Close your eyes and to the mouth and tongue, it conjures up a beautiful, luxurious clawfoot bathtub.

The softness of the espresso sauce is like a super plush, high thread count towel.

The caramel sauce melts quickly in your mouth yet at the same time it seems like its lingering on forever. And when you finally realize it’s actually physically gone, it’s still there, it’s imparting a wonderful chocolate smoothness.

Taking a very small amount on the tip of your tongue, you can’t help but feel how smooth and to the point this sauce is. This sauce acts big. Full of expansive flavor even with a small amount.

Play with the chocolate sauce and you know it’s chocolate yet somehow there’s other flavors that are emitted from it. Subtle, sweet, yet not too sweet at all, as it rolls around lazily in your mouth and works its way to the back. Almost as if the sauce is saying "hello" to all your senses.

If you try to rush the sensation it will explode in chocolate flavor with nuances of the chocolate itself.

There are hints of coffee interspersed, even though there is none. At the beginning, these hints of coffee chocolate spread across your mouth releasing almost a citrus-like flavor and once everything is gone, you feel like a delicious coffee candy just visited.

Be careful as you can consume many spoonfuls while trying to identify everything that is delicious in this sauce.

Incredibly simple, the smoothness of taste is complex as you get to know it on a more personal level. One jar can change your life, though more than one would be better.

Shop Now for Chocolat Moderne Espresso Caramel Sauce!

When Dark Muscovado is too dark, try the Light Muscovado! John says this is the best sugar for his morning brew of Indian Chai.

From Mauritius, this sugar retains much of the flavor of the cane. It has a fine, moist texture, high molasses content and a deep, rich flavor. Use it in recipes calling for light brown sugar for mouth watering results.

Store Light Muscovado Sugar in an airtight container. If the sugar hardens, place it in a bowl with a damp cloth over it until the sugar softens again.

Shop now for India Tree Light Muscovado Sugar!

Valrhona Manjari chocolate is an extraordinary, bittersweet couverture chocolate made from a blend of the best Trinitario cocoa beans from Madagascar. With a 64% cocoa content, Valrhona's Manjari is perfect for home pastry chefs and professionals alike.

This Madagascar dark chocolate is the perfect compromise between the ultra dark, bittersweet chocolate couvertures with 70% cocoa content and the (often too sweet) dark chocolate couvertures with less than 60% cocoa content.

Valrhona Manjari chocolate contains a higher-than-typical amount of cocoa butter to give your desserts and truffles a silky finish and make your favorite drinking chocolate oh-so-rich! With the sweetness of the tropics, Valrhona Manjari chocolate has an intense taste, sustained fullness, and then hints of dried fruit and grilled almonds with a woody base.

It is suitable for pastry, chocolate fillings, molding, enrobing, and icing. The Valrhona "feves" are small oval disks that are easier to work with than large industrial size blocks.

Valrhona started in 1924 when a pastry chef from Tournon created a chocolate factory, which eventually achieved worldwide recognition. In 1984, it became the first to offer a chocolate with 70% cocoa. Valrhona in Tain l'Hermitage is considered by most pastry chefs and chocolatiers as the premier chocolate company in the world.

Their focus is solely on their chocolate, and to ensure the highest quality and optimum flavor, they grow their own cocoa beans, their own cane sugar, and their own vanilla on plantations all around the world. Now that's quality control.

Valrhona has finally begun to offer its professional products, cocoa, and couvertures, packaged for the home pastry enthusiast in a palette of subtle flavors, to create elaborate and delicious chocolate preparations.

This Madagascar dark chocolate is especially good for fillings, and for pouring, dipping, and molding. You cannot go wrong here.

Shop Here for Valrhona Manjari Dark Semi-Sweet Couverture 64%!

The process of candying fruit is time consuming and nerve wracking; what with making sure the sugar concentration, times, and temperatures are all correct -- not to mention the quality of the fruit.

Candying cherries for baking is even more complicated since that beautiful red color is very fragile, and can be quickly damaged by heat.

Florian Cherries are made from premium quality fruit and no coating is used after the candying process so that optimum moist texture and natural fruit crunch are achieved.

These gorgeous, candied red cherries are packaged immediately to retain their full flavor. They are of the Bigarreaux variety, and these baking cherries are perfect for a whole host of applications.

Use these candied cherries whole, or cut them in half for cookies and cakes. Can you imagine fruitcake without some bright red, candied cherries?

Wow!!
"Buy these cherries! They are delicious and they look beautiful in a fruitcake."
-- kathryn

You Deserve the Best!
"My holiday fruitcake is an enormous source of pride. They are lauded far and wide, and great wars have been fought over them. How is this possible? Premium ingredients, is why. For example, the deeper color and subtlety of flavor of these cherries helps elevate my fruitcake high above the crowd. It will do the same for you."
-- kevin

Shop now for Florian Candied Cherries!

The New York Times choice:

[Sorrento Lemon Panettone] .... from Albertengo arrived too late for inclusion on last year's list, but I'm still smitten. It is soft and buttery, and its candied lemon replaces the conventional raisins and candied citron.

-- Marian Burros in the New York Times

BEST EVER!!!

"Do NOT hesitate to purchase this Lemon Panettone!!! I LOVE Lemon Panettone and Sorrento Lemon Panettone-Albertengo is THE BEST!! The luscious flavor is so lemony, the texture is soft and moist and the candied fruit is soft and chewey. I will buy no other Lemon Panettone as I've found the best! I've ordered 4 this year (2010). I intended to give a couple as hostess gifts but I'm re-thinking that idea, ha ha ha. Oh, they freeze well too!! Preorder NOW, do not hesitate or it will be too late and you'll have to wait another year!"
-- nancy

Preorder now Sorrento Lemon Panettone - Albertengo!

One of my father's favorite desserts. When looking for any recipe that one would consider "comfort food", we always turn to Marian Burros' book, "Cooking for Comfort" first.

See the Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Recipe Here!

The panettone is ready for preorder. We expect some issues with shipping inbound. It is crazy early to be thinking about Panettone...on the other hand as I write this I wish I had a panettone sitting beside me!

Remember we don’t charge you until we are ready to ship

Preorder Panettone here!

ChefShop Dutch Process Cocoa Powder is ready to satisfy in drinks and desserts, like a rich Chocolate Sorbet, or Super Dense Chocolate Brownies. Buy unsweetened cocoa powder and add with sugar (to taste) to hot milk, and the aroma will transport you to breezy autumn days in the Piazza della Signoria.

Shop now for ChefShop Cocoa Powder!




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Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Chocolate Spice Rub Recipe

Inspired by our mention in an issue of the Saveur 100. It is a nice twist to a more traditional pork tenderloin, and will produce beautiful results if you prepare and grill the loin properly.

You can adjust the size of the tenderloin, depending on how many you are serving. This recipe will easily work for smaller or larger tenderloins. Any unused rub can be stored in a container in the fridge for up to two weeks.

Sweet Potato and Apple Crisp Recipe

This dish is just sweet enough to delight without overdoing it. And its toasted pecan crispy topping adds just a bit of crunch. You'll never reach for a can of candied yams again.

Apple, Blue Cheese and Caramelized Onion Pizza Topping Recipe

This apple, blue cheese, and onion pizza recipe was in the "all seasons" section of Kim O'Donnel's cookbook, The Meat Lover's Meatless Cookbook, Vegetarian Recipes Carnivores Will Devour". As Kim says, this is a rich pizza topping and a perfect combination of sweetness and richness. The recipe will easily top a 12-inch pizza.