NYC Tastes

My favorite chocolatier in the city just released two brand new chocolates; one using the incredible cacao liquor Solbeso. This isn't one of those sickeningly sweet chocolate flavored liqueurs. It's more like a cross between tequila and rum made from the fruity pulp surrounding the cacao bean which has bright tropical flavors of lemon and mango with nutty pecan undertones. Given it's bright lemony flavor this is wonderful on it's own but I enjoy it most in an herbal cocktail like a Rosemary Solbeso gimlet with a twist of blackberry. Chocolat Moderne has infused this spirit into their new Dessert Island bar; a delicious milk chocolate square filled with a creamy caramel of pineapple, mango, passion fruit, lemongrass and of course Solbeso.   It's part of their Avant- Garde series which includes a few of my favorites like the Peanut Pizzazz and Smoked Sea Salt along with holiday season specialties like this dark chocolate Pumpkin Pie...

It's no secret that Chocolat Moderne is my favorite chocolate shop's in city...now they've teamed up with Solbeso to introduce a new spirit into NYC made entirely of fresh cacao! You probably already know that chocolate is derived directly from the seeds of the cacao...but have you ever thought about what happens to all that fruit around the seeds? Look at these huge pieces of cacao fruit... It takes 20-25 of those just to get one kilo of cacao and the rest is usually tossed away.  New World Spirits decided it was time to use that fruit and began distilling the juice from the Cacao to create the first premium white spirit, made entirely from 100% cacao fruit- Solbeso. Of course it only seems right to pair Solbeso which chocolate, so Chocolat Moderne had a little party for the release to see which chocolate paired best with the new liquor.  We went from dark to light and then back to dark again (at least I did)  including two of my favorites of all time...