I got up this morning and did some experimental packing. It turns out that, by stacking the candied ginger and dried apricots on top of each other, stacking the citrus peels, and issuing miracle prayers to the chocolate-packing gods, I can actually fit 33 items into the box. I currently have 25 items finished, with twelve to go. The astute among us will realize that 25+12 = 37, which means that four flavors will not fit into the box. So either I don’t put every flavor into the box, or four flavors must be eliminated.
But what to eliminate? They all taste so good! True, the violet syrup got largely drowned out by the white chocolate, but the flavor was rescued with the help of a little lime zest, and now tastes divine. The strawberry-balsamic vinegar is heavenly, as it was last year, and can’t possibly be left out. If I get rid of that incredibly fragrant white guava, my mother will never speak to me again. Armagnac is a possibility, but I’m very fond of that blend…not the orange spice…the mint-lime has such beautiful texture…
Truly, it’s a dilemma that would make any girl throw up her hands in despair. There are two I can eliminate relatively easily – the chestnut-honey-cinnamon-rum tastes mostly of honey and cinnamon, not what I was after, and the passionfruit caramel doesn’t taste distinctly of either. But the remaining 19 flavors of truffle are all excellent, and I really don’t know what I’m going to do about that. Perhaps I could eliminate the chocolate macadamia fudge, but I know at least two people who told me it was their favorite item in last year’s box.
Obviously I need bigger candy boxes next year. LOL!
Well, it’s a problem I’ll mull over later. I think what I will do is keep two flavors “in reserve” – put them on the inserts but not pack them into most of the boxes. That way, if I run out of one kind of chocolates (and I know I will run out of some of them), I can add the “reserve” types in, so there will be no duplicate flavors in any of the boxes.
Meanwhile, I have twelve flavors to go, so I better get to work! Susan, the woman who helped me last weekend, is coming by this morning to help out some more, which gives me hope – I might actually be able to get all these dipped in time for the chocolate-packing party tomorrow!
