HOLIDAY: National Chocolate Day

Harvest Truffles. Photo courtesy Recchiuti Confections.   It’s National Chocolate Day, an excuse for anyone to run to the newsstand to pick up a Hershey Bar or some M&Ms. But the chocolate connoisseur deserves something better, and we’ve found it in these delicious Harvest Truffles from Recchiuti Confections of San Francisco, which we received as…
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TIP OF THE DAY: Genmaicha Tea

[1] Genmaicha, green tea mixed with toasted rice (photo courtesy Sugarbird Sweets). [2] Organic genmaicha tea is available from La Colombe.   Genmaicha, pronounced gen-my-cha with a hard “g,” is one of our favorite green teas. The flavor of the sencha green tea base is secondary to the nutty, toasty flavor of kernels of toasted…
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TIP OF THE DAY: Pumpkin Spiced Almonds

The roasted almonds are sweetened with sugar, brown sugar and honey, and spiced with cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and pumpkin powder (dried, ground pumpkin—look for it at natural food stores or online). The 19.75-ounce can is available at retailers nationwide (approximately $9.95 depending on retailer). It’s easy to make spiced nuts—almonds, pecans, walnuts or other favorite—to…
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FOOD FUN: Candy Corn Macarons

Dana’s Bakery makes delicious macarons; they’ve been a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week, and a favorite gift we send to macaron lovers (the Macaron Of The Month Club is a luxurious gift for the connoisseur). The cookies are both tender and tantalizing, thanks to Dana’s eye for color and palate for flavor. We haven’t…
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TOP PICK OF THE WEEK: barkTHINS Chocolate Bark

barkTHINS: thin and rich. Photo courtesy Ripple Brands.   There are several reasons to love barkTHINS: The delicious varieties, crammed with inclusions* (see the list below). The thin pieces that, unlike conventional bark, let you have half as much. The Fair Trade certification (FairTradeUSA.org) that helps poor farmers. The everyday affordability (yet it’s great for…
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