Tag Archives: chocolate

Sanders Fudge Shop: Mackinac Island

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My diet was lacking in vitamins and minerals so I headed to one of the few places I can find fresh fruit on the island – a fudge shop – and picked up a candy covered apple. Sanders takes up, for the most part, half the block making it one of the biggest (if not the biggest) single fudge store on Mackinac island. Sanders has a smaller, original shop on the ground level of The Lakeview Hotel. (Next to Goodfellows restaurant).

It was probably a bad idea to go in right after the Lilac Festival, as everyone needed fudge after watching the spectacle, or rather assumed that was the only food available on the island.

 

In the window, a grouping of delicate looking chocolate heels are on display – as if the men need another reason to lure their wives away from a candy store. There is a human fudge maker on display, ice cream parlour (selling a fudge sundae for $3) and a multitude of…well everything. From hard anise candies, candy apples, cherry chocolate, chocolate on sticks, chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate covered chocolate, and chocolate double dipped Oreos and cherries from $1.25 up to $24 pound. There are boxed varieties, small and large, even Sandie’s mugs for those that want to drink their chocolate in a chocolatiers endorsed glass.

In comparison to the other fudge shops on the island, this one in particular feels more commercial having its own branded products, the largest premises and prime place on Main Street. The prices are average. While I was kinda annoyed my beloved Kilwin’s had in fact turned into Velvet Candy Store this year, I think, so far, I have found a front-runner for my favourite fudge store. Their chocolate is not too sweet and has a thick consistency.

On my journey, I brought a white chocolate covered apple with M&Ms ($5.75) chocolate cherries (fake cherries, I should know by now…) and a chocolate Oreo. Total? $10.20. And I am probably going back for the anise hard candy…I am a sucker for licorice. In fact, I have a bottle of Sambuca sitting in front of me but that’s another blog altogether.

Have you been to Sanders? Best on the island?

Hershey’s: The Search for Edible American Chocolate Part 1

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The obesity epidemic in America clearly cannot be attributed to American Chocolate. Why? Have you tasted it? Hershey’s, quite frankly, does not make the cut. That’s saying something from a foreigner who openly supports Pennsylvania to unsympathetic Americans (whose only reason for hating the state seems to be the Steelers suck and the Amish are creepy. Go to Michigan and you’ll find out what creepy means. Even people who live in Michigan hate Michigan.) I don’t care if you live next to the Hershey’s factory, it is a family tradition to tour the place annually or you in fact own the factory. Hershey’s, and I am sorry to say, most American chocolate is sub par. It lacks richness, a density and silky quality found in many other chocolates. Russian chocolate was surprisingly good, French, Belgium and even German chocolate is to die for. So what’s wrong here in America? I sent a box of American chocolate home to my family (in Australia) and they took one bite out of it and threw it away. (Regardless of the fact it cost $30 to send it to them.) I believe my dear father’s exact reaction was, “What was that sh*t? Don’t send anymore. It’s rubbish.” Which was quickly interrupted by one of my brothers saying poetically, “That was the worst sh*t I’ve ever tasted. What part of your a** did you pull that from?” The worst to a foreign palette? Hershey’s Milk Chocolate. Seriously.

Enter Fuzziwigs. I found this cute little candy and chocolate shop along Lincoln Avenue in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The first thing that drew me in the fact it is a visual circus. I literally did not know where to look. The second thing was the lady behind the counter gave me a free bar of fudge as she had broken it trying to wrap it and couldn’t sell it. The third was they sell Bounty and Crunchies – decent chocolate available in the UK and Australia.

After wandering around the store for an hour trying to decide what to buy and squealing with delight that they sold orange chocolate, marvelling at the extra-large gummy bears that were, without exaggeration, in excess of 10cm tall, I bought some things to try out so I could review the chocolate and hopefully change my mind that American chocolate lacks a certain something. I am now looking towards specialty boutiques and family owned chocolate factories to find the best American chocolate in the country.

The caramel bar, I was told = DELICIOUS. It was in fact too dense, overly salted and lacked a depth or richness. The two petites were OK but again lacked a certain density in flavour. What saved the afternoon were the truffles. The champagne truffle was dense, rich and sweet but had a tender bitterness to it. The champagne truffle is the white one above. When you bite into the hard white chocolate shell, there was a ball of milk chocolate with an often missing cocoa content. It was dense and rich but overpriced. It still wasn’t the best chocolate I have had in the country but it gave me hope. One day I may find a blissful truffle of goodness.

I ended the afternoon going back to my American favourites which aren’t American at all – Lindt truffles and Double Milk Chocolate, and Ferrero Roche. If you are planning on buying me chocolate this Valentines Day, please do not stray too far from these.

What chocolates would you recommend to a foreigner like me? What’s your favourite American chocolate?