By: Molly Weisner
Admit it…whether that lavish box of chocolates came from your significant other, your mom, or yourself, you’ve been faced with the difficult task of distinguishing what chocolate is filled with what. There’s no greater let-down than biting into what you thought was marshmallow fluff and getting in return a mouthful of crunchy peanuts. So here is this month’s decode: Valentine’s Day chocolates.
Often, assorted samplers will come with a pamphlet or professionally laminated flyer that gives you a rundown of the flavors included. But if not, it’s really very simple; if you know shapes, you know chocolates. For the most part, square and rectangular chocolates contain a chewy or crunchy center like toffee, caramel or nougat. These sorts of treats need to be cut into geometric shapes because the fillings need to cool in large sheets that are easy to cut into smaller squares and rectangles.
Oblong or round chocolates, on the other hand, house soft fillings like marshmallow, cream or ganache. For those strictly averse to nuts, chocolates containing any sort of nut will appear bumpy on top. Aesthetically, it’s typically easier to distinguish nut-based chocolates from the others. Yet don’t be fooled, designs on the tops of chocolates function as little more than decoration, as they vary from brand to brand and don’t necessarily correlate to the flavor. Finally, if your mysterious chocolate is wrapped in shiny foil, you can bet that it’s filled with something gooey and subject to melting, hence the tinfoil ability to guard against leaks.
It goes without saying that you could always just crack open the chocolate or make your little brother try it first, but once you’ve mastered the art of chocolate decoding, you’ll have Valentine’s day magic down to a science.
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