Pralines de Maitre Paul Kir Royal

Ever tasted chocolate from the former East Germany? I just did. "East Products" are in at the moment. People are getting old enough to remember their childhoods more fondly than they really existed, thereby making them think things tasted better than they actually did.

Right after the East German border opened for day visits, I remember my mother-in-law telling us a story of the missing farmer. There was a farmer in East Germany who disappeared from his farm one day. They looked for him everywhere, but when night came, he did not show up.Very late in the night, he arrived home. His family gathered around him, happy that he'd returned, but wondering what had happened.

He had spent all day and most of the night crossing the border. Over in the West for just a couple of hours, it hardly seemed like it was worth the trouble. "I'd never had a banana," he said, "so I went to get some."

That was all. 13 hours, sitting in traffic, to buy some bananas.

Halloren Chocolate Factory is a company in the former East. In business for over 200 years, they made chocolates even during the time 1950 - 1990 when the company was confiscated by the government.

The company's website is worth looking at, and has some of the history of the company. Check out the chocolate room in the museum. http://www.halloren.de/

However, Pralines de Maitre Paul are luxury pralines without the luxury taste. The version I bought is called Kir Royal, but the flavor is too weak to identify either the champagne or the cassis berries. It nicely put together, and you can see the cassis and marzipan sections. We should be able to taste champagne, cassis, pistachios, almonds and chocolate, but it's mostly just sweet. Too bad - it coulda been great.

Reviewed: Pralines de Maitre Paul Kir Royal
Personality: Dull wanna-be
How to enjoy: don't bother

Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy