Norman Love Black Chocolates

I was given some amazing chocolates for my birthday by a person that is a connoisseur of fine food. I'd never heard of this particular kind of chocolate before, but I knew that it would be good because this person had arranged for it to be sent it to me. Norman Love Confections is headquartered in Fort Myers, Florida, where my brother, Chris, used to live. These chocolates, each handmade, are "culinary art" in every sense of the word. I was actually given two boxes, one of dark chocolates, 

and one of mixed chocolates (a later post). I don't have as great an appreciation for dark chocolate as Judy does, but I still enjoy it. Like Jack Sprat, who "could eat no fat" and whose "wife could eat no lean," I eat milk chocolate and Judy eats dark chocolate. We are happiest when sharing a mixed box of light and dark chocolates. She eats the darks and I eat the lights, no arguments. But I do appreciate that true chocaholics like dark chocolate and I can appreciate to some extent the real quality dark chocolate. So, first of all, the Norman Love Black chocolates are stunning to look at. 

There are five types and each type is made from chocolate from a different country of origin. The purple chocolates 

are made with chocolate from Madagascar, off the southeast coast of Africa. My chocolate palate is not sophisticated enough to pull out all of the "hints" and "notes, but it is billed as being fruity with a roasted hazelnut aroma, wild berry "notes" and a "subtle hint of clove and cedar." I could tell it was very dark and very rich. The blue chocolates 

are made with chocolate from Venezuala from the vicinity of Lake Maracaibo. It has "coffee and plum aromas with an undercurrent of orange blossom and cinnamon, possessing a light sweet raisin bouquet." My favorite by far, the green, 

was made with chocolate from Bolivia. This is apparently where the world's first chocolate was made "harvested from wild cacao trees growing in the Beni region of north-eastern Bolivia. It has "fresh lemon and grapefruit notes, an intense dried plum bouquet, and an exquisite hint of vanilla." This was the sweetest, by far of the bunch.  The silver or white 

was made with chocolate from Ecuador. It has "intense coffee and licorice fragrances," a "dried plum bouquet and a long finish of flowery black currants." 

Finally, the red 

was made with chocolate from the Dominican Republic. It had "notes of black tea and a hint of tobacco" and a "fruity note...sustained by a...hint of orange and a splash of grapefruit." I don't think I caught a single one of the hints, notes, or aromas, but I was able to appreciate the visual artistry and I was able to detect the quality of the chocolate.