Chocolate Adventure

There's a great little hot sauce shop down in Eastern Market. I love it. I braved the pending storm, speed walking through the heat and humidity to jog up the brick steps and bask in the stores air conditioned confines.

There was one other customer, she and the clerk were discussing chili chocolate. While I've heard of putting hot chilies in chocolate, the thought has never appealed to me. Then again, the bulk of my experience with hot sauce was its use as a flavor suppressant not as a flavor enhancer. (Thanks Navy!)

The lady remained unconvinced, so the clerk brought out a small golden box of chocolates and asked her to try one.

Apparently the thought of this made her nervous since she turned to me and asked if I was going to have one too.

I said, "Oh no. I'm actually here shopping for a father's day present." (Surprise Dad!) Because I'm a wimp with a sensitive digestive tract.

She then turned to the clerk, "Well are they all hot?"

He pointed out that the round ones were the hottest, but the dark chocolate square wasn't so hot.

I looked at the little balls. A sympathetic reaction in my gut told me that they were pure evil rolled into a chocolate ball and dusted with cocoa powder. Since I had no desire to toss cookies in the hot sauce store, I picked up the dark chocolate square. I asked the clerk, "This one is mild right?"

He replied, "Well, not MILD. Just not as hot as the other one."

Great.

The lady took a hot ball. Then we stood facing each other, like children in a dare, taking mutual courage from the fact that we faced possible public humiliation together.

I bit into my chocolate, eating half of it with one bite.

It was called Citrus Fire.

With the first bite the smooth bitterness of the dark chocolate filled my mouth, mixing with the sweet, gooey caramel filling that spilled out of the chocolate to dribble down my chin.

I can never eat a caramel without leaving wayward caramel strands somewhere on my face. It's my curse and my burden.

But I digress.

My first reaction was "mmmmmmmmmmmm" because is there any other reaction to high quality dark chocolate and caramel? I think not. As I chewed I discovered the subtle presence of orange even as I wondered, feared the coming of the promised fire.

It was subtle. A small tickling, burning sensation at the back of my mouth. From there it spread, a warm, gentle heat that was actually very pleasant.

The lady across from me was enjoying her chocolate as well. "That's really good!"
I nodded and said, "Yeah, it wasn't that hot at all!"

Apparently, Citrus Fire knows a good entrance line when it hears it, because at the very moment my entire mouth ignited.

I don't know if I turned red, but I spent the next ten minutes sweating while I shopped.

Hmm, just thinking about it makes me hungry. Nuts, now I'll have to go buy a box of those little suckers.