Rust General Store: Rose Petal Savories

As I was referencing before I left, I just spent some time in California, mainly around Anaheim and the San Diego-ish area. While out there I bought tea, chocolate, wood (I'll explain when I do my August Favorites), Disney pins, more tea, and more chocolate. I thought I hadn't been buying much chocolate, but when it was all over I counted three (4-piece) boxes of truffles, four chocolate bars, various candies with chocolate in them, and these Rose Petal Savories. I plan to review everything except for the candies (some of which I have already eaten and none of which I would have much to say about).

I'm starting with the simplest and most casual, which also happens to be from one of my favorite stores in San Diego. The Historic Old Town District is a beautiful area with old buildings that now house different types of stores. I like the candy store and the main museum store and one corner of the Marketplace store and the Rust General Store. If you love old things and food and old-looking food (that sounds bad . . .) and good food products, you'll love this store. They have a good chocolate selection, some nice candies and mints, lots of sauces and spices, local soaps, honey, and that sort of thing. And they're one of the most historical-looking stores even in the historic district. I get so excited in there that I literally don't know the price of these savories: they weren't marked and I didn't ask when I paid (I had a lot of things and I figured they wouldn't be more than $15 and would therefore be low enough that I would be willing to pay for them). 

Certainly you've gathered by now that I'm fond of rose as a scent and as a flavor. So while this style of chocolate candy doesn't interest me as much as a plain chocolate bar I've never tried before, the fact that one of the flavors for sale was rose petal had me. And, you know, it makes more sense to buy something like this at a store like that, too: while rose is still used as a flavor, it isn't used as often (in the U.S. at least) as it once was. Kind of a shame, really: rose is so soft and ladylike, floral but also almost fruity.

The clear plastic box (which is really more like a pouch than a box) could be more interesting looking but it serves its purpose and has a handy top that opens and closes easily--being someone who doesn't like to eat a chocolate or candy all in one sitting, I appreciate the ability to close a package again after opening. The pouch is about 5 by 3.5 inches and so is able to hold many little chocolate circles. 

Coated thinly in shine, the savories are a light dark chocolate with a full rose petal flavor. The rose is as a strong as a bite of Turkish Delight and has the flavor of rose water (as opposed to other possible "rose" flavors). Dark enough to form a base for the rose flavor, the chocolate still steps back to let the rose take center stage, and that's the right way for it to be. 

I like them best two or three at a time, truly as "savories" and not so much as candies. They're not quite truffles--but maybe they're something like after dinner mints: little tidbits of full flavor to enjoy in small doses in quiet moments. They'd be perfect for putting in a mint tin to keep in your purse, or just for keeping in your desk (my favorite place for both candy and chocolate). 

Valerie Confections: Petits Fours

"Alright, so I'm going to be in the L.A. area. Type that into Google. Hmm. That chocolate shop doesn't look very good; that one just looks like a lot of hype. That one looks okay, but their website doesn't excite me. What's this? Valerie Confections? What? Rose Petal Petits Fours? I must have those."

Their original boutique is in Silverlake, not too far from downtown L.A. It's a small shop, with a glass case of petits fours next to a shelf of preserves, which are in turn across from shelves of boxed chocolates. When we stepped in, the shopkeeper offered us freshly made Smoke & Spice Truffles. These happened to be some of the ones I singled out online; I was thrilled. The cocoa powder makes them look like they would be soft ganaches, but there is still an outer layer of chocolate. They aren't nearly as spicy as many spiced chocolates these days, of which I was glad. The flavor is used within the chocolate rather than thrown in as a novelty. 

 We picked out a box of Mint Mendiants for a gift, which have already received positive commendations. They come topped with a candied mint leaf.

The six chocolates we picked out (two each) we didn't get in a gift box; perhaps we imagined we would eat them more quickly. But being that these are petits fours rather than little truffles, they tend toward slower eating. My in-the-car pictures hardly do them justice, but they're visually gorgeous. The chocolate is smooth, and the garnishes have all the more impact because the look is kept simple. Lemon, Mint, Orange, one I'm not sure of, and my own two: Rose Petal and Champagne. 

The Rose Petal Petit Four brings me to a Victorian tea house, with flowers and fine dishes and ladies wearing feathered hats and lace gloves. The candied rose petal is delicate and the white chocolate base substantial. It felt so strange to be so drawn to a white chocolate, but from the first picture I saw of this chocolate (or should I say dessert?), I was in love. And then I bit in and felt all the ingredients coming together, the softness and the lightness, the crispness and the sweetness, and I fell more in love. The composition is four layers of vanilla bean cake, with rose petal ganache in between. A box of these would be a better gift from a gentleman to a lady than any bouquet of roses. 

The little Champagne Petit Four got left behind and carried around all the way home. Not the best conditions for it, yet it managed to arrive looking decent. It begged me for a photoshoot of its own. A gold flake glints on the top. 

This one uses butter cake with the champagne ganache, making it look more like a mini cake than the Rose Petal one did. Maybe it was because this one wasn't new by the time I had it, but I prefer the Rose Petal; it had a more complex and crafted flavor. This isn't, of course, to say that the Champagne wasn't well made. I sliced it into triangles as if it were a cake and it disappeared in errant thoughts of richness. 

I didn't go for the chocolates or for the straight out desserts at Valerie Confections, but through the petits fours I discovered how complex and gourmet a "confection" can in fact be. It needn't be trite or childish or nostalgic; it needn't neglect quality ingredients or precision. Would I go back to Valerie Confections? Instantly. Instantly.