I doubt if anyone ever needs an excuse to indulge in Recchiuti chocolates. But with Valentine’s Day coming up, you indeed have the perfect reason to treat yourself or someone you love to some of the finest artisan chocolate confections around.
For more than two decades, Michael Recchiuti has been making exquisite chocolates by hand with flavoring ingredients sourced seasonally from Bay Area farmers markets.
You can find the confections at the Recchiuti storefront at the Ferry Building in San Francisco and the retail shop, Recchiuti at the Lab, in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood. Or you can shop on its own web store.
In anticipation of Valentine’s Day, I was lucky enough to receive samples to try of two holiday offerings.
The Love Birds Truffle Box ($48) is a collection of 16 pieces, an assortment of the most popular flavors, including Tarragon Grapefruit, Pearl Mint Tea, and Piedmont Hazelnut.
Pick any one to try and the first thing you’ll notice is the incomparable smoothness of the couverture covering each. Then, you’ll be struck by the intensity and clarity of the flavors. Among my faves were the Sesame Nougat with its crisp disk of toasted sesame seeds paired with milk chocolate caramel ganache; and the Ginger Heart with its pretty gold shimmer and pronounced sweet-hot ginger taste.
The Chemistry of Love ($28) box holds nine squares of the super popular Burnt Caramel truffles. Each is decked out in hand-done artwork that plays off the chemistry theme, such as a science flask billowing a cloud with a heart in it; and a rack of test tubes with hearts spewing from them.
The Burnt Caramel has a nice smokiness to balance out the sweetness of the caramel that’s blended with 70 percent dark chocolate to create a sticky, dense filling. The truffle is finished with semisweet chocolate.
One satisfies with its big, seductive taste. But go ahead and enjoy a second one. I won’t tell.