A recent visit to Concord found us in Butters.. once again. Funny how often that happens.
Anyway, we chose to stop of our own volition reading in the weekly electronic newsletter that there was to be a chocolate tasting. Mmmmm.
A very pleasant couple, Sally Cornwell and Jonathan Walpole, together run Winnipesaukee Chocolates in Wolfboro. I was thrilled to talk with them, as I spent several weeks every summer for thirty-five years up the road in Tuftonboro. During my childhood we’d drive “into town” for diversions like ice cream and grocery shopping. As an adult, I often walked the six plus miles into town and then would have my ex-husband (current at the time) pick me up for the return trip.
Anyway, if was fun to talk all things Wolfboro - the Mt. Washington, the backroads, Camelot (another post for creamed cheddar) having been sold — and share a bit of fondness for the area.
Each bar is named after an island situated in Lake Winnipesaukee. Each bar has the history of each island printed on the back of its wrapper.
The Little Bear Island bar was Roger’s favorite. Dark chocolate melded with crushed coffee beans (Black Bear Micro Roastery in Tuftonboro is the source of the slow roasted beans) offered a nice jolt of flavor yet smooth and a nice after dinner taste.
I enjoyed all three we picked up that day, but my favorite was the Cow Island bar. Milk chocolate with Cinnamon and Pecans reminded me of Viennese coffee and all manner of decadent things. Sitting in a chair with a book snarfing down bites of creamy comfort or serving pieces after an elegant dinner party would both be reasonable options to me.
The big surprise was the Whortleberry Island bar: white chocolate with native wild blueberries. The sharp bit of berry cut what often is cloying sweetness of white chocolate. I suspect the quality of their product is several pegs up from the typical white bunny, my only other remembered white chocolate experience.
You’ll find the bars sold in shops around New Hampshire, but if you are in Wolfboro stop in (across from Camelot on the hill headed up out of town in the Tuftonboro direction). They are very nice and easy-going with encyclopedia-like knowledge of chocolate. And their chocolate is wonderful.
We like eating, cooking, shopping, and reading about food. Now we want to start writing about food. And collecting resources and recommendations that we can share with friends and everyone else about the special places we find, and the new foods that we discover.