Caffarel Cannella

Our vacation was spent in Berlin, and we stayed just around the corner from the world-famous KaDeWe department store. Stunning place, it’s a real old-fashioned department store, except that it’s a department store on steroids. The food department alone is beyond belief. Here are a couple of pics from our visit. Yes, it’s a liberty bell formed out of chocolate. 1.6 meters high.

They had a sale (yes a SALE) on Caffarel gianduja. These are normally pricey items, costing 50 Euro cents apiece, but we got a bag with a variety of flavors for much cheaper.

Each flavor is more wonderful than the others. You might remember I reviewed the chili version and the blue version and the gold version in earlier posts. This time I tried the cinnamon.

This Caffarel was a perfect balance of chocolate and cinnamon. First you get the slight snap as you bite into the bar, and the gianduja slowly melts on your tongue. Then the cinnamon hits with a subtle but distinct. It’s nice, because they didn’t make it too intense. I love cinnamon red hots, with lots of good cinnamon, but a chocolate this good deserves a cinnamon that complements it, not overpowers it. And Caffarel succeeds nicely here.

Reviewed: Caffarel Cannella
Personality: nicely spicely
How to enjoy: One of the best. Even better when they’re on sale
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

Where to buy:
http://www.caffarel.com/uk/uk/home2.html
KaDeWe in Berlin, Germany http://www.kadewe-berlin.de/index2_engl.php

Tootsie Rolls

On vacation last August, my daughter and I went to Jeffersonville, Indiana, among other places, to renew some childhood memories. When you pass through Louisville, Kentucky, one not-to-be-missed place is Schimpff's Candy in Jeffersonville.

They make truffles, and sell nostalgic candy in their charming soda shop. While their chocolate is good, their real claim to fame is homemade Red Hots candy. In contrast to the more commonly known Red Hots from Ferrara Pan, these are fabulous hard candies. Schimpff's red hots also came long before Ferrara Pan's.

Back when Jeffersonville had a movie theater downtown, my mother would go to the Saturday
matinee for 5 cents, stopping by Schimpff's for a bag of red hots, which would last as long as the movies did. My personal experience, while, not as nostalgic, is still filled with memories of spicy red hots at Christmas, enjoying the memories as well as the flavors.

However, red hots aren't chocolate. Schimpff's also has truffles, which while tasty, didn't exactly last long enough to write areview here in this blog, so I'm left with the only chocolate-ly thing I brought back from Schimpff's, Tootsie Rolls. While not strictly chocolate, this cocoa-based caramel type candy is a bit of chocolate flavor on a budget.

Good, nostalgic, but not extraordinary. Still worth the trip down memory lane.
Reviewed: Tootsie Roll
Personality: Just like watching a Saturday matinee
How to enjoy: Get the ones in paper and unwrap each one slowly

Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend. I did! DH and I each ate one.
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
US: pretty much anywhere
Germany: http://www.american-food.com/