In tem pe ran tia: Plain Truffles

Though the soft vegan chocolate from In tem pe ran tia that I fawned over in my last post was completely free of animal products, the non-vegan chocolates in the box I’d been sent to review were also 100% organic. Which makes it healthy, right?

I argue that high-quality chocolate is always a health food; organic simply means that the product is created using raw materials grown in a specific manner. Some say the end result is a better-tasting product. What’s the verdict in this case? Let’s begin with the case of the In tem pe ran tia milk chocolate truffle.

The shell has subtle fruity notes, most notably banana, and is soft and creamy without any graininess.

The center is buttery rather than creamy, and is a little denser than most ganaches. Dairy dominates the flavor, and the overall taste is fairly mild but not too sweet. The shell crumbles just a bit against the filling, but not excessively, and the overall effect is quite nice.

The next piece in this little “how good do organic chocolates taste” experiment was the plain dark chocolate truffle.

The truffle has a woody aroma, and, not surprisingly, the couverture features and intense woody flavor. Fortunately, the folks at In tem pe ran tia have made this intense flavor enjoyable by adding just the right amount of sugar and using high-quality cocoa butter to ensure that the chocolate melts nicely.

The interior, on the other hand, is fairly sweet, featuring caramel and red fruit, notably cranberry, flavors. As with the milk chocolate, the texture is more buttery than creamy, and again doesn’t quite hold up to the shell, resulting in just a bit of crumbling.

I’d say in this particular experiment of “how good do organic chocolates taste,” the answer is “pretty good.” While these aren’t my favorite truffles of all time (hello Teuscher, can you please set up shop in DC?), they are fairly high quality.

Have you had organic truffles before? What did you think?