There’s a really nice gourmet store in my area called Bon Appetit Fine Foods that I like to stop in and look around every so often. They carry all sorts of edible delights, but I’m obviously interested in the chocolate and candy that they carry. It seems that their stock changes slightly every time I go. On one of my more recent trips I discovered these bags of panned chocolate candies from France. I picked up two different kinds, and this is one of them.
“Pomme d’ Amor” or “Apple of Love” is what these are called. How lovely! They’re pieces of apple, from the looks of the package it’s either dried or a jelly of some kind. It’s then covered in milk chocolate and then again in a colored white chocolate or confectioner’s glaze. I don’t read French so I couldn’t really tell you. I’m guessing that each color is a different flavor or variety of apple. Or perhaps not. Only one way to find out!
Yellow Brown Speckled: Hard for me to place, but it has a big fruity flavor with a bright sour note and something very cinnamon about it. The interior jelly’s texture is nice, a little softer than I expected.
Green: The jelly in this is much softer and darker in color. This is very pear tasting. The fruity flavor is strong and combined with the chocolate here it has a cheesy essence to it. Strange to read I know, but trust me, it’s an odd thing to taste! This also has an odd spiciness to it.
Red: This one just tastes sweet and I finally taste a little of the chocolate. No extreme fruity or spicy notes here.
Orange/Yellow Speckled: The most chocolatey out of the bunch. It still has a big sweetness to it; you get some of the chocolate and the rest just burns away with the sugar. The jelly is a light “golden” flavor, but other then delivering a slight tartness toward the finish of the piece, there’s not much to mention
I really needed a glass of water after these.
These were fun to try, but not something I was impressed with. It’s also nothing I’d particularly crave either. I could see these working as a nice accompaniment to a cheese dessert platter maybe. But alone as a treat, I don’t like it much.
Rating:Might Eat Again
I’ve always admired the Les Anis de Flavigny line of candies on the store shelves. For the longest time I didn’t even know what they were exactly, but their beautiful tins kept me eying them regardless. It was only a matter of time before I gave them a try.
Anis de Flavigny has been producing these candy pastilles for hundreds of years. Each are made using a traditional panning technique, where a single fennel seed is combined with a sugar syrup and dried in a rotating drum. This process is repeated for 15 days until one pastille is completed, so a lot of work went into each of these little treats! The tins are just as classic as the candies they hold; with scenes of two young people finding love.
There’s a whole slew of flavors that you can find in the line: Mint, Orange Blossom, Violet, Licorice, Anise, and Rose. All of which strike me as very classic, refined, and romantic flavors. The one I was given is the Mint flavor, showing the two lovers idling by a freshwater stream.
Now, there’s something to be said about mints and candy. Some mints, in my opinion, aren’t very candy-like. Take Tic Tacs for example. Other mints, like Junior Mints, are more like candy to me. These fall more into the candy category to me, as they’re very sweet and long lasting, and I certainly eat them for the flavor and not how fresh they make my breath.
The outside of these pastilles are very smooth and cool feeling. The first couple of pastilles I just sucked on and got a wonderful sweet minty flavor that lasted such a long time because these take forever to dissolve. I was surprised by how incredibly hard they are and was frightened for my teeth if I decided to try and chew one. As I gained more experience I got to a point where I knew it was safe to munch on them and my eating time was shortened considerably. I know, shame on me, but I’m a chewer all the way.
I’d pick these up over most other mints any day for many reasons. I’m also really drawn to the history, the flavor, and the design. Having a cute tin to keep afterward in a plus too. I’m happy to have finally tasted these and I looking forward to trying out the other flavors soon.
Rating: Will Buy Again
Links:
Anise de Flavigny website
