When I recently reviewed Wiseman House Almond Toffee, I alluded to the fact that my friend Greg (still awesome) not only purchased a bag of their Almond Toffee, but also a small baton of truffles.

The truffles are actually what first gave notoriety to this small line of high-end confections. Founders Kevin and LaDonne Wenzel had a dream about settling in the country and making chocolates out of their own home. In 1996, they purchased a house designed by artist Rufus Wiseman and began creating chocolates with the intention of crafting something pure, fresh, and delicious.

Neither Kevin nor LaDonne anticipated the immense popularity of their chocolate. Originally, their intention was only to give out the chocolates to family, friends, neighbors, and the occasional person who passed through the town of Hico, Texas. That all changed when a reporter stumbled through, sampled their products, and wrote a front-page review about them for a national publication.

There are many truffles sold by Wiseman House, but the box for sale at the food and wine festival was what they call their Wild Woman Baton – a six-piece assortment of truffles made of dark chocolate.

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I am, admittedly, not a big fan of sharing. At the risk of making myself appear greedy, selfish, and all-around less likable, I will openly acknowledge here that my own personal philosophy is that every effort should be made to minimize the amount of sharing one ever has to do. Sure, there are exceptions when sharing is okay – sometimes even nice (think first-date milkshake with two straws, cable bills, and household chores) – but as a general rule, I think it’s best avoided.

When I received my generous shipment of Ugly Truffles and Damn Good Cookies from Chocolate Gourmet, however, I immediately recognized that the only way I’d be able to review such a quantity of treats in a timely manner, without making myself deliciously ill, would be to invite my friend, a sweet-toothed vixen herself, over for a night of eating chocolate. And oh, what a night it was.

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There are certain things my family has to have at Christmas time: a giant tree, a copy of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, and a lovely box of candy on the table at all times. As I come from a family of Candy Addicts, the holiday candy box is always an important choice; normally, we keep things old school and traditional, preferring old-fashioned boxed chocolates to anything else. There’s something very special about a well-made box of chocolates, and this year, our family holiday chocolate box will be coming from a company who knows a little something about quality and tradition: See’s Candies.

Founded in 1921, See’s is an old-fashioned candy company that, according to a friend of mine in Los Angeles, “is all over the place” on the West Coast. As I’m an East Coast kid, I had never had a box of See’s chocolates until about a week ago, when one arrived in the mail. I was immediately excited when I saw the old school packaging: a silver box wrapped with a thin gold ribbon. Good stuff. What I found inside the box, of course, was even better.

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I was recently given the opportunity to try a box of Ococoa’s Butter Cup Collection. I thought I knew chocolate. I thought I knew what flavors go well with chocolate (peanut butter, mint, and Sunkist, to name a few). I thought I knew what to expect from a box of chocolates. Then came Ococoa.

I get a lot of mail and have been receiving two to three packages per week for the last few months. When a box arrived last week, I assumed it was a homeschooling product I was expecting and didn’t bother to look at the return address. I got a knife, sliced the tape on the box, opened the flaps, and said, “I smell chocolate….”

That is a very pleasant, very enticing way to open a package.

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As if chocolate wasn’t a spiritual enough experience for me, I recently found out about Intentional Chocolate. Get this: the chocolate comes infused with good intentions. “Advanced meditators – some of whom trained with the Dalai Lama” add good intentions to each and every product.

In fact, it says so right on the bag: “Whomever consumes this chocolate will manifest optimal health and function at physical, emotional and mental levels, and in particular will enjoy an increased sense of energy, vigor, and well-being… for the benefit of mankind.”

OK, that’s all really groovy but how does it taste?

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