you?

[ February 08, 2005, 06:49 PM: Message edited by: ElJay ]
 

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Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
 
I'm jealous, and to spite you, I shall assert the fact that I smuggled a kilo of raw chocolate home from Oaxaca last summer. I ration it and only use it to make chocolate con agua if I really, really like you.
 

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Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
 
Good spiting, Annie, I'm jealous. Guess I'll have another truffle to make up for it...



I'll bring Legacy Truffles next time we're in the same town if you'll make me chocolate con agua.
 

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Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
 
Now, that is a deal.
 

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Posted by Intelligence3 (Member # 6944) on :
 
After some good Thai at a little neighborhood joint I know, we had truffles, organic hot cocoa, and Sambuca at ElJay's place. The truffle was divine. The hot cocoa was better. Very rich and flavorful. I am not one to wax (har!) poetic on chocolate, but I was definitely enthralled with the chocolate.

The conversation and company were even more enthralling, but that's just what comes of having spectacular taste in friends.

ElJay's taste in friends is spectacular, at least.
 

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Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
 
Brat.
 

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Posted by Intelligence3 (Member # 6944) on :
 
Check your email.
 

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