April 2023

$24.00

Our contribution to (Inter)National Poetry Month: a box of 9 chocolates inspired by poets.

The Emily Dickinson: The story that Dickinson grew pineapples in her greenhouse could be apocryphal, but we like to think it’s not and were inspired by the tale to create a pineapple caramel. The caramel is balanced with a sherry dark chocolate ganache in honor of her description of her “…eyes, like the Sherry in the Glass, that the Guest leaves.”

The Robert Hayden: Wintergreen and lapsang souchong in milk chocolate reach for the wafting winter aromas and cold sensations, austerity, and labored-over warmth evoked in his most famous poem. “Sundays too my father got up early/ and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,/ then with cracked hands that ached/ from labor in the weekday weather made/ banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.”

The C.D. Wright: Peach dark chocolate with pecan praline pay homage to Wright’s poetry of southern place. “ripen     cling     drop/ what would it be like to fell    this mess of twigs     to graft/ the shaking body    to lyric    the seasoned body”

The Sappho: “Neither honey nor/ the honey bee is/ to be mine again.” But for this great originator and muse of poetry, some nearly-immortal Mediterranean flavors: honey caramel, rosemary chocolate, pistachio.

The Federico García Lorca: Saffron and orange in milk chocolate answer, in classically Spanish flavors, his desire “to be alone near the bonfires of saffron.”

The Gwendolyn Brooks: “Our People do not disdain to eat yams or melons or grits./ or to put peanut butter in stew.” A sweet potato dark chocolate (yes!) elevates and honors the vegetable while a star aniseaccent note hears her entreaty that “Life must be aromatic.”

The Du Fu: Juniper and citrus white chocolate and sesame gianduja: “Bitter juniper berries are food/ for immortals, and cirrus flushed with morning/ light.” Spare, lyrical, earthy flavors.

The Robert Frost: NH Maple and bourbon for this quintessentially New England figure: “‘O fireman, give the fire another stoke,/ And send more sparks up chimney with the smoke.’/ I thought a few might tangle, as they did,/ Among bare maple boughs, and in the rare/ Hill atmosphere not cease to glow…”

The Wislawa Szymborska: Sour cherry (“just this cherry orchard/ from this cherry pit”) and poppy seed white chocolate ganache(“While trying to plumb what the void’s inner sense is,/ I’m bound to pass by all these poppies and pansies.”).

We know no poet can ever be reduced to an essence—all are far more rich and complex than we can capture—but thank you for coming along on our attempts, all of which we offer up in a spirit of appreciation and humility. Next year we plan to honor living poets, hopefully with some new lines from the honorees—so thank you for the ideas you’ve sent so far, and keep them coming!  Maybe one of them will be you…