Frango information

1 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
Frangoes, if you are unfamiliar, are a legendary milk chocolate
Confection made famous by Seattle (which is almost as Frango-
Mad as it is espresso-mad). This even though the original
Frango is from Marshall Field.

Directions

Ebony dark mint. This is the Frango as I recall it (the Chicago Frango), and the only variety made with semi-sweet rather than milk chocolate. I once thought it the solitary owner of the title "the perfect chocolate mint" - the dark chocolate standing up brilliantly to a generous dose of peppermint oil, the whole enhanced with a touch of salt (which adds a certain piquancy). The Chicago ones I recall were thin-mint shape (I could be wrong - it's been awhile, and I'm notoriously unvisual), whereas all these are chunky little blocks about the size of a Tootsie roll on steroids. The flavor is the same.

Mint. Well, here's the challenger to the title. I don't care for milk chocolate in general and would have thought that the light stuff would prove too lightweight to stand up to peppermint oil, but I guess that now I'm a heretic in the eyes of the bittersweet worshippers. Yes, the light mints are mintier, but only subtly so.

There remains plenty of chocolate flavor, and the candy is well-balanced. Moka. Good strong coffee taste but little coffee aroma. Why? There are lots of little bitter Folger's-like coffee crystals dispersed throughout each piece (the crystals are, needless to say, better than Folger's). Almond. Pronounced almond-oil flavor, with a mellow marzipan- like followup, a result of lots of ground almonds (of varying fineness, so there's a little texture left in the mouth - except for the Moka and the Almond, all the Frangoes I've had have been notable for their smoothness). A fine piece of candy, almost as fine as my dream candy, which is almond paste (not marzipan) dipped in bittersweet. Latte. Only in Seattle would they come up with such a flavor. A little hint if that of coffee, and surprisingly no creamier than any of the other varieties. Okay, to be honest, there was no flavor discernible other than that of milk chocolate. Not like the mega-mass-produced stuff that tastes a little like cheese, but rather clean and fresh, as though milk chocolate were something other than an abomination. If there were no such thing as dark chocolate, that would not be a horrible thing, if milk chocolate tasted like this. Toffee crunch. A good one, but the flavor is subtle enough so that the mint from the other candies in the package can be tasted, even though everything is individually wrapped. The crunches are little and delicate and I liked them. But what's "toffee oil" (an ingredient)? Raspberry. I guess it's a good combination in theory, but the problem with raspberry chocolates is there is none of that fruit acid to offset the richness of the chocolate, which would be a great thing. These are made with raspberry oil and are redolently fruity, but somehow without the acid the flavor comes up short. Rum. My least fave. Artificial rum extract (why should I be surprised?), but tastefully done for that.

Definitely kid stuff, like butter rum Lifesavers. $15 a pound (approximately) from The Bon Marche, Seattle WA 98181 206-344-2121 Shared by: Michael Loo, Aug/95. Submitted By SHARON STEVENS On 10-06-95

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