Impress the one who matters most with these sweet treats from across Corcoran’s regions.
A certain Tom Hanks character famously told us that life is like a box of chocolates, because you never know what you’re gonna get. But on February 14th, there’s an above-average chance you’ll be getting — or giving — a box of chocolates. Since no one wants stale truffles locked inside a heart-shaped box for weeks on the CVS checkout lane, consider upgrading to one of these elevated alternatives.
Garcia Nevett
Miami, Florida
Sisters Susana and Isabel Garcia Nevett have been crafting uniquely South Florida chocolates for over a decade. Their swoon-worthy boutique, which could double as interior design studio, is as much a background of Susana’s architectural background as the aesthetic mastery in each of their handcrafted confections, which are made exclusively with 100% Venezuelan cacao. This year’s 16-count limited edition Valentine’s Day box features their award-winning chili caramel hearts and tupelo honey-cardamom bonbons as well as two new flavors for their repertoire: mango and raspberry rose.
Fine & Raw
Bushwick, Brooklyn
While they’re best known for their bars and spreads sold at “shoppy shops” near and far, visitors to Fine & Raw’s factory-café off the Jefferson L stop have long been able to delight in their other work, specifically their legendary hot chocolate and small-batch truffles. While you won’t find either in one of Brooklyns two Whole Foods stores, the latter are now offered online. Valentine’s Day gift sets feature 8- and 12-piece assortments of the maker’s divine plant-based confections — no milk chocolates here — with packaging designed by Reed Anderson, whose cut-paper art has graced some of the world’s most coveted contemporary galleries.
Fruition
Shokan, New York
Who said the mountain confection scene was limited to fudge shops and maple candies? Founded by Bryan Graham, a Jacques-Torres veteran and alum of the Culinary Institute of America Hyde Park, this Catskills bean-to-bar brand brings big chocolate energy to a small town. Their Shokan-based team is fixated on terroir, sourcing single-origin fair trade cacao from growers 20 degrees north and 20 south of the equator. That high-quality input translates to top-shelf output in just about every form, from pill-shaped caramels to dipped nuts. The nine-piece Valentine’s Day box features three varieties of heart-shaped truffles, made from Dominican Oko-Caribe and white chocolate: honey-rose and hibiscus, pineapple-cherry pistachio, and blackcurrant. Needless to say, gifting one is a move that might bring even more to fruition…
Deux Cranes
Los Gatos, California
It’s only fitting that Silicon Valley would host an innovator in craft cacao. In her shop on the Los Gatos-San Jose border, master chocolatier Michiko Marron-Kibbey couples traditional practices gleaned from her French training with culinary influences from Japan, which her team meticulously fashions into bars, bonbons, and beyond. Limited edition Valentine sets sample bergamot milk chocolate, a cherry brandy dark with cognac, and lychee with Sicilian pistachio and rose essence. Form follows flavor — as it should — with stunning packaging by New York designer Akaka B. Ito, a winning formula to drop the hint you want it to.
Vosges
Chicago, Illinois
Founded in 1998, Vosges has become something of an institution around Chicagoland, where its boutiques infuse chocolates with unexpected ingredients — think reishi mushrooms, fennel pollen and ancho chilies — sure to tingle even the most traveled of taste buds with novel pleasures. With originality like that, it’s hardly a surprise Vosges is a consistent fixture on lists of the world’s best chocolate makers; Insider named them their “best chocolates for gifting” this year. From V-Days to b-days, Vosges offers boxed sets for any budget and occasion, and their dialed in e-commerce platform makes it a cinch to get their goods in a pinch.