Corn on the cob, ‘cause it holds seasoning better.
Let’s linger on New World crops, specifically my favorite New World crop, chocolate!
One of the easiest chocolate confections to make is the humble truffle, hence its many regional variants. All you need is to heat whipping cream, mix in room-temp baking chocolate, et voila! Add some room-temp butter for extra fluffiness, and roll in nuts or anything you’d like- to get the accessible American variant, the California truffle birthed in Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto.
The varieties I offer you here are:
- the Swiss truffle, a work of precision, of chocolate melted directly into boiling butter & cream, and typically enrobed and adorned as if made solely for the nobility, layered thoughtfully with complements and really tuned to please the eye as well as the tongue and nose:
- the Brazilian brigadeiro, with condensed milk and beautifully warmed butter. Unlike its Swiss and American cousins, it doesn’t keep its shape so easily or enrobe itself with the glossy sheen of high class- it feels more fit for a birthday party than a dinner party- but that only adds to its character, since it explodes in a flurry of sugary cacao that makes every bite feel like an indulgent return to childhood:
So what sweet shall we have? A Swiss timepiece, perfected through the ages, gourmet engineered to captivate all five of your senses, with every molecule carrying the detailed visions of a trained chef? Or a treat created only 80 years ago to advertise a Brazilian presidential candidate, sold on the streets by newly-enfranchised women, a product of a growing republic & an appeal to the tastes of the people?
The treat of the cultured, metropolitan elite? Or the humble, honest, hardworking candy of the masses? The honed craft of the Old World, or the sincere dynamism of the New?
Edited 3/3/2025 06:15:48
