The soups look just as good in person as they do on TV, and live up to the advertising claims that they’re chock full of fresh-tasting ingredients.

Indeed, the large chunks of mushrooms and zucchini we bit into tasted just-cooked and were full of flavor. All frozen foods included in the soups are flash-frozen to “maintain peak freshness.” As Bertolli has proved, when the ingredients going into the flash freezer taste great, they taste just as good when cooked.

Cooking is simple: Add the contents of the bag into a cup of boiling water and simmer. Five minutes later, you’ve got a pot of hearty soup.

We recently went to a tasting of the new line of soups, introduced by one of our favorite Top Chef contestants, Fabio Viviani. Having added professional spokesperson to his résumé, Fabio said that he’s now on the road 300 days a year.

Yet despite the unenviable travel schedule, Fabio was as energetic and charming as he was on Top Chef (or even more so, since he wasn’t battling other cheftestants and facing panels of judges).

Here’s the soup menu (garnish with fresh herbs and/or a spoonful of grated Parmesan cheese):

 
We happily consumed them all. The two we’ll buy again are the velvety Tomato Florentine & Tortellini with Chicken and the hearty Tuscan-Style Beef & Vegetables.

Why not the chicken soups? We make a large pot of chicken soup every other Sunday and prefer our own. But those who buy chicken noodle soup now have a more sophisticated option.

Three points about the soups:

Lightly sweet and pleasantly crunchy, dragon fruit, also called pitaya, is too alluring to pass by.

Pitaya is the fruit’s indigenous name in its home territory, Central America. Dragon fruit, which sounds more tempting, is the name bestowed by Asian growers. Depending on the species, the skin is textured like dragon’s flesh.

Dragon fruit is now grown in California and Florida, making it more available in U.S. markets.

Depending on the species, the skin ranges in color from hot pink to red. There is also a yellow variety that has a more spiky, dragon-like texture.

The flesh can be white, pink or magenta and has tiny, edible black seeds similar to those in kiwifruit.

Dragon fruit species range from magenta to yellow in color. Photo courtesy Melissas.com.

So what’s the big deal?

Whenever something is exotic and seasonal, it’s reason enough to bring it to the table. The arresting-looking dragon fruit may not taste as luscious as the homely mango, but it’s crunchy and interesting. Or, in the word most used to describe dragon fruit, it’s exotic.
 
 
HOW TO EAT DRAGON FRUIT

Dragon fruit should be refrigerated, unwashed, for up to 5 days, and served chilled. To eat dragon fruit, just wash and peel it. Refrigerate cut fruit in an airtight container.

Enjoy it in:

 
Dragon fruit is very nutritious, delivering B vitamins, calcium, carotene, fiber, phosphorous and vitamin C. The typical dragon fruit has 60 calories, reflecting the low sweetness level.

If you can’t find it locally, you can order it at Melissas.com.

Find more of our favorite fruits and fruit recipes by pulling down the menu above right, or in our Gourmet Fruits Section.
  

We’re partial to this “Crossbones” Sierra Cold Tumbler from Copco, featuring a subtle skull and crossbones motif on the plastic gripper (it’s hard to see in this photo—look on the left side of the grey band).

The 24-ounce capacity tumbler has a leakproof seal, closed by a quarter-turn lid sealing mechanism. The permanent straw has a weighted bottom so the straw doesn’t rise up.

It has durable construction and is BPA-free.

We find it stylish for the workplace, and great at home for kids and others who tend to knock over filled cups. It’s a different kind of trick or treat.

There’s a color for everyone in the house: beige, blue, brown, grey, orange, pink, purple and a damask print. But there’s only one Crossbones.

Pick one up at Amazon.com, for $7.99.

If you’re having an adult Halloween party or dinner and want a super party favor, fill a Crossbones tumbler with candy corn.

For really special Halloween candy, check out these spooktacular treats.

If you only occasionally bake with chocolate, it’s easy to end up with leftover blocks and bars. How long can you keep the chocolate?

Dark chocolate can last for two years or more. Milk chocolate and white chocolate should be kept for under a year, because the milk content in them deteriorates.

Beyond the expiration date on the package: You can extend the shelf life of chocolate with proper storage. Photo courtesy Artisan Chocolate Company.

 
What About Eating Chocolate?

Chocolate bars (“eating chocolate”) can be used for baking, and baking chocolate can be used for eating. To substitute conventional chocolate bars for baking chocolate, you need to use the percent cacao specified in the recipe (40%, 70%, 85%, etc.) or else adjust the recipe’s amount of added sugar to compensate.

Storing eating chocolate: Observe the expiration date. Chocolate bars dry out as they age. In baking or other recipes, which have added fat, you won’t notice. On your palate, you will.

Nuts in chocolate bars will go rancid over time, so especially observe those expiration dates. If the expiration date was a few months ago, take a bite. It may be just fine.

Or it may be ready to be turned into hot chocolate or barbecue sauce.

Chocolate Fun

Elizabeth Faulkner updates the chocolate sundae with chocolate gelato, chocolate cake, chocolate sauce and marshmallow creme. Photo by Phillip Angert | Scharffen Berger.

We love chocolate. Who doesn’t? But after many years of tasting both the very finest and the most mediocre chocolates, we have to admit we don’t find chocolate quite as exciting as we used to.

That’s why we think Scharffen Berger’s Elevate a Classic Desert Contest is such a great idea. Scharffen Berger is accepting recipe submissions that take classic chocolate desserts to the next level with new and interesting flavors.

A panel of chocolate dessert experts including John Scharffenberger, Elizabeth Faulkner and Alice Medrich will judge the entries.

Why should you enter your best chocolate recipe?

 
Here are the contest rules in full.

To give you some inspiration, Johnny Iuzzini, Executive Pastry Chef at Jean Georges restaurant in New York City, and Elizabeth Faulkner, owner and Executive Chef of Orson Restaurant and Citizen Cake in San Francisco, created their own special versions of classic chocolate desserts. We got to taste both at the contest launch party a few days ago, and we can report that we had a table full of very clean dishes.

Johnny whipped up Chocolate Pudding with Passion Fruit Gelée, Whipped Chocolate Creme Fraîche and Cacao Nibs, while Elizabeth created a Chocolate Gelato Sundae with Chocolate Cake Crumbles and Marshmallow Cream.

Two tidbits we picked up that might be of use when you’re creating your recipe:

 
Now get baking!

Find our favorite chocolate recipes:

Read our review of Scharffen Berger Chocolate.