Sugar-High!

Choose Your Own (Chocolate) Adventure

Welcome to ChocoAir. I am Dame Cupcake and I'll be your guide on this blissful journey. The pilot and I know that you may want to make more than one stop on your flight today, but we have only one parachute per person, so we suggest you go with your gut! That said, forget the Rolling Stones – any choice you make will bring sugary satisfaction. Let's get started: attach your parachute and tune into your sweet tooth!

Ritter Sport

For those of you who seek simplistic variety, we recommend that you head for the exit now. You will arrive in Deutschland, a country known more for its beer than for its true treasure: the Ritter Sport line of chocolates! With milk or dark chocolate clinging to any one of at least a dozen different fillings from whole hazelnuts to marzipan to cornflakes and back again, these squares are indeed perfect! And remember to say Danke! ($2.35 at Market of Choice)

Fior di nocciola

If you want one versatile souvenir to bring back for everyone, please get ready to jump now. A smooth landing in Italia, the land of fallen empires and gelato, is in your future. Bellizzi, a company (far) below is crafting jar upon jar of dense, creamy goodness that they call Fior di nocciola, but that you will call "Mmm!" An organic cousin of Nutella, this chocolate hazelnut spread is so sugary that some may want to temper it with baguette or combine it with peanut butter in a sandwich. But for the bravest of you, a spoon will be your only accessory! Buon appetito! ($4.69 at the Ashland Co-op)

Chocolate Mousse

And our last stop today is for you, the purists. You may have already guessed that La France will welcome your refined palate, but can you conceive of the elegant intensity that awaits? A concoction of only the essentials, whipped to the height of sophistication. Yes, it is Chocolate Mousse. Chocolate, eggs, sugar, and whipped cream have swallowed just enough air to fill your mouth with unparallel joy. Mais, bien sur! ($2.75 at Apple Cellar)

Next Month:

Rogue Valley Treats Good Enough to Raise the Dead!