$2600

Probably the most intriguing product that Knipschildt Chocolatier sells is its famed $250 dark chocolate truffle with a French black truffle inside. It is made of 70% Valrhona cacao that is fused into a creamy ganache with truffle oil. The truffle is hand rolled with a dark truffle on the inside and then dusted with cocoa powder. Mmm…is your mouth watering yet? These specialties are only available by preorder, so hurry and call, fax, or email in your order if you want to enjoy these bites of bliss soon.

If you’re not so keen on spending approximately $2,600 for a pound of these babies, then maybe you’d like to consider something more affordable. Knipschildt has a wide selection of individual chocolates of all shapes, flavors, and sizes which can be purchased for $60 per pound.

The individual chocolates have names like Amanda, Helena, and Carrie, suggesting Knipschildt may have a thing for naming his creations after ex-girlfriends. Regardless, each of these intricately formulated pieces is a matchless and pleasurable delicacy.

Knipschildt pairs delicate fruit flavors with exotic spices and fragrances in his chocolates. The Charlotte features apricot and basil ganache, the Elizabeth is composed of a passion fruit and ginger ganache topped with crystallized ginger, and the Kelly contains strawberry and lemon-thyme ganache.

Other odd and surprisingly tasty creations are the Patricia, a narrow, cone-shaped ancho chile and tangerine ganache piece; the Hannah, containing burnt caramel and Hawaiian sea salt; and the Antoinette, filled with rosewater and dark chocolate ganache.

Assuming Knipschildt did name these masterpieces after ex-girlfriends, perhaps the chocolates’ ingredients represent each woman’s personality. If so, the breakup was probably much rougher with Patricia than it was with Antoinette. Just a speculation.

Currently, Knipschildt Chocolatier supplies approximately 900 vendors worldwide, including Whole Foods Market, Dean & DeLuca, The Chocolate Room, and other small specialty stores.

In 2005, Knipschildt expanded his sweet success by opening Chocopologie, a cafe and retail store that offers guests an inside look at how these handmade treats are made the old-fashioned way. While wandering through the establishment, visitors can view different processes that go on in the exciting world of chocolate.

The first window features the packaging team packing the chocolates in handmade boxes and sending them on their way. The following four windows showcase every step the chocolate goes through as it is prepared. These steps involve composing the ganache fillings, tempering the raw chocolate, and cleaning the individual molds.

$330,000

One of the biggest truffles found in decades has fetched $330,000 (£165,000) at an auction held simultaneously in Macau, London and Florence.
A Macau casino owner, Stanley Ho, made the record-breaking bid for the white truffle, which weighed 1.5kg (3.3lb).
Luciano Savini and his son found the highly-prized fungus after it was dug up by his truffle dog near Pisa, northern Italy, last week.
He said he was overwhelmed by the high price paid for his discovery.
He said: “I thought we were going to beat the record, but not to really get to this amount.
“The biggest truffle of the century and the most expensive truffle of the century. There are no more words to say – it is all very beautiful.”
Mr Ho outbid British artist Damien Hirst and Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed of Abu Dhabi to the prize, according to the South China Morning Post.
All proceeds from the auction were donated to charities.

Wild truffles are harvested all over the world, from the western United States to China, but France and Italy, where they grow in open meadows and dense forests, respectively, are the best-known sources. These highly coveted fungi germinate 10 to 35 inches underground on the roots of any of a dozen varieties of trees. When uncovered, they look like balls of soil and range in size from a pea to a potato.

The global market for this sought-after specialty food is more than $2 billion, Lima estimates. Global gourmands, especially those in New York City, the largest consumer of truffles after Italy, pay through the nose for the delicacies thanks to their earthy, rich, mushroomy essence.

Each of the four commercially available truffles has a distinct growing season and is only available fresh at that time. White truffles (which have never been successfully domesticated) are in season between late September and December. Black winter truffles are available from November through February. Black summer truffles, the most bountiful kind, are in season between June and October. Bianchetti, or Tuscan truffles, are in season from January through April.

To cook a white truffle is to commit a culinary crime: Heat spoils the pungent taste. White truffles are generally shaved thinly over the top of a simple pasta dish to preserve their intoxicating scent. Black truffles (with a subtler smell and a texture that lends itself to cooking) and black summer truffles (known for their nutty flavor) can be shaved and eaten raw or cooked. Tuscan truffles are almost always cooked because heat doesn’t diminish their pronounced flavor.