This Valentine’s Day, La Maison du Chocolat is thinking outside the heart-shaped box with four new chocolate confections handcrafted with exotic fruits, spices, and cocoa beans from around the world. Conceived by creative director Gilles Marchal, this year’s Valentine’s Day box comprises three ganaches and a praline—available in four-, eight-, 15-, and 28-piece sets (from $22 to $88)—each of which takes more than 10 chocolatiers to create.
The assortment includes a sweet called Tonifiant (which in English means invigorating), a dark chocolate ganache made with pure cocoa from Trinidad, which exhibits a slightly nutty flavor; and a second dark chocolate ganache, named Envoutant (spellbinding), made with hand-pressed passion fruit juice and with subtle notes of Cambodian black pepper. The Enivrant (meaning intoxicating), is a dark chocolate ganache featuring bourbon-infused vanilla beans sourced from small growers in Madagascar; the vanilla’s aromatic seeds give the ganache a light, crispy texture. And the final piece—a heart-shaped milk chocolate praline named Aphrodisiaque (aphrodisiac)—is flecked with roasted hazelnuts and a hint of salt. (212.744.7117, www.lamaisonduchocolat.com)
