Robert's Blog

In a previous musing I wrote that I was experimenting with Lavender Oil to create Chocolates and Fillings that are similar to those offered by European Chocolatiers. I can report that I believe to have succeeded…the proof of the pudding came yesterday when Carole and I attended a fundraising function of a local Charity, the ‘Desert Samaritans for Seniors’ for which I was asked to supply 256 single piece flavor boxes

which were distributed by the handfuls on each of the tables.

When the event was winding down I checked…and found a few of the boxes untouched but oodles of them empty, with plenty of the pink wrappers crumpled and discarded where they shouldn’t have been – on the floor.

Anyway, the comments I received ranged from nice (whatever that means) to fabulous (which I liked, still do…) and, on top of that, we ended up with a sizable tax deduction…

By the way, in our 2012 BonBon and Truffle line-up we have two pralines which have a Lavender oil infused cream center. Both are ‘white chocolate’ ganaches, one is Lavender only (what was offered at the above function) and the other is Lavender infused and spiced up with a bit of Grand Marnier.

Both knock everybody’s socks off…use as an after dinner treat to leave a clean, refreshing palate…but nobody says you can’t eat them whenever you want.

End of September and I’m setting up my equipment. Replacement for molds that became somewhat iffy during the last season is on its way, I’m waiting for the UPS guy to delivery a new bunch of essential (natural) flavors and the melters are calibrated.

And, although I still have oodles of last years packaging in the back I’m searching for new boxes and containers to replace the old look.

Anyway, that’s it for the moment…

Carole and I drove up to Highland Springs Resort yesterday. A friend of hers told us that the resort was having a ‘Lavender Festival’ and that, of course, was of interest to me.

Lavender is such a unique, delicate (taste and scent wise, that is) flower and I remember well that a long time ago, in the previous century, I had used it to flavor chocolates and baked confections with it.

Those recipes however are long gone, I can’t remember any of them and I had no intentions of spending a lot of money to, starting with the taste memory,  ‘reverse engineer’ them.

Now, with a source not more than 45 mins away, where I can get dried lavender flowers and buds at a reasonable price, I’ll try to do just that. If I’m satisfied, the products will be on our web site, if not…well…

May be I can use their lavender infused honey (regular honey flavoured with lavender essential oil) for my French (Montelimar type) nougat, ’till now I’ve used ‘real’ lavender honey (from bees collecting pollen only from the lavender fields) brought in from France. That stuff costs about $25 a pop ( 500g), way too expensive to make it work…

Anyhow, watch my site or this blog for further information on my attempts to recreate European chocolate and lavender confections….

I finally made it to get my own blog going and I welcome you to make good use of it.

The idea is (and always was) to have a place where you, my friends who helped me to make my hand-made chocolates such a success, can voice off…hopefully always positive but if necessary with warts and all…about me, my products and things in general.

So, let me know where I can improve, where I goofed and where I was outright…you know what I mean…