Just got back from the wine shop…

…I had decided that I wanted to try a port truffle, and toddled off to Beltramo’s to find a nice port. Now, Beltramo’s is the local wine aficionado’s treasure house–they KNOW their wines–so I knew I’d be able to find someone to point me in the right direction. And sure enough, their sommelier (or whatever the right name is for it) was most enthusiastic when I told him what I wanted to do…”Ah! Then you want something very fruity, right?” I said yes, and that I’d be willing to pay up to $40 for a good port to mix with chocolate. He assured me that that wouldn’t be necessary, as the tawny ports were the expensive ones and I didn’t really need or want an aged port, and pointed me at a $18 bottle of Six Grapes port. He also enthusiastically suggested that I try sherry truffles–sherry being another sweet, fortified wine–and pointed me at a creamy Pedro Ximenez Montilla. (Pedro Ximinez is the name of the grape, Montilla is apparently a sherry grown in a different area.) I bought it, and then got adventurous and bought a dry amontillado, which he said was interesting because it was a sweet wine, but with a dry finish and very nutty flavor. So I figure I’ll try mixing all three into truffles and seeing what happens. I LOVE trying new things!

I also stopped by Peet’s to pick up some green tea for the green tea truffles (if I get around to doing them). They have six or seven kinds of green tea–I eyed them all and considered buying some of each for a green tea taste test, then decided I wouldn’t have the time/energy to do that as well as the sherry truffles. One vice at a time. 🙂

I also had an inspiration–I want to try apricot-vanilla caramels. The apricot-vanilla-icewine mix was nice in the chocolates, but the chocolate really overpowered the fruit. I bet it would make FANTASTIC chocolate-covered caramels….

And now, back to finishing the molded chocolates.