Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

Cuneesi al liquore by Dulcioliva. Liquor flavoured chocolates from Italy.
Photo for CMC © Jan-Erik Nilsson, 2009.

I’m a chocoholic. As far as I can recall, I’ve always preferred chocolates over candy, and when given the choice between coffee or tea to breakfast, I would inevitably find myself asking if there was any hot chocolate on the menu.

At home, I keep boxes of plain cocoa powder for that morning cuppa and a stash of chocolates in the food cabinet for just when I need a quick chocolate fix!

Taking notes, with Benny Eriksson, owner of “Beriksson Import and Chocolate”, Sweden.

So imagine one of my wildest fantasies come true when I met Benny Eriksson at the recent foodfair Passion för Mat in Gothenburg a few weeks ago, who introduced me to his line of imported Italian made chocolates!

My eyes went wide with delight when I found myself in front of a little chocolate buffé at Benny’s exhibition stall, with assorted chocolates from Guido Castagna, Muzzi, Gardini and my absolute favourite (after all the sampling) – the Cuneesi al liquore from Dulcioliva!

Bite into a truffled Cuneesi al liquore (shown in the first picture above) and you’ll find yourself immediately taken by the soft consistency of the chocolate ganache found in the middle of the chocolate shelled conconction that melts in your mouth. The taste of this sweeter, liquored ganache is then complemented by the bitter dark chocolate shell on the outside of the confection.

What you’ll end up experiencing is a wonderful chocolate symphony that signals a celebration of sorts.

Myself with Benny Eriksson, showing us some marmalade candy, made from 50% real fruit juice, formed into little fruits.

Another sweet confection that Benny shared with me was his line of Italian made marmalade candy, shaped into little fruits. These marmalade sweets are carefully made with about 50% fruit juice. For someone who doesn’t like candy, I thought these tasted very good and couldn’t help myself bringing home a few samples of these! These beautifully shaped marmalade jellies are the perfect eye candy for events, since they make for a bright and happy decoration on the serving table.