We reviewed some delicious pate de fruit  from Sugarfina last time, so now it’s time to look towards some of their other offerings.  Some chocolate stuffs.

First up, Athena Black Cherry.  It’s only a black cherry shrouded in chocolate, enrobed in a candy shell.  No biggee.  BUT IT LOOKS LIKE A DINOSAUR EGG!

Keeping consistent, the packaging is top notch and original  This is the format you get whan you select one of their tasting “Bento Boxes”.  About 7 or 8 can fit in this 3 ounce container.  Doesn’t seem like a lot, but…they pack a punch.

Dinosaur eggs, amiright?  Anyone else remember those AMAZING candies from the 80’s?  Wonka DinoSOUR eggs.  I used to love those SOooooo much.

So take a close look at this.  You can really see the layers well.  The thing that surprised me the most was the consistency of the cherry-I was expecting the norm, a pretty firm cherry.  And I love that, a firm fruit with choclate on top.  Not this time.  This harkened the kind of insanely expensive cherries I put in my Manhattans.  Brandied, soft, aromatic.  In short, it’s soft and moist.  At first that caught me off guard, but I adjusted.  The experience of eating one of these is so rich, so decadent…that one really is enough…

…If you’re an idiot.  I had three and could have eaten all of them.  The smooth sweetness of the chocolate, combined with the cherry is great-but the inclusion of the thin candy shell gives an added crunch that’s definitely welcome.  I’ve never eaten a candy quite like this, and I appreciate a new riff on a common confection.  The other thing I love about these is how they look.  As good as they appear here, in person, they’re somewhat spellbinding.  The speckled egg shaped coating is just plain cool looking.   They look cool in a candy dish too (not that you’re letting your friends at these-give them the normal stuff and save these for yourselves).

Much in this same vein is the similarly mytholigically named  Aphrodite Kumquat. They’re both from the island of Corfu in Greece, thus the dope names.

Notice any similarities here?

Hey, anyone remember those candies from the 80’s called Din- …..forget it.

These share all the same visual qualities as the cherries.  The eating experience was a bit different for me, though.  First, I’ll say that I am a big kumquat fan.  I don’t eat them often, but they probably helped form my addiction to sour candy as a kid.  However, I just couldn’t get into these.

I should specify that I generally don’t like the combination of citrus and chocolate.  I know, I know, I’m unrefined, I’m not British, etc.  But…I just don’t, and this was ALMOST an exception, but not quite.  There’s something a bit confusing to my taste buds about this combo.  However, if you DO like the combo, I’m guessing you’ll love these.  Everything good about citrus with an added tartness, sort of like this web page.

Buy these both directly from Sugarfina, link below.