Recchiuti chocolates was an easy choice for my first visit to a Chocolatier--it is in the Ferry Building where I work, and although this was not my first visit this time I visited looking at the chocolates much differently. I was looking at the percent of dark versus light and white pieces offered--they had almost entirely dark pieces in their collection. Most of the pieces were molded and most used transfer sheet images, I doubt that any of them were hand dipped, although I didn't ask. Pricing was based on weight and all of the chocolates go for the same rate, about $50/lb and the fruit jellies for a little less. The most interesting thing I learned was that Recchiuti uses Guittard Chocolate to make their chocolates, the chocolate we use in class.
I purchased four chocolates and three fruit jellies (below) and they were packaged together in a small box with tissue and a sticker to seal the box.
Cherry, Passion fruit and Pear-Lime Fruit jellies. These were a very good consistency, soft with a little chew, but not rubbery at all. The passion fruit was wonderful and not too sweet or tart, as is a frequent problem with passion fruit in pastry. The cherry had a terrible flavor and the pear-lime was something new and really good, really a perfect balance of both flavors and nothing fake tasting.
Rose Caramel (in a white chocolate shell), Cardamom Nougat, Fleur de Sel Caramel, Sesame Nougat (clockwise from top). Out of all of these there is only one that I would buy again and in any quantity (that was one requirement for judging)--the fleur de sel caramel, although it was very small (less than 1" square). It was very pretty with the white swirls and, more importantly, the taste was a perfect balance of salty and sweet. Also, the caramel has a good consistency between chewy yet soft. One thing I hate about caramels is when the consistency is either too runny/soft or too chewy to enjoy!The Rose Caramel was a liquid caramel with rose geranium essence. I didn't like the flavor of the rose geranium essence and found the liquid caramel to be much too runny. I really thought I would be biting into something with more bite--what a surprise when it went running down my chin!
The cardamom nougat would have been okay had it not been for the cocoa nibs on the top, which I not only didn't expect, but that were much too over powering in flavor to do any good in this combination.
The sesame nougat was a risk just based on the name. I wasn't sure what I would get, but really there was so little sesame nougat actually in the candy that I am not sure how they can get away calling it by that name? This piece was a boring milk/dark chocolate ganache, that sat on a disk of sesame nougat, which was so thin that if you didn't look after your first bite you wouldn't know it was there!
Overall, I like the presentation of the store and the candies, but at the price I don't think this chocolate is all that great. I won't be running back anytime soon.
